Review: 'Dahlia' speculates about Hollywood murder

Directed by: Brian De Palma

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirshner

Rated: R

What might have been Part II in the “dying in Hollywood can make you a legend” series that began last week with “Hollywoodland,” turns out to be quite a different piece of work than the above tagline implies.

Brian De Palma’s “The Black Dahlia” owes more to modern day films noir like “L.A. Confidential” and “Chinatown” than to celebrity murder mysteries like “Hollywoodland,” “Auto Focus” and “Star 80.”

“The Black Dahlia” is based on a crime novel written by James Ellroy. While both the book and the film use the murder of Hollywood starlet Elizabeth Short as the frame on which the plot hangs, most of the characters and events in “Dahlia” are the stuff of fiction.

Short was a beautiful girl in her early 20s who, like so many other young beauties during the post World War II years, came to Hollywood dreaming of stardom. She did screen tests and made the nightlife scene in hopes of making connections. Only in death did she achieve her dream. Her body – cut in half, disemboweled, face split ear to ear – was found Jan. 15, 1947. The murder was the most heinous in Los Angeles in the 1940s. The press labeled Short “The Black Dahlia.” She was often seen around town dressed entirely in black, and a film based on Raymond Chandler’s book “The Blue Dahlia” was popular at the time.

As often happens in cases such as this, a number of people confessed to the crime but no suspects panned out. The case remains officially unsolved nearly 60 years later.

Those are facts at hand when De Palma and Ellroy begin their tale.

Josh Hartnett plays ex-boxer Bucky Bleichert, who is now with the L.A. Police Department. He returns to the ring for a charity event where he boxes cop Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart). The fight is a success and Bleichert gets a promotion, becoming Blanchard’s partner. The two are on “warrant” detail, staking out and bringing in parole and probation absconders. Fans of “L.A. Confidential” will recognize Blanchard as the doppelgänger of Russell Crowe’s character. Both are cops who get really upset with guys who prey on women.

Blanchard becomes obsessed with the Betty Short case. This leads to problems with his girlfriend, Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson). She, Blanchard and Bleichert have formed somewhat of a platonic ménage a trios, but as the story unfolds, we realize Lake and Blanchard have some skeletons in a shared closet.

Also entering the scene is heiress Madeleine Linscott (Hillary Swank), who was an acquaintance of Short’s. Linscott is first introduced as a lesbian, living in fear her very eccentric family will discover her secrets. It’s soon clear that the young woman likes men as well; she and Bleichert hit the sheets more than once. Like everyone in the film, the Linscotts have many secrets. Even Bleichert has secrets, although the audience is aware of the dive he took in order to put his ailing father in a decent nursing home.

In the middle of the film, De Palma breaks the heavy tension with one of the most hilariously uncomfortable dinner parties ever presented on screen. Fiona Shaw as Madeleine Linscott’s perpetually soused and snobbish mother does enough scenery-chewing to be too full for dinner. Mr. Linscott and little sister round out a family that makes Michael Jackson seem almost normal.

Things begin coming together, some may argue too conveniently and with characters we barely know, in Act III when Ellroy conjures up the elaborate “fakets” (fake facts) surrounding the cause and means of Short’s death.

Be forewarned: Make your trips to the concession stand and elsewhere before the final act or you’ll never figure out exactly who did what and to whom.

It’s not on par with director Curtis Hanson and screenwriter Brian Helgeland’s “L.A. Confidential,” but the cast and their performances rise above Josh Friedman’s somewhat choppy (especially late in the film) screenplay.

De Palma’s direction is stylish as usual, and he’s aided immensely by the impeccable work of veteran cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. Original noir films were shot in black and white, but Zsigmond’s color fits the form beautifully. It’s hard to explain.

“The Black Dahlia” doesn’t necessarily look like “real life” circa 1947, but it’s the way a great-looking film of the time should look. It’s not retro or nostalgic but is somehow evocative of that era.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]