The Blue Dahlia (1946)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.2/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Guionista:

Raymond Chandler (written by)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

19 abril 1946 (USA)

Género:

Crimen | Drama | Cine Negro | Misterio | Suspenso

Frase comercial:

Tamed by a brunette - framed by a blonde - blamed by the cops!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Nightclub | Nightclub Owner | Drunkenness | Unfaithful Wife

Premios:

Nominated for Oscar.

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Third Ladd/Lake pairing not all it's cracked up to be

Reparto

Alan Ladd	...	Johnny Morrison - Lt.Cmdr., ret.
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 - Motel Operator
Don Costello	...	Leo
Will Wright	...	'Dad' Newell
Frank Faylen	...	Man Recommending a Motel
Walter Sande	...	Heath - Gangster
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Dick Elliott	...	Motor Court Owner (scenes deleted)
Milton Kibbee	...	Night Hotel Clerk (scenes deleted)

También conocida como:

La dalia azul (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

96 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Clasificación:

UK:A | Norway:16 (1947) | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Finland:(Banned) (1947-1953) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #10874)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA

Compañía:

Paramount Pictures

Trivialidades:

Shortly after this film released, a young woman named Elizabeth Short was murdered in Los Angeles. 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.

Citas:

Eddie Harwood: I know I've got lots of faults, but being in love with you isn't one of them, is it?

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Electra Glide in Blue (1973)

Banda de Sonido:

THE BLUE DAHLIA

Third Ladd/Lake pairing not all it's cracked up to be

The Blue Dahlia is among the dozen or so titles that movie buffs would identify instantly as film noir. Certainly, it boasts all the proper credentials: Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake reunited for their third outing together (after This Gun For Hire and The Glass Key); a sinister supporting cast including William Bendix, Howard Da Silva and Hugh Beaumont; and an original screenplay by none other than Raymond Chandler.

It almost lives up to its reputation. Returning Navy hero Ladd finds that the wife he left behind has turned into (or always was) a faithless party girl, who killed their young son in a drunken accident. He walks out on her, later to learn she's been murdered. Hunted by the police, he's befriended by Lake, who turns out to be rather intimately involved in much of what happened....

Many noirs suffered from studio-imposed "happy" endings but generally kept their integrity until the closing few frames. The changes wrought on The Blue Dahlia, however, severely compromise it. Chandler's original killer was to be Ladd's war-buddy Bendix, the loose cannon with a steel plate in his head, erupting in pounding headaches and blackout rages whenever he hears "jungle music" -- the sexually liberating beat of postwar prosperity. Rejecting this ending as an insult to the gallant men who had won the war, Paramount, pressured by the Navy, forced Chandler to resort to a lame "the-butler-did-it" conclusion. Unfortunately, that compromise splashes back through the length of the movie, making little sense of Bendix' performance -- even of his presence, except as the rankest of red herrings -- and turning what might have been a topical and disturbing film noir into just another glossy '40s murder mystery.