The Black Dahlia (2006)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers (WGA):

Josh Friedman (screenplay)
James Ellroy (novel)

Release Date:

15 September 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Inspired by the most notorious unsolved murder in California history.

Plot:

Two policemen see their personal and professional lives fall apart in the wake of the "Black Dahlia" murder investigation.

Plot Keywords:

Black Dahlia | Murder | Death | Actress | 1940s

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Josh Hartnett	...	Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert
Scarlett Johansson	...	Kay Lake
Aaron Eckhart	...	Lee Blanchard
Hilary Swank	...	Madeleine Linscott
Mia Kirshner	...	Elizabeth Short
Mike Starr	...	Det. Russ Millard
Fiona Shaw	...	Ramona Linscott
Patrick Fischler	...	Deputy DA Ellis Loew
James Otis	...	Dolph Bleichert
John Kavanagh	...	Emmett Linscott
Troy Evans	...	Chief Ted Green
Anthony Russell	...	Morrie Friedman
Pepe Serna	...	Tomas Dos Santos
Angus MacInnes	...	Capt. John Tierney (as Angus MacInnis)
Rachel Miner	...	Martha Linscott

Also Known As:

Black Dahlia (Germany)
Die schwarze Dahlie (Germany) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and language.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:MA | Ireland:16 (theatrical rating) | UK:15 | Canada:14A (British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:18A (Manitoba) | Malaysia:18PL | Indonesia:Dewasa | Singapore:M18 | Philippines:R-18 | Taiwan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Germany:16 | Finland:K-15 | Greece:K-13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R (certificate #41496) | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Brazil:16 | Spain:18 | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | Denmark:15

Filming Locations:

Alto-Nido Apartments -1851 N. Ivar Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The voice behind the camera interviewing the Black Dahlia is Brian De Palma himself

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Elizabeth Short's police booking photo from 1943 uses the typeface Eurostile, which was created in 1951.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ofcr. Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert: [voiceover] Mr. Fire versus Mr. Ice. For everything people were making it out to be, you'd think it was our first fight. It wasn't. And it wouldn't be our last.

Movie Connections:

References Black Angel (1946)

Soundtrack:

In the Mood

over-the-top mess

Anybody expecting to get a great account of the Black Dahlia case, even fictional, will be disappointed going in to this movie. Of course, I knew that it was a fictionalization of the case, but I had no idea the movie would present its own evidence and draw its own conclusions.

But the main problem here is not the lack of factual detail, so much as the confusion of plot that surrounds and overwhelms the Black Dahlia case itself. So much plot and character and sideplots and backstory are built around the central characters that the case itself seems like a distraction. A key plot point and character motivator is the fascination of the two detectives with the murder, but this is never elaborated enough in the film, and we're left to half-heartedly guess at the character motivations.

The tone is never consistently campy, but when the camp arrives it overwhelms the story. A dinner scene between a suspect and her family had the crowd in stitches (the only scene during which the audience laughed). The problem is that the scene is valuable to the plot and should never have been played for laughs. Hitchcock or even Lynch could have shot the same scene, with the same events and dialogue, and made it menacing and creepy, which it needed to be to function in the mystery.

Other problems: De Palma uses the lesbian angle of the movie (never a part of the case) to full exploitative advantage, and the actresses seem unable to master to the expressive 1940s style acting that would have come naturally to even a marginal 40s star.

Although the film brings a clearcut finale rather than a vague puzzle, too many loose threads come together too neatly and rather than bringing the film to a satisfactory conclusion, it leaves you scratching your head, is this what I spent the last 2 hours waiting to hear? Overall, there is too much plot, too little character development and a wildly uneven tone. The movie has its moments but it's a blinding mess all together.