The Blue Dahlia (1946)

The Blue Dahlia (1946)

starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix

directed by George Marshall

Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) returns from serving in the South Pacific during World War 2. He finds that Helen, his wife, is carrying on with Eddie Harwood, owner of the Blue Dahlia, a nightclub. Helen turns up dead the next day. Johnny quickly becomes the number one suspect even though she had a couple other visitors that night.

Morrison goes on the run. He calls himself Jimmy Moore. That's the name he gives to Joyce Harwood (Veronica Lake) when she stops to give him a ride. She is separated from her husband Eddie. She doesn't give him her name and he has no idea who she is.

A few people are called in for questioning by the police, including Eddie Harwood and two of Johnny's friends (Buzz Wancheck, George Copeland). Buzz (William Bendix) went out looking for Johnny on the night Helen was killed. He ran into Helen and went back to her place, not realizing who she was, for a drink.

Harwood eventually gets the drop on Johnny. Two of his men, posing as policemen, pick up Johnny. Things don't go exactly as they had planned. 

Thoughts

This is a complicated film. I'm not sure that all the pieces fit together neatly. I would rate it second among the three Ladd and Lake pictures that I have seen so far. My expectations are not high for the fourth and final film that they starred in together but I do want to see it, maybe later this year. Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake may be the top billed stars but it is really his film. Her part in it felt more like a supporting character than it did a starring one. 

I like the twists and turns in this story but some of the plot elements also remind me of The Big Sleep (1946). That isn't two surprising considering that Raymond Chandler wrote both stories. He wrote the novel that The Big Sleep (1946) is based upon. The Blue Dahlia was the one and only original screenplay that he wrote.

The very ending as I understand it isn't what Chandler has in mind. He was forced to re-write it. This film was worth my time. I might even watch it again some day but I wouldn't call it a favorite.