The Blue Dahlia is an American film noir directed by George Marshall and written by Raymond Chandler. The film marks the third pairing of stars Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.

Plot

Johnny (Alan Ladd) returns home from the military with buddies Buzz (William Bendix) and George (Hugh Beaumont) to find his wife Helen (Doris Dowling) kissing her new boyfriend, Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva), the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub.

Helen admits her alcoholism caused their son's death. George pulls a gun on her but decides she's not worth it. Later, Helen is found dead and Johnny is the prime suspect. Johnny teams up with Joyce (Veronica Lake), the estranged wife of Eddie Harwood, to help clear his name.

Cast

• Alan Ladd as Johnny Morrison / Jimmy Moore
• Veronica Lake as Joyce Harwood
• William Bendix as Buzz Wanchek
• Howard Da Silva as Eddie Harwood
• Doris Dowling as Helen Morrison
• Hugh Beaumont as George Copeland
• Tom Powers as Captitan Hendrickson
• Howard Freeman as Corelli, Motel operator
• Don Costello as Leo
• Will Wright as Dad Newell
• Frank Faylen as Man, recommending a motel
• Walter Sande as Heath, gangster

Critical reception

The staff at Variety magazine gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Playing a discharged naval flier returning home from the Pacific first to find his wife unfaithful, then to find her murdered and himself in hiding as the suspect, Alan Ladd does a bangup job. Performance has a warm appeal, while in his relentless track down of the real criminal, Ladd has a cold, steel-like quality that is potent. Fight scenes are stark and brutal, and tremendously effective.

Critic Dennis Schwartz called the film, "A fresh smelling film noir directed with great skill by George Marshall from the screenplay of Raymond Chandler (the only one he ever wrote for the screen, his other films were adapted from his novels). It eschews moral judgment in favor of a hard-boiled tale that flaunts its flowery style as its way of swimming madly along in LA's postwar boom and decadence.

Awards

Nominations

• Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Raymond Chandler; 1947.

The Black Dahlia

Real life aspiring actress and 1947 murder victim Elizabeth Short may have been given the name the "Black Dahlia" as a play on this film's title. Universal Studios, the current rights-holder to this film, released The Black Dahlia in 2006 based on Short's murder.

Notes

External links

• The Blue Dahlia at Film Noir of the Week
• The Blue Dahlia at DVD Beaver (includes images)