Production Companies Millennium Films, Signature Films, Nu Image Films, Davis-Films, Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG III, Nu Image Entertainment GmbH, Signature Pictures
Enter onto the scene two ex-pugilist police officers, Lee Blanchard (AARON ECKHART) and Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert (JOSH HARTNETT), the poster boys for 1940s LAPD. The new partners’ first homicide case starts with a call from their supervisor, Detective Millard (MIKE STARR), to investigate the slaying of the ambitious silver screen B-lister Betty Short (MIA KIRSHNER), just as they are leaving a deadly shootout.
Blanchard and Bleichert, like the rest of the fascinated city, become drawn into the lurid world of the Dahlia’s L.A. While Blanchard’s growing preoccupation with the Dahlia’s murder threatens his relationship with girlfriend Kay Lake (SCARLETT JOHANSSON), Bleichert finds himself irresistibly drawn to the enigmatic Madeleine Linscott (two-time Oscar® winner HILARY SWANK), the daughter of one of the city’s most prominent families—who just happens to have an unsavory connection (and resemblance) to the Dahlia.
Blanchard spins into obsession trying to solve the case, seeing in Betty the chance to redeem himself for letting down the other women in his life that he failed to protect. Bleichert, too, begins to question his own footing as his feelings fluctuate wildly between two disparate dames: the seemingly innocent Kay and the knowingly seductive Madeleine—whose unhinged mother, Ramona (FIONA SHAW), proves to hold more than a passing clue to the mystery.
Determined to be famous, destined to be infamous, Betty Short affected more lives dead than she possibly could alive. She dreamed of being photographed for the big screen but wound up the pin-up girl of tabloid autopsy photos.
(34 votes)
2.
Master storyteller Brian De Palma, known for such classic crime dramas as The Untouchables, Scarface and Carlito's Way, as well as his suspense thrillers Carrie, Dressed to Kill and Blow Out, directs this adaptation of James Ellroy's (L.A. Confidential, American Tabloid) best-selling crime novel.
The Black Dahlia weaves a fictionalized tale of obsession, love, corruption, greed and depravity around the true story of the brutal murder of a fledgling Hollywood starlet that shocked and fascinated the nation in 1947 and remains unsolved today. Two ex-pugilist cops, Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), are called to investigate the homicide of ambitious silver-screen B-lister Betty Ann Short (Mia Kirshner) A.K.A. "The Black Dahlia"--an attack so grisly that images of the killing were kept from the public.
While Blanchard's growing preoccupation with the sensational murder threatens his marriage to Kay (Scarlett Johansson), his partner Bleichert finds himself attracted to the enigmatic Madeleine Linscott (two-time Oscar® winner Hilary Swank), the daughter of one of the city's most prominent families--who just happens to have an unsavory connection to the murder victim.
True crime meets urban legend when De Palma brings Ellroy's The Black Dahlia to the big screen.
Brian De Palma (SCARFACE) brings James Ellroy's novel to the screen, with Josh Hartnett (BLACK HAWK DOWN) and Aaron Eckhart (IN THE COMPANY OF MEN) starring as the two cops investigating the murder and mutilation of an aspiring actress.
(33 votes)
4.
Based on the novel by James Ellroy, Brian De Palma’s THE BLACK DAHLIA stars Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart as a pair of LAPD detectives assigned to the most notorious murder in Hollywood history. De Palma takes things slow, spending a good 20 minutes establishing the relationship between Buddy Bleichert, Lee Blanchard, and their mutual love Kay (Scarlett Johanssen), before introducing the 1947 murder after which the film is named. In the haunting screen-tests left behind after her mysterious death, aspiring actress Elizabeth Short appears to want fame so badly she’ll do anything to get it. Her pornographic film appearances, and a rumored affair with narcissist heiress Madeleine Linscott (Hillary Swank), provide just two clues in a sea of confusion.
THE BLACK DAHLIA crams every subplot from Ellroy’s novel into two hours, but only connects them towards the end of the movie. The screen-tests featuring a sadly desperate Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner) are captivatingly filmed in gritty black-and-white. These scenes succeed in showing the industry ugliness most likely behind Elizabeth's death, while the rest of the film self-consciously strives to be noir through elaborate set design, dramatic camera angles, and narration taken straight from the book. If De Palma’s goal was to make us examine our own voyeuristic fascination with murder, particularly the gruesome murder of a beautiful young woman, then he succeeds, because throughout a film invested in so many different storylines, Short’s remains the most interesting one.
(31 votes)
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