The Blue Dahlia (1946)

The Blue Dahlia is an American thriller film first released in 1946, directed by George Marshall.  The film stars Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva and Doris Dowling.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


Naval officer Johnny Morrison returns home after serving in the war with two of his colleagues, George Copeland and Buzz Wanchek.  On his arrival at the family home he chances upon a party hosted by his wife Helen and her new boyfriend Eddie Harwood, the owner of a swanky nightclub The Blue Dahlia.   When Helen admits to having been drunk on the night she killed their infant son in a car accident, Johnny walks out on her.  On his way, he hitches a lift from an attractive young woman named Joyce who is glad of his company.  The next day, Johnny learns that his wife has been murdered and that he is the prime suspect.  Johnny is convinced that Harwood killed her to prevent her from exposing his murky past, so he is taken aback when his friend Buzz confesses to the murder...

This quintessential film noir thriller brings together legendary performers Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake for the third time, following their appearances in two other film noir classics: This Gun for Hire (1942) and The Glass Key (1942).   As in their previous eventful rencontres, Ladd is the cute hardboiled hero who has a habit of getting into fierce brawls with trigger-happy lowlife, while Lake is the smoulderingly seductive femme fatale who looks as if she is about to spontaneously combust at any moment.  An explosive combination.  

The taut, well-structured screenplay was written by the celebrated crime writer Raymond Chandler, and was in fact the only one he wrote especially for the screen.  Thanks to a severe case of writer’s block, he was still typing out the script whilst the film was being shot.  In typical Chandler-esque fashion, the plot is a dense and labyrinthine morass of intrigue and duplicity, lightened by shots of dark humour.

Although not as stylish or intense as other film noir thrillers from this period, The Blue Dahlia is an enjoyable example of the genre, well-directed, well-acted and imaginatively shot.  It is somewhat unusual in that it is constructed as a traditional murder mystery, which broadens its appeal somewhat – although anyone who manages to correctly identify the killer deserves to be appointed Head of Scotland Yard.

© James Travers 2008

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