The Blue Dahlia
| The Blue Dahlia | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | George Marshall |
| Produced by | John Houseman |
| Screenplay by | Raymond Chandler |
| Starring |
Alan Ladd Veronica Lake William Bendix |
| Music by |
Robert Emmett Dolan Harry Simeone Bernie Wayne Victor Young |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
| Edited by | Arthur P. Schmidt |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,750,000 (US rentals) 1,063,165 admissions (France) |
The Blue Dahlia is a 1946 film noir, directed by George Marshall based on an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler. The film marks the third pairing of stars Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. It was Chandler's first original screenplay.
Three discharged United States Navy officers, Johnny Morrison, Buzz Wanchek and George Copeland, arrive in Hollywood, California. All three flew together in the same flight crew in the South Pacific. Buzz has a shell shock and a metal plate in his head above his ear.
While George and Buzz get a flat together, Johnny surprises his wife Helen at her old apartment, which is patrolled by a house detective, "Dad" Newell. He discovers that she is having an affair with Eddie Harwood, owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Helen, drunk, confesses to Johnny that their son Dickie, who Johnny believed died of diphtheria, actually died in a car crash that occurred because she was driving drunk. Newell sees Johnny and Helen fight. Later Johnny pulls a gun on Helen, but drops it and leaves.
Buzz goes out to find Johnny. He meets Helen and, unaware of her identity, goes to her bungalow for a drink.
Eddie breaks up with Helen, but Helen blackmails him into seeing her again.
Johnny is picked up in the rain by Joyce Harwood, who is separated from Eddie. Neither reveals their name, and they spend the night in separate rooms in a Malibu inn. The next morning, they have breakfast and he decides to give his marriage another chance. Then the radio announces that Helen has been murdered and that Johnny is suspected.
The police interview Newell, Harwood, Buzz and George.
After Johnny checks into a cheap hotel under an assumed name, Corelli, the hotel manager, finds Johnny's photo of himself with Dickie and tries to blackmail him. Johnny beats Corelli up, then discovers that on the back of the photo, Helen has revealed that Eddie is really Bauer, a murderer wanted in New Jersey.
Corelli revives and sells information on Johnny's identity to a gangster named Leo, who kidnaps him.
Buzz and George visit Eddie at the Blue Dahlia, and Joyce introduces herself. As Joyce picks at a blue dahlia flower, the nightclub's music sets off a painful ring in Buzz's head, and lapsing into a fit, he remembers the agonizing music he heard while at Helen's bungalow as she played with a blue dahlia.
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Wikipedia