As many Film Noir movies do, In a Lonely Place begins with a long opening title sequence of white text over a background that later ties into the narrative. Unlike other Noirs, In a Lonely Place does not use a voice over at the beginning of the film and to my knowledge does not use one in the rest of the film either.
In keeping with convention, the main character, played by Humphrey Bogart (one of the most iconic actors of film noir ), is a hack screenwriter who is prone to violent outbursts. From the opening I do not think that the main female character has been introduced as the girl who is most prominently featured falls into neither the Femme Fatale nor the older, dutiful wife, category - She behaves more like the 'girl next door'.
Most of the opening sequence takes place at a nightclub where all characters are seen smoking or drinking, or both, which is a common feature of film noir.
The stylistic techniques that I expected to see were not used as much in the opening of this film, compared to other film Noir movies. The nightclub was well lit and there was little discrimination between lighting for men compared to lighting for women which is not conventional. However, there was a soft focus used on the female characters in close up which is conventional.
All characters are well dressed and well spoken Americans, as they seem to be in all Film Noirs.
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