Monday 13 June 2016

The Blue Dahlia (1945 George Marshall)

Airforce buddies Alan Ladd, William Bendix and Hugh Beaumont arrive in LA and are embroiled when Ladd's wife Doris Dowling is murdered. Was it creepy nightclub boss Howard da Silva, or sleazy hotel dick Will Wright? Raymond Chandler will explain all... Ladd's OK because he runs into Veronica Lake (although she is da Silva's ex).

Interesting in that PTSD is a plot feature, though not named as such. Film really is more of a whodunit than a noir, with exciting bits. Interesting assertion by Tom Milne (in Time Out) that the Navy wouldn't allow the Bendix character to actually be the killer.

Shot in an unspectacular manner by Lionel Linden, for Paramount.


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