The blue dahlia

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Movie
German title The blue dahlia
Original title The Blue Dahlia
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1946
length 96 minutes
Rod
Director George Marshall
script Raymond Chandler
production John Houseman for Paramount Pictures
music Robert Emmett Dolan
Harry Simeone
Bernie Wayne
Victor Young
camera Lionel Lindon
cut Arthur P. Schmidt
occupation

The blue dahlia (original title The Blue Dahlia ) is a film noir from 1946, which was directed by George Marshall , with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in the lead roles. It is about a returning war veteran who is suspected of murder when his unfaithful wife is murdered.

action

Johnny Morrison is discharged from the army along with his friends Buzz and George. Johnny returns to his wife, Helen, and finds that she is having a wild party and flirting with nightclub owner Eddie Harwood. He ends the party and confronts Helen that she is a notorious alcoholic. A heated argument ensues in which Johnny also learns that their son did not die of diphtheria during his absence , but rather that Helen's drunkenness was the cause of his death. Johnny leaves his wife with the picture of his son, but in his anger he does not take his pistol with him. After informing his friends Buzz and George over the phone that he will show up shortly, but that doesn't happen, Buzz goes in search of Johnny and runs into Helen by chance in the hotel bar. She had called her friend Eddie Harwood shortly before, but now that Helen's husband has shown up, he no longer wants to hear from her. The next morning, Helen Morrison is found murdered in her apartment, shot with Johnny's pistol.

Johnny was taken in the car the night before by a mysterious blonde who was on her way to Malibu. After all, they both stay in the same hotel. Johnny has no idea that the blonde named Joyce is Eddie Harwood's wife, who lives separately from him. She makes advances to him, but Johnny doesn't care. Radio stations reported Helen's death the next day and the police were looking for Johnny, not only on the radio but also in the press. This escapes from the hotel; Joyce now has an inkling of his true identity, having watched him leave in a hurry and overheard the news. Johnny can be taken to a seedy dump . Its owner Corelli sniffs his documents, tries to blackmail him and wants to take the framed picture of his son with him as a pledge. Johnny then knocks him unconscious, and the glassed-in picture breaks. Johnny discovers a message from his wife on the back of the photo, stating that Eddie Harwood is wanted as a murderer in New Jersey under the name "Bauer". Johnny seeks Eddie and wants to clear up the situation, but Eddie's ex-wife Joyce also appears there, from which Johnny concludes that she is Eddie's accomplice.

Johnny is kidnapped by Eddie's business partner Leo after receiving a tip from Corelli. Leo wants to prevent his and Eddie's illegal business from being exposed. On his ranch there are arguments between the individual participants. Eddie also appears at the ranch and admits that he killed a man fifteen years ago but had nothing to do with Helen's murder. Leo, who was unconscious in the meantime, accidentally shoots his boss Eddie while trying to meet Johnny and ultimately has to die himself. Then there is a showdown in Eddie's nightclub : Johnny's friend Buzz initially confesses the act, although he can only remember fragments. Johnny doesn't believe him; Buzz suffers from psychological damage from a war injury and reacts aggressively to loud music. Eventually, however, Buzz remembers that Helen was still alive when he left her. The police under Captain Hendrickson can finally expose the hotel detective "Dad" Newell as a murderer who blackmailed Helen with his knowledge of the actual circumstances of her son's death. At the time, Newell was able to observe what was actually going on in the house. Seeing his extortionate income dwindling and fearing a possible charge, the act took place. When there is a sudden exchange of fire, the detective is shot by the police. But in the end Johnny and Joyce still find each other.

production

Prehistory, filming

The successful crime writer Raymond Chandler , for whom it was the first film work, was engaged as a screenwriter . According to modern sources, filming should have started before Chandler had finished the script, which also had to be submitted to the Navy department for approval, which led to discrepancies. Chandler later explained that much of the film was shot in Hollywood and the Los Angeles area, including the scenes at the Hollywood bus station and the canteen scenes that were shot in canteens that were actually used by the military. Further recordings were made at the Cahuenga Pass , near the Griffith Park Observatory , on the Sunset Strip and at the Bel Air Bay Club in Beverly Hills as well as at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica , in Malibu and Encino . Filming lasted from March 26 to May 22, 1945, with reruns and additional scenes filmed on July 18, 1945.

background

The blue dahlia belongs to the genus of film noir and was mainly a vehicle for Paramount's greatest star at the time, Alan Ladd , who had just returned from the war. After the films Die Scarenhand (This Gun For Hire) and The Glass Key (The Glass Key), Ladd was cast with Veronica Lake as a couple for the third time. Chandler thought Lake was a terrible actress and wanted to make her role relatively small at first, but the studio insisted on romance.

When the would-be actress Elizabeth Short was murdered a year later, the press dubbed The Black Dahlia case as an allusion to the film's title. Brian De Palma, in turn, filmed this material in 2006 under the title The Black Dahlia .

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created in 1951.

role actor German Dubbing voice
Johnny Morrison Alan Ladd Ernst Wilhelm Borchert
Joyce Harwood Veronica Lake Tilly Lauenstein
Buzz Wanchek William Bendix Walther Suessenguth
Eddie Harwood Howard Da Silva Wolfgang Lukschy
Helen Morrison Doris Dowling Gisela Trowe
Captain Hendrickson, police Tom Powers Alfred Balthoff
George Copeland Hugh Beaumont Kurt Buecheler
Landlord Corelli Howard Freeman Erich Dunskus
Leo Don Costello Clemens Hasse
Marine Corporal Anthony Caruso Horst Niendorf
Mr. Hughes Harry Hayden Otto Stoeckel
barkeeper Matt McHugh Hans Hessling

criticism

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
IMDb

The film-dienst wrote: “An exciting 'film noir' classic set in the nightclub and underworld milieu ... which impresses above all with its brilliant dialogues and excellent actor management.” The TV magazine Prisma described the film as “badly constructed, but exciting film noir thriller ”, which shows the then“ Hollywood dream couple ”Alan Ladd and Veronika Lake together again in front of the camera. Cinema gave the film a positive rating and noted that it also dealt with the fate of war returnees, "especially in the form of Johnny's head-wounded comrade Buzz".

Awards

The screenplay by Raymond Chandler was nominated for an Oscar in 1947 for best original screenplay .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Blue Dahlia Notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ The Blue Dahlia original print info at TCM (English)
  3. ↑ a b The blue dahlia at Cinema. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ The blue dahlia in the German synchronous index
  5. ↑ a b The Blue Dahlia at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed May 2, 2015.
  6. ↑ The blue dahlia in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  7. ↑ The blue dahlia. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  8. ↑ The blue dahlia at Prisma. Retrieved October 21, 2018.