The Blue Dahlia (1946)

An ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife.

Director:

George Marshall

Writer:

Raymond Chandler

Stars:

Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alan Ladd	...	Johnny Morrison
Veronica Lake	...	Joyce Harwood
William Bendix	...	Buzz Wanchek
Howard Da Silva	...	Eddie Harwood
Doris Dowling	...	Helen Morrison
Tom Powers	...	Capt. Hendrickson
Hugh Beaumont	...	George Copeland
Howard Freeman	...	Corelli
Don Costello	...	Leo
Will Wright	...	'Dad' Newell
Frank Faylen	...	Man Recommending a Motel
Walter Sande	...	Heath

Storyline

When Johnny comes home from the navy he finds his wife Helen kissing her substitute boyfriend Eddie, the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub. Helen admits her drunkenness caused their son's death. He pulls a gun on her but decides she's not worth it. Later, Helen is found dead and Johnny is the prime suspect.

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Plot Keywords:

on the run | nightclub owner | hotel detective | amnesia | murder of wife | 

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Taglines:

Double dame trouble! Double-barrelled action!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 June 1946 (UK)

Also Known As:

La dalia azul

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles City Hall - 200 North Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,700,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Elizabeth Short got the nickname "The Black Dahlia" from a bartender at a Long Beach bar she frequented. This film was playing at a theater down the street, and the bartender got the name wrong. Elizabeth picked up on that and kept the nickname, adding a flower to her hair to complete the transformation. She was murdered the next year (1947). The local newspapers dubbed the case the "Black Dahlia" as a morbid twist on this film's title. Unlike the movie, the Short murder case is still unsolved.

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Goofs

After arriving home, Morrison is asked what he flew, and he says a Liberator. Whilst the Navy did fly two variations of the B-24 Liberator, they were used mainly for anti-sub/anti-ship and reconnaissance work. The later PB4Y-2 version, such as he would have flown towards the end of the war, was called a Privateer, not a Liberator. It also had a crew of eleven, whereas Morrison's crew was only three. The Grumman Avenger was a widely-used Navy bomber that had a crew of three, so it was likely that is what his character had flown.

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Quotes

Johnny Morrison: [discovering his wife in close proximity to Harwood] You've got the wrong lipstick on, Mister.

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Connections

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

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Soundtracks

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive
(1944) (uncredited)
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Sung by party guests

User Reviews

Good Ladd, Superfluous Lake, Great Bendix

The trailer for The Blue Dahlia advertised the film as Ladd, Lake, and Bendix. Not a mention about Raymond Chandler, maybe he wanted it that way.

The Blue Dahlia has mystery writer Raymond Chandler writing an original screenplay and Chandler delivers a good movie for the most part. Nice suspenseful noir film, but it could have been better.

The main weakness in the plot is Veronica Lake. Chandler couldn't stand her and called her Moronica Lake as a reflection of her acting ability. In fairness it's a poorly defined role and her meeting with Alan Ladd in this film is too too coincidental. I guess you had to give the star a love interest, but the idea that Ladd is hunting for the killer of his wife and just happens to come upon the wife of his number one suspect is way too unreal.

The number one suspect of the killing is Howard DaSilva. If I had to name the best performance in this film it would have to be DaSilva. He's the dapper, elegant owner of a Hollywood nightclub, but he exudes a menace that chills you. His best scene in the film is paying off blackmailer Will Wright. He pays him, THIS TIME. Wright gets the message he'd better not come back for more.

I believe it was Raymond Chandler who also said that Alan Ladd was a small boy's idea of a tough guy. That is unfair to Ladd who delivers a more than competent performance here as the returning war veteran who's on the hunt for his wife's killer while being suspected of the crime itself.

Check out Alan Ladd's scene at the farm with DaSilva's thugs. Very similar in the way they end up to how Bogart handled the baddies in The Big Sleep.

Bill Bendix gets in the top billing with stars Ladd and Lake because he's also a radio star because of the Life of Riley Show. Bendix and Hugh Beaumont are Ladd's wartime buddies and Bendix never was bad in any film he did. He shows signs of post traumatic stress at a time when that diagnosis had not been invented.

A bit too contrived, but a nice film noir.