Brian De Palma bases the film “The Black Dahlia” off of the top selling book of the same name. The book, when written by Elroy, was more of a fantasy undertaking in that he created a series of fictionalized characters and storylines to tie in with the film. I haven't read the book, but suffice to say that upon watching the special features part of this DVD learned that they actually did what I feared. What they did was cut out a lot of factual basis from the actual case, and concentrate more on the fictionalized characters and their lives. The result is a film that soon gets stuck wading through its own creations, while leaving the death and actual investigation of Elizabeth "Betty" Short all but behind.

The film takes some time in setting up, as we are introduced to detectives Lee Blanchard (played by Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (played by Josh Hartnett) who are assigned to the case. The "case" is of course, to find the murderer of Elizabeth Short, a dark haired woman who was an aspiring actress in 1940's Los Angeles. Short's body, which was slashed up and severed in a macabre style of the deepest horror, was found on January 15th, 1947 in a vacant lot near a sidewalk in Los Angeles.

Herein lies the first problem this viewer has with the film. Nearly the first forty minutes or so spends more time concentrating on the personal lives of the two detectives. Their short, city famed boxing careers are brought to the forefront, with Lee's wife Kay (played by Scarlett Johansson) cheering them on and seeming to love the good life that some of the boxing money has bought for her. On and on we go, until finally one day, a body is discovered.

Smart's grisly death, as well as the mystery as the days go on of having few leads, rarely seems to grip the viewer at this point. Its almost like "yeah, we found a body, go look for a killer". The station in which some of these quick scenes take place do offer a nice touch of period filmmaking, with detectives in their hats and sport coats puffing away nonchalantly on cigarettes while their boss booms out the days tasks to be fulfilled. As the film then makes you think its going to plunge you into a mysterious, frustrating and emotional search for the killer, it takes that famous U-turn in which Ellroy's novel deemed necessary.

Instead of Short's murder and subsequent investigation being the main theme of this film, the viewer is taking on a slow, plodding turtle in a deep mud of multiple characters and separate crime spree's that really have little bearing on Smart. Oh sure, we get little snippets of Bucky viewing audition tapes of her, but are quickly thrown into a character in Lee that we never really understand. Lee starts freaking out, acting weird and withdrawn, as he seems "obsessed" with a case that the film doesn't do justice. The film at this time introduces us to some other big name players involved when it comes to crime, but even though a lot of pieces are placed together in the end, it really came across to me as a disjointed mess that never really took hold, while at the same time continuing to distance itself from the case surrounding Smart's murder.

The back and forth Romance's that Josh Hartnett's character portrays really got old. We are supposed to believe (and this was even talked about on the special features interview with the director and writer) that he is a withdrawn and humble person, yet suddenly becomes some sort of shallow sex maniac. The only bright part of this film is that his "love interest" in the show besides one girl (I won't give a spoiler there) is the performance of Hillary Swank. Swank plays Madeleine Linscott, the daughter of a wealthy tycoon who had a brief relation with Smart and also eerily looks like her. Madelaine is strange, very sexy and mysterious. Her family plays a huge role in the film that shows some shocking details in the end, but for this viewer, it was too little, to late. I will say that Swank's performance is great, and I under appreciated her as an actress until I saw her play this very different role.

Bottom Line: The 1940's L.A. landscape filled with its stoic automobiles and cigarette chugging detectives is rather grand. Unfortunately, the entire script is not. The two main problems is that it has too much going on, and even when it tries to tie up the loose ends, it still left me feeling like I was seeing a lot of holes. The second part I didn't care for was how the film really wasn't about Smart or finding her killer. Oh sure, its there at times, but it really seems more of an afterthought. There is little background noted on this 22 year old who died an awful death, and the intricate "whodunit" sub plots that it introduces throughout the film only seem to take away instead of add to the overall mystery. In the ending credits, this film continues to do an injustice by not even noting that the killer was never found, or any other factual details about the case. Again however, that is because it tries to hard to concentrate on the things that never happened. It may be liked by some, but considering how high profile this crime was at the time, and the fact the killer was never found, I was expecting a lot more about the actual events and a lot less of some fantastical fantasy world that De Palma helps morph into a heap of disjointed storylines.


Recommended: No

Movie Mood: If Your First Choice is Sold Out
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Script