SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

JelenaG890 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.

Tweekums When US Navy pilot Johnny Morrison returns home from the war in the Pacific he is understandably angered to find his wife partying with another man, Eddie Harwood, owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub. She is far from apologetic. He threatens her with a gun put then tells her she isn't worth it before leaving her, and the gun. As he walks through the rain he is picked up by attractive blonde, Joyce Harwood, she is Eddie's ex although at this point in the story neither knows the others name.That night Johnny's friend Buzz, who is suffering from constant headaches and PTSD after a war injury, goes to find him but ends up meeting his wife. The next morning she is found dead and the police consider Johnny to be the prime suspect after the house detective tells them he caught the pair arguing. When Johnny hears about this he decides not to turn himself in; instead he checks into a cheap hotel; here he finds a message from his late wife on the back of a photograph; it suggests that Eddie is in fact a killer on the run… a clear motive for murder.This is a pretty solid film noir from the pen of Raymond Chandler. We know that Johnny is innocent but there is a good sense of danger and a real mystery about who really did it; Buzz and Eddie may be the prime suspects but they aren't the only possibilities. The cast do a good job; Alan Ladd impresses as Johnny and Doris Dowling is delightfully unpleasant as his doomed wife. Veronica Lake is solid enough as Joyce; she is clearly meant to be the leading lady but her character is a little bland… perhaps this seemed so because I was expecting her to be more of a femme fatale. The story does rely on coincidence a little too much but not enough to really bother me. The ending is the film's greatest weakness; I wasn't surprised to learn that this wasn't the ending that was planned but a last minute change to avoid having a returning serviceman shown as a killer. Overall this is a fine film noir that I'm sure fans of the genre will enjoy.

tomgillespie2002 George Marshall's The Blue Dahlia marked the third time leads Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake starred together in a film noir - following This Gun for Hire and The Glass Key (both 1942) - and, more notably, the first time that legendary author Raymond Chandler penned an original screenplay. Chandler's infamous struggle to finish the screenplay after the studio refused to shoot his original ending - while filming was rushed through in fear of Ladd having to return to the Army - works both in favour of the film and against it. On one hand, The Blue Dahlia is a rather scrappy, messy noir, lending it a certain ruggedness, and on the other hand the film's climax seems rather sudden and out of the blue.Three discharged Navy officers, Johnny (Ladd), Buzz (William Bendix) and George (Hugh Beaumont), arrive home after serving in the South Pacific. Before Johnny returns to his wife Helen (Doris Dowling), the three stop for a drink and almost get into a fight when Buzz, suffering from shell shock and a metal plate in his head following a war injury, demands that a fellow officer turn off the loud 'monkey music' that causes him to suffer from delusions. At his home, Johnny returns to discover his wife drunk and having a none-too-discreet affair with nightclub owner Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva). Livid, Johnny threatens her with a pistol before leaving and eventually hitching a ride with Joyce Harwood (Lake), who just happens to be Eddie's ex. When Helen turns up dead the next day, Johnny finds himself on the run from the law with a mystery to unravel.While it was understandably overshadowed by Howard Hawks' masterpiece The Big Sleep released the same year, The Blue Dahlia is a solid piece of film-making, bolstered by a suspenseful central murder mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. Ladd is suitably stoic and hard-boiled as the protagonist, but the film undoubtedly belongs to Bendix as the unpredictable and somewhat tragic damaged war hero, with the film's opening scene establishing just how lovable yet threatening his character can be. Chandler didn't warm to Veronica Lake, famously dubbing her 'Moronica Lake' and suggesting she works best when she keeps her mouth shut and sits pretty. His comment was certainly unfair - Lake was an enigmatic screen presence - and Chandler punishes her with a rather slight amount of screen-time and a character who fails to offer any real impact on the plot. Still, this is a clever, engrossing noir, with special mention also going to Da Silva, one of the victims of the Hollywood blacklist.

SnoopyStyle Bomber crew Buzz Wanchek (William Bendix), George Copeland, and Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) return home after fighting in the war. Johnny finds his hard drinking wife Helen partying with her boyfriend Eddie Harwood who owns the Blue Dahlia nightclub. She makes a show of how he's going to beat her to everybody at the party. She confesses that she was drunk when she crashed her car killing their son. He pulls out his gun but throws it on the chair instead of shooting her. He walks out on her. She calls Buzz and he comes over to the hotel. They meet without knowing each other. Buzz is suffering from war trauma. Meanwhile Eddie's estranged wife Joyce (Veronica Lake) happens to picks up Johnny out walking in the rain. Later, Helen is found killed with Johnny's gun and he is the prime suspect.Veronica Lake is great. The movie needs more of her in the movie. The wife played by Doris Dowling is also great but she's gone pretty quickly. The story has one unbelievable coincident. Other than that, this is a fine noir crime drama. Although it spends too much time with the investigation. It would have been better staying with Alan Ladd and keeping Veronica Lake with him. The two of them together is the best thing in the movie and there is not nearly enough time with the pair.