What noir stars Humphrey Bogart as screenwriter Dixon Steele?

In a Lonely Place is the noir starring Humphrey Bogart as screenwriter Dixon Steele.

Released in 1950, the film was directed by Nicholas Ray and produced through Bogart’s Santana Productions. Bogart plays Dixon “Dix” Steele, a volatile Hollywood writer who becomes suspected of murder after a woman who helped him with a film assignment is killed.

Gloria Grahame co-stars as Laurel Gray, Steele’s neighbor and romantic interest. The film’s tension comes not only from the murder investigation but also from Laurel’s growing fear of Steele’s explosive temper and capacity for violence. That psychological focus distinguishes it from a straightforward detective mystery.

The movie was adapted from Dorothy B. Hughes’s 1947 novel, but the film substantially changes the story and its protagonist. In 2007, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry because of its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.