Watch The Blue Dahlia For Free

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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

It is inevitable that films date, especially those of the film noir/femme fatale type which were so specific to the 1945-1955 period, possibly in response to the end of World War II. Suffice it to look at the cars on show to know that the film is dated, so to me, dated or otherwise matters not one iota. What matters is the actual story and relations among the characters.In this case, the main character, Navy skipper Morrison (played by Alan Ladd) returns home from the war to find his wife throwing a party, and bestowing her attentions on the rather smug top villain Harwood (Howard da Silva), whose real name is Bauer (a German name, to boot).Ladd's character is Hamlet-like, seemingly moving between Malibu and other places to stay away from his wife, but never staying, and in the process he meets Lake, who -- small world -- is married to Harwood. But the two are such decent and good people that, though obviously in love with each other, never take it further. Despite being the leads, they do not even appear for that long on the screen, their acting ability is not particularly evident, and Lake's character, in particular, is so bland that anyone could have played it. Of course, they were the hot duo of the day after the success of THIS GUN FOR HIRE, and the studio capitalized on that popularity, but their relationship does not have much of an impact on proceedings.Fellow soldier William Bendix, with a metal plate in his head, and constantly forgetting things, steals the show, as does the blackmailing motel caretaker played by Will Wright.What seems to begin as an action film noir, eventually turns into a whodunnit, which does not make it exactly credible. The supposed femme fatale, Morrison's deceitful wife, dies early on, so she is fatal to herself. Lake's character is slightly duplicitous - married to Bauer but in love with Morrison - but she is otherwise a kind soul, certainly no femme fatale.Those are some of the holes in Raymond Chandler's screenplay. George Marshall's direction is assured but average, and photography is possibly the film's strongest aspect. 7/10.

The decorated veteran comes back home to find the butterfly wife maintaining her ways. He wasn't too shocked, since he knew her manners, but thought that she would have changed post motherhood. He was still ready to forgive her, and try to have another go but when she blurted out, that she was the reason of the son's death, the bond was broken, and he walked out. Her current lover too was bored of her, and preferred that she kept herself to her husband and leave him alone, probably so that he could get his estranged wife back. The spurned lover had a secret, and she threatened him with exposure, unless he came back to her, and remained so. Meanwhile the wife calls the husband's friends, to locate him, and his closest friend, with a mental disorder due to injury, making him violent as well as semi-amnesic in presence of loud noise, comes over to understand what went wrong and collect the man, and escort him back to his place. He doesn't find him, but finds the wife, who puts a dope on him, to his horror and repugnance, when he comes to know that this woman was his best friends wife. At night the philandering wife is killed, and then it is who dunnit. Husband, the prime suspect, we know didn't, but police thought otherwise. He has the maximum motive to kill the wife, unfaithful as well as son's killer. Then the lover, whom she was turning into her puppet, courtesy some damning secret she had on him. The husband's best friend, who abhorred her so much, that under the trauma (the loud music she was playing), he could have killed her. The paramour's partner/manager who wanted the paramour to be rid of her and may be a few more. The movie moves along in nice pace, and there are nothing very strikingly discordant about it. The meeting of the protagonist, was chance, but these chances, even in real life, creates stories, so I won't harp on that. If I start on it, even "It happened One Night" was pure chance, and in any real life story, there would be many such factors, which would direct the course. Was it fantastic? I don't think it was entirely improbable or bordering on impossibility. Of the whole story, there are a few factors which does border on very high improbability, and those should have been modified.First was entirely useless. The husband throwing the gun disdainfully before leaving. No one would do that. He definitely didn't leave it, so that the wife could use it on herself, since it was clear she didn't have any intention of doing that. Then why? The investigation in fact didn't harp on the gun used for killing being husband's service revolver. So this unnecessary sequence could have been avoided, disdain could have been shown without it.The much more improbable was the son's death, or the circumstances. The wife was a man-eater and highly 'spirit'-ed woman. With that set-up, I don't suppose she would be taking her son to the parties, where she was hunting for fish. First the presence of the son would be a deterrent on her intended targets, he would have an effect much more than a chaperone has. Second, the son was not baby but a boy. Any normal woman would keep him away from her private activities. The death, due to her carelessness, even may be under intoxication, could have been better managed. Another question arises, how did the paramour know she was murdered, when it could have been a suicide as well? It was brought in to make him prime suspect, in the eyes of audience. But then it should have been explained how he knew. That wasn't done. Except these few incongruities, I didn't find any stark one. The romantic angle between Ms Lake and Ladd had been kept on a very low profile, but that is understood. She was still married, may be estranged, and may be was no more in love, but still did care for her husband's welfare. So starting a torrid romance would have been a bit eyesore, and it remained at the stage, where she cared, may be a bit more than care, to provide the irrefutable alibi of his innocence, but still not in head over heels in love.Ladd, Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Lake, Helen Morrison etc fitted the role. Don Costello seemed a bit soft for his line of work, a bit, but not too incongruous. In fact the one I found a bit puzzling was the second friend, George Copeland (Hugh Beaumont), the lawyer. He was almost villainous, most unsympathetic to the protagonist. This isn't really understood, especially when the hero had been the life saver for both, as they claimed, in many sorties.

All right, so this is not a perfect film by any means but it does make for a pretty good film noir. In parts, the film does seem a bit rushed and chaotic. However, that all makes when you read the trivia section of the film on IMDb- the production of the film itself was rushed due to several factors, including Alan Ladd's expected induction back into the military service.After seeing several of her films, including this one, I can honestly say Veronica Lake is a fascinating screen presence in all of her scenes. She and Ladd,whatever their differences may have been in real life, did have real chemistry on-screen.Lake may not be the best actress there ever was, but she had a certain charisma about her in all of her roles, and although this role doesn't demand very much, she makes the most of her time in the role. She was also very beautiful, and my eyes always go right towards her whenever she is on-screen (no offense to Ladd.) Hers is a very sad story of how quickly a film career can go south, and I find it kind of sad that she was branded so difficult to work with by many of her co-stars.Fortunately, a lot more is understood about mental illness these days, and some actors (Catherine Zeta Jones is one example) who suffer from it can still enjoy a successful career. Lake had a truly outstanding role in "So Proudly We Hail!" and you can really see how talented she actually was in that film. It's hard to believe she was so young both when when her career started and ended.The supporting cast of this film is also great. It's nice to see Hugh Beaumont play a role other than Ward Cleaver, and Doris Dowling is a stunning woman, even as Alan Ladd's nasty wife. All in all, it's a fun movie and I'm glad I discovered it.

I've watched this movie over a few times recently, not because it's a flawless noir masterpiece—it isn't—but to enjoy the characterization, the period feel and that unique Chandler dialogue. The parts add up to much more than the whole, I'd say. In discussing some key moments below, I will avoid giving away any plot details or the ending.A word in defence of Doris Dowling (as Helen). There's lots of compassion for Buzz, whose war injury and experiences cause him to act erratically, but poor Helen gets little sympathy for her own trauma. We presume a good egg like Johnny wouldn't have married her if she'd been a bad sort, but she's accidentally caused the death of her little boy through negligence by driving while drunk (his photo is evidently Alan Ladd as a child). Unable to live with the crushing guilt, and with her husband the other side of the world, she's crawled into a bottle, something Chandler could write so well from experience. She spends her time tipsy, a lush surrounding herself with good-timers and having casual affairs to drown out the memory, just to get through the days. Then war-hero Johnny suddenly turns up and she's confronted with the man whose son she's killed. That dreadful guilt resurfaces and, bitter and self-loathing, she blurts out the whole sorry tale, baiting Johnny so she can make him hurt as she does (and probably to evoke enough hatred in him to make him mete out the punishment she deep-down feels she deserves). It works almost too well, though, as he pulls a gun on her—but, moments later, regaining his self-control, he walks out, deciding she isn't worth it. Later, regretful, she unsuccessfully tries to contact him, then takes off for the hotel bar.I feel it's unfair to criticize as 'hammy' or over-dramatic Dowling's acting in the bungalow scenes—it was George Marshall's job to get it just the way he wanted it and, whether laughing hysterically, wincing, or tugging absent-mindedly on the phone wire, Doris must have been closely following his directions.She seems nicely at home once at the bar, where some of my favourite moments take place. Buzz (in a coincidence too far, to be honest) wanders in as he waits to meet Helen then, almost by accident, picks her up, unaware she's the very woman he's waiting to see. For two solid minutes, she is cool, appealing, beautiful, and they share some cute mutual wisecracking. She and Buzz head off to her bungalow so he can make a call. When he hesitates momentarily, she stands in the pouring rain in her slinky outfit and looks back at him, taunting him playfully: "What's the matter? Scared?" She flashes a winsome smile and turns on her heel, an invitation no red-blooded male could resist (just as I couldn't resist that period term, sorry!) Unfortunately, Veronica Lake never gets quite such a seductive moment in this film. Anyone who knows Chandler's bio will appreciate why he will have identified far more closely with Helen's character than with any other in the drama.A typically underplayed Chandler one-liner crops up when Eddie learns from concerned business partner Leo that his beloved ex, Joyce (Lake), has left a message saying she's quit town 'to save money on flowers' as obviously, she was receiving too many of Eddie's signature blue dahlias…Eddie (morosely): "She could have told me that herself." Leo: "Maybe she figured it would sound worse, coming from me."And Buzz's interplay down at the station house with the old cop is priceless, too.An imperfect film written by an imperfect man, sure, but with enough fine moments to satisfy any Chandler aficionado.