Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Buffronioc One of the wrost movies I have ever seen

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

JasparLamarCrabb War hero Alan Ladd returns home to find out his wife (Doris Dowling) has been cheating on him with sleazy nightclub owner Howard DaSilva. When she ends up dead, Ladd is the chief suspect. Foxy Veronica Lake (DaSilva's estranged wife) helps him figure out who the real killer is. Full of eccentric dialog and MANY eccentric characters, George Marshall's noir classic is immensely entertaining with a very clever script by none other than Raymond Chandler. Ladd & Lake have dynamite chemistry and the supporting cast is first rate. Dowling is great as a bitchy barfly and Hugh Beaumont, Howard Freeman and William Bendix are in it too. Bendix steals the film as a very damaged war vet. The great cinematography is by Lionel Lindon.

disinterested_spectator The original story as written by Raymond Chandler had Buzz be the one who murdered Helen, but the Navy objected to a veteran being the killer, so the script was changed to make Dad the villain. I like the movie ending better anyway. We would have felt sorry for Buzz, and that would have been depressing. Much better to have Buzz be suspected on account of his war injury, and then have the unlikeable house detective be the murderer.Unfortunately, the proof that Buzz didn't do it is weak. First, Johnny gets Buzz fire a pistol at a match that he holds in his hand about ten feet away, with the bullet grazing the match just enough to light it up. No consideration is given to the fact that the bullet would continue to go past the match and through the wall, possibly killing someone in the next room.Even so, the point of the demonstration was to prove that Buzz was a crack shot. Helen was shot by a gun placed against her heart. So, Johnny argues, Buzz would not need to press the barrel of the gun against her body, owing to his marksmanship. But if a man is in a heated argument with a woman in a hotel room and decides to shoot her, he is going to shoot her at close range if she is standing right in front of him at the moment he decides to pull the trigger. He is not going to say to himself, "Wait a minute. I'm a marksman. I don't have to be this close. I need to go to the other side of the room to shoot her." Furthermore, jamming the gun against her heart before pulling the trigger is not a sign of poor marksmanship, but rather of anger and aggression. It makes the killing more personal. And in any event, even a poor shot would be able to hit a woman at several feet away, and Dad was an ex-cop, so he was probably a fair shot himself.Other than that, it is hard to understand why, at an earlier scene in the movie, Johnny would get mad when he finds out that Joyce is married to Eddie. She would have told him, but he didn't want to know her secrets. Moreover, he kept telling her that there was no future for the two of them. And in any event, she was just as much a victim of an unfaithful spouse as he was.These flaws aside, however, it remains a great film noir, with some of the best hard-boiled dialogue in the genre.

lugonian THE BLUE DAHLIA (Paramount, 1946), directed by George Marshall, reunites the popular trio of Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix from a Dashell Hammett mystery tale of THE GLASS KEY (Paramount, 1942), in another mystery tale, this one by author, Raymond Chandler. With the opening titles superimposed over the glittering dahlia over a nightclub, a viewer's first impression was to be seeing a nightclub melodrama casting Ladd as its proprietor, Lake the sultry blonde singer and mistress, and Bendix a rough and tough bouncer/ bodyguard. With that in mind, it's always fun after the completion of the opening credits to expect the unexpected, one of many reasons why THE BLUE DAHLIA has turned out so well upon its initial release. In later years, it's become one of Ladd's most televised movies in the sixties, seventies and part of the 1980s, and it's easy to see why.The story starts off with an introduction of three war buddies from World War II coming out of a Hollywood bus in the city of Los Angeles, California, to face a new world of civilian life: Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd), a Navy lieutenant commander; "Buzz" Wenchek (William Bendix), a shell-shock victim with great sensitivity towards loud juke box "monkey" music; and George Copeland (Hugh Beaumont), an attorney by profession. As Buzz and George return to the apartment building they once lived before the war, Johnny comes to Cavendish Court, Bungalow 93, to surprise his wife, Helen (Doris Dowling). Upon his arrival, Johnny is shocked to find his wife drunk, hosting an all-night party for her drunken friends, and finding Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva), proprietor of The Blue Dahlia night club, kissing his wife. After the guests leave, Johnny comes to more bitter shock learning how his son, Dickie, actually died. During a quarrel, Johnny takes out his gun with the intent of killing Helen, but comes to the conclusion she's not worth it. Dropping the gun on the couch, he takes his belongings, leaving the hotel bungalow in disgust. While walking in the rain down the dark streets, a young blonde (Veronica Lake), driving to Malibu, offers him a ride. Before the night is over, Johnny and the blonde part company while Helen, having already entertained three separate visitors in the course of a few hours, is found dead the next morning by Jenny, the housemaid (Mae Busch) with a gun nearby. With Johnny the prime suspect, and Captain Hendrickson (Tom Powers) of the Los Angeles police questioning his friends, Johnny and the blonde continue to meet on different paths after several goodbyes. This time the blonde, believing Johnny innocent, helps him in his search for the real killer. Before coming upon evidence leading him to The Blue Dahlia, Johnny is surprised to find the blonde married to the man with possible motives for his wife's murder.Although the seems to be full of clichés and coincidences throughout, THE BLUE DAHLIA is still first-rate forties-style entertainment. With the Ladd-Lake combination working so well here as it did in their two previous screen efforts, it's a wonder how THE BLUE DAHLIA might have turned out had it starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (Warner Brothers); Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell (20th Century-Fox); Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer (RKO Radio); or John Hodiak and Gloria Grahame (MGM) in their place. With fate on their side, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Ladd-Lake in the leads. With THE BLUE DAHLIA being Ladd's film throughout (94 minutes), there's a brief time out for nightclub singer vocalizing to an old tune, "Easy to Remember" (by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart). Of the supporting players, William Bendix stands out where he realistically goes through spells of mental blackouts, and gets some laughs where he gives a "copper" a hard time in the police department. Fans of the "Leave It to Beaver" TV series (1957-1963) should enjoy seeing Hugh Beaumont years before his legendary TV Dad role of Ward Cleaver. Let's not overlook Howard Da Silva's performance, along with other shady characters as Will Wright (The House Detective) and Don Costello (Leo).Distributed to home video (1998) and DVD (2014), notable cable TV broadcasts consist of American Movie Classics (1995-1999) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 15, 2001). With SHANE (Paramount, 1953) labeled as Ladd's best screen performance, THE BLUE DAHLIA comes a close second, thanks to his confident tough guy image. Though not as well-known as some of the other notable film noir contemporaries from that era, THE BLUE DAHLIA is recommended without hesitation, even for not being a full-fledged nightclub melodrama as the opening credits promised. (***1/2)

Harlan Ames I last saw "The Blue Dahlia" years ago in a college film class. I remember liking it. Now that I've seen it again I find it a mixed bag. There are fine moments but the total package is unsatisfying.The story concerns returning WWII vet Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) going on the run when he's suspected of killing his two-timing wife (Helen Morrison). He's aided by Navy pals George (Hugh Beaumont) and Buzz (William Bendix), the latter suffering from what we now call PTSD. Complicating things are shady night-club owner Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva) and Joyce Harwood, Eddie's sultry ex (Veronica Lake). Johnny dodges miscellaneous thugs, cops, and plot twists in his quest to unmask the real murderer.The script was written by Raymond Chandler. Hollywood legend says Chandler had to get drunk to overcome a writer's block preventing his finishing the job. It's easy to believe, because the script is a mess. Alongside truly great scenes are baffling digressions which belong in a different movie. Joyce's romance with Johnny comes from nowhere and contributes nothing to the narrative. Much has been said about Navy Department pressure forcing the studio to change the killer's identity. Maybe in 1946 a homicidal vet would have shocked audiences, but to this modern viewer it's obvious early on whodunnit. The finished movie's final revelation may not be convincing, but at least it's a surprise.Though he comes close to going over the top in a couple of scenes, William Bendix is terrific as Buzz, the tortured vet. To Chandler's credit Buzz is a complex character. Though basically sympathetic, Buzz's affliction makes him prickly and erratic, a challenge his buddies don't quite know how to handle. Bendix makes the most of a challenging role.The leads are disappointing. Alan Ladd is convincingly tough in only a few scenes. It doesn't help that he's so well-scrubbed and pretty-looking. The part calls for someone with rougher edges. Pretty is about all Veronica Lake has to offer. Many people deride Lake's acting ability, but the real problem is that as Joyce she has nothing to do. Her character could be eliminated with little effect on the story. Doris Dowling is downright bizarre as Helen, the murdered spouse. She expresses inner turmoil by twitching, grimacing, and rubbing her stomach as if she were acting in a silent movie.The surprise of the cast is Howard da Silva. When he first appeared as Eddie Harwood I hated him. He looks like Walt Disney and speaks in a flat, tired voice. He seems anything but a powerful upscale hood. But as the story unwinds we see behind Eddie's facade. Cowed by Helen, yearning hopelessly for lost Joyce, Harwood is in over his head, projecting a smooth image while struggling just to stay afloat. In one of the movie's nicest scenes he finally faces reality. Weary and beaten, he confesses to Johnny that inside he always knew he was a small time guy trying to make it in a world that was way beyond his reach. Da Silva's performance proves to be dead on the money, and Harwood ends up one of the film's richest characters.