IN A LONELY PLACE is one of those Nick Ray movies that made him a darling of the French critics who gave him an auteur status far above what he actually deserved.
Orson Welles once said, " The French ruin everything. They say to you, 'You are one of the three greatest directors of all time!' I nod and smile as they go on, 'There's you, John Ford,...and Nicholas Ray!' It's always that third name that kills you."