The Black Dahlia
I first heard
about the Black Dahlia murder way back in 1971 when I found an old stack of
True Crime type magazines from the late 1940's and early '50's and read the
story. I was fascinated to say the least. It was a true horror story, telling about young and attractive Elizabeth Short who came to Hollywood, hoping to become a famous actress. But instead of a movie career, what made her truly famous was her murder in 1947 and fame as "The Black Dahlia".
The story of the out of work, 22-year-old waitress has inspired numerous books, hundreds of Web sites (a simple search brings up over a million and a half sites), Australian band a video game for crist's sake.
Most people who follow the story know that on the morning of January 15, 1947, a housewife named Betty Bersinger was going to the store with her young daughter when she saw something like looked like a broken store display dummy in the damp grass. When she saw what it really was, she started running for help while shielding her daughters eyes.
When detectives arrived, they found the site already surrounded by reporters and the viewing public. The two detectives who were assigned to the case, Harry Hansen and Finis Brown began the arduous job of finding out who the victim was and who killed her. The coroner who examined the body said it looked like a professional cut, that the body looked to have been washed clean of blood, and the intestines were tucked neatly under the buttocks.
The LA newspapers began a field day when they found out the name of the victim through the FBI. They wanted to make the story ever more sensational, so the LA Examiner reporters called her mother, Phoebe Short, and told her that Elizabeth was a winner in a beauty contest. After gaining as much personal information about Elizabeth from Mrs. Short as they could, they finally told her that that her daughter was actually dead.
The Police put in thousands of man hours searching for information and a killer. They questions hundreds of men and women in the case.
It is one of the most amazing and tragic stories from Hollywood and one of the most enigmatic. The fact that it is unsolved still intrigues people around the world.
That said, I always thought it would make a great movie. I still do, because the Hollywood fluff piece that is out now sure as heck as very little to do with the story as known.
The Black Dahlia is set in 1940's Los Angeles where two police officers, Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are assigned to investigate the death of Elizabeth Short.
Based on the James Ellroy novel, the film is supposed to be the story of the murder investigation of Short's murder but it soon takes third place over other plot lines that DePalma has put into his film.
The Black Dahlia has already been compared to L.A. Confidential. It has been rumored that it could be up for an Academy Award. But, I think those comparisons and rumors have been started by the studio and DePalma's publicity team then carried on by snooty, college taught 'experts' who wouldn't know a good movie if it bit them on the butt.
After seeing this please, don't even compare it with the L.A. Confidential.
Dahlia is a mess; I heard laughter from the audience and heard at least three other people say, "Oh, come on!" or words to that effect.
While there was a lot of expensive talent on the screen the majority of them either could not act out the scenes correctly, over acted to the point of ridicule or simply could not act worth a crap.
The script was a an unmitigated disaster. While it tried to be a homage to noir, it came off more as a homage to the way to waste over $40 MILLION. The various plots are finally explained by Hartnett's " monologues and not by anything the actors did on screen.
Scarlett Johansson as Kay Lake, former hooker now settles suburban home-maker for Aaron Eckhart's Lee is so over-the-top, she reminded me of Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Heck, she was nothing compared to Fiona Shaw as Ramona Linscott; dear GOD! She was just bad. Yes, I know her character was supposed to be a drunk and crazy to boot but this is just… BAD acting.
I once saw a local Improv team, filled with amateurs who would perform skits ala' Who's Line is it Anyway, and these people out performed Ms. Shaw to the max. Did DePalma intend to make both Ms. Shaw and her character look like that? What does he have against her, anyway?
Oh by the way, Hillary Swank is no Mia Kirshner. If anyone actually showed any hint of talent here it was Ms. Kirshner. She showed emotion, style and grace. If you could just fast forward to all her scenes, I would suggest watching this garbage.
And yes, during her scenes as Short, some of the actual story of Elizabeth Short came out, but you would never know it from the way it was presented.
For me, this was more a film about crooked cops, sexual dysfunction, and betrayal then about the Black Dahlia. In fact, out of the almost two hour film, maybe… MAYBE.. a half an hour was dedicated to the murder of Ms. Short.