The Blue Dahlia is directed by George Marshall and written by Raymond Chandler. It stars Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix & Howard Da Silva. Plot sees Ladd playing a navy officer who returns home to his unfaithful wife after fighting in the South Pacific. When she is found murdered he is the number one suspect, he must find who is responsible before it's too late.

Legend has it that Paramount Pictures were so pleased about the success of Double Indemnity, and in particular Raymond Chandler's writing on it, they handed the writer a contract, where, he produced this tightly wound film noir piece. Nominated for an Academy Award, Chandler had in fact had to give up his teetotaller way of life (he was a recovering alcoholic) so as to gain inspiration for the story. Also of note is that his original ending was shelved after objections by the U.S. Military Department, shame, because I believe that an already good film could have been a better one with Chandler's original denouement. Oh well, what's left is still rather rewarding to the genre faithful.

After This Gun for Hire and The Glass Key, this was the third pairing of Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake. Their working chemistry set in stone, it's nice that the film doesn't solely rely on the pair to make Chandler's material work. True enough their scenes have a tenderness to them, acting as a sort of warm place to go to when the harsher aspects in the plot hit home hard, but the film is far more than just the Ladd & Lake show. What marks it out as a worthy point of reference in the film noir cycle, is that it delves into the psyche of the servicemen returning home from the war. Observing how they were being received and showing that some of them also carried emotional scars as well as those ones gained in battle. Then Chandler mixes it in with a hard-boiled murder investigation as our wrongly accused protagonist trawls the mean streets of L.A. searching to clear his name. With that comes grungy premises' and periods of brutal violence, all cloaked moodily by the competent Marshall. Ladd does good work, very appealing yet tough, but it's Bendix who steals the movie with an intense portrayal of an ex serviceman with psychological issues.

With the original ending and a deeper exploration of the war veterans not being warmly received on homecoming, The Blue Dahlia would have been close to being a genre classic. The script and Bendix ensure, tho, that it's still very easy to recommend to like minded fans of the genre and its dark alley offshoots. 7.5/10

This is a very enjoyable film and if I were scoring it just on how much I like the film, I might give it a 9 or 10. However, the film isn't perfect--just very enjoyable.

Alan Ladd returns home from the service along with two war buddies (Hugh Beaumont and William Bendix). Bendix's brain is a bit scrambled due to a head wound he got in the war and he seems a bit punchy throughout the film. Beaumont is on hand mostly to keep an eye on Bendix. As for Ladd, he's returning to his old ball and chain--leaving the other two in an apartment they rent together. However, Ladd is shocked to see that his darling wife is a good time girl and it seems pretty obvious she was playing the field while he was in the service. To make things worse, he finds out that his dead son died because his wife was too busy partying to watch him and naturally Ladd hot foots it outta there. Soon after this, the dame gets it and it's assumed Ladd done it due to their big blow up at the apartment. When Ladd finds out he's wanted, he takes it on the lam and intends to prove he was innocent (I always wanted to use 40s lingo in one of my reviews).

As for the quality of the film, it's pretty good. Ladd is at his laconic best and watching him fight off a couple thugs late in the film was a treat. Veronica Lake, a frequent co-star with Ladd, is on hand and she actually underplays it a bit. Howard Da Silva is a slimy jerk in the film--something he really excelled at during the 30s, 40s and 50s before finding a new image as Ben Franklin in 1776. As for Beaumont, he's just fine though I do think Bendix played the brain-addled role perhaps too broadly--it certainly was NOT a subtle performance. The best lines in the film, though, came from none of these guys but were very clever Film Noir one liners from the cops--they came off as the typical smart but very cynical law men--very, very typical of the style of Raymond Chandler who wrote the story. Like other Chandler films (THE BIG SLEEP, DOUBLE INDEMNITY and FAREWELL MY LOVELY),the biggest star of the film was the writing and incredibly great dialog that made the film very enjoyable indeed.

The only negative about the film is that Chandler's original story was changed and frankly I think having the brain-injured friend (Bendix) be the killer would have been a lot better. Pinning it on the house detective made little sense--as they really had no proof he'd done it and it required a "Perry Mason moment" (i.e., a guy confessed out of the blue with no evidence that he'd done it). Very sloppy, but you certainly can't blame Chandler for this--blame some stupid studio hacks that were afraid to hurt the image of the US military since the guy was supposed to be a returning vet who was injured in the line of duty. Had they kept the original vision, it would have scored even higher.

A big draw into seeing 'The Blue Dahlia' was Raymond Chandler. Have always really liked his writing and his work has been adapted into very good to great films, and it is even more of a big draw when seeing that he also wrote the script for the film. Have found numerous times that there are fine examples of authors adapting their work for the screen. With such talent in front of and behind the camera, one naturally thinks how could it possibly go wrong?

The good news is that 'The Blue Dahlia' doesn't go wrong. It is actually very much right, not flawlessly executed but there are so many exceptional qualities here that lift it to an even better level and outweigh the few issues (as a result of rushed production mainly). And do think that 'The Blue Dahlia', unmistakably written by Chandler adapted from his own original story, is among the better, even if not quite among the most well-known, film adaptations of Chandler's work. Chandler is always well worth reading and much of the films and such that adapt his work make for fun and tense films, the case here on both counts.

Will get the not so good things out of the way. Rushed production does show in at times rushed pacing which made for some occasionally careless storytelling.

Its biggest fault though is the ending. The reveal is surprising and didn't see it coming, but the way it was revealed was too out of the blue and it felt like a forced tacking on (which it apparently essentially was) and too different to everything that came before, and then it finishes too abruptly.

Hard not to be frustrated by that, because everything else is terrific. Could tell that the photography and editing were done by masters of their craft and it shows in their atmospheric moodiness and tightness. The production design is equally atmospheric, enhanced by the noir-ish lighting that matches the story's bleakness well. Victor Young's score is pure ominous class and George Marshall directs adeptly.

Chandler's style is all over the film, the intelligence, wit and hard-boiled edge present throughout without ever being forced. The story is on the most part very taut and tightly structured, with enough tension and suspense to satisfy, so much else that any lack of logic for me was ignorable. Also found the fight sequences remarkably brutal by Paramount at the time standards. Found the characters interesting and well-written, and the performances are all round good. Doris Dowling fares weakest, but only because what she has is not much and she actually makes the most of it. Alan Ladd is suitably steely and he shares sizzling chemistry in a deliciously sultry Veronica Lake. William Bendix makes a brave role to take on entertaining to watch but also relatable in a way, and Howard DaSilva is just fine as well.

Overall, very good and a must for Chandler fans. 8/10