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The Black Dahlia

Linson Entertainment

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Equity Pictures Medienfonds III

Nu Image Entertainment

United States of America

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Josh Hartnett

Scarlett Johansson

Aaron Eckhart

Hilary Swank

Mia Kirshner

Mike Starr

Fiona Shaw

Patrick Fischler

James Otis

John Kavanagh

Troy Evans

Anthony Russell

Pepe Serna

Angus MacInnes

Rachel Miner

Victor McGuire

Gregg Henry

Jemima Rooper

Rose McGowan

Dan Ponce

Graham Norris

Mike O'Connell

Michael P. Flannigan

John Solari

Stephanie L. Moore

Noel Arthur

Todd Thomas

Steve Eastin

Ian McNeice

Claudia Katz Minnick

Mia Frye

Richard Brake

William Finley

Joost Scholte

Terrell J. Ramsey

Kiril Efremov

Petar Milchev

Désirée Cyganek

Brian De Palma

Kevin Dunn

K.D. Lang

David Raibon

Rudy Cohen

Moshe Diamant

Avi Lerner

Art Linson

Mark Isham

Vilmos Zsigmond

Bill Pankow

Josh Friedman

James Ellroy

Dante Ferretti

Christopher Tandon

Samuel Hadida

Victor Hadida

Rolf Deyhle

Henrik Huydts

Andreas Thiesmeyer

Josef Lautenschlager

Danny Dimbort

Trevor Short

Boaz Davidson

John Thompson

Mark Egerton

Gerd Koechlin

Manfred D. Heid

Jochen Kamlah

Randall L. Johnson

Candice Levy

Paula Fairfield

Trent Richmond

Peter Persaud

Ashley Waldron

Selena Arizanovic

Sandy Holt

Lillani E. Moran

Mike Sowa

David T. Cannon

Lisa J. Levine

Steve Baine

Lee de Lang

Carla Murray

Nathan Robitaille

Todd Beckett

Keith Elliott

Mark Zsifkovits

Kevin Hannigan

Anthony Simonaitis

Michele Ferrone

Mark Dornfeld

Gary Hymes

Amir Khalighi

Kaloian Vodenicharov

Ross W. Clarkson

Robert Jason

Larry McConkey

Neven Mihailova

Joseph D. Urbanczyk

Jaromír Šedina

Merrick Morton

Rolf Konow

Nimi Getter

Marisa Aboitiz

Ed Fincher

Jill Korengold

Elitsa Taseva

Ramiro Belgardt

John W. Barbee

Gabriel Georgiev

Sue Field

David Diamond

Guy Adan

Nancy Pyne-Hapke

Alisa Buckley

Lucy Boulting

Johanna Ray

Teresa Razzauti

Elli Griff

Jenny Beavan

Rosica Canovska

Elisabeth Fry

Barbara Olvera

Carol Pershing

Bonnie Clevering

Zoltan Elek

Morag Ross

Heba Thorisdottir

Dimitrina Stoyanova

Ivon Ivanova

Anna Hadzhieva

Irina Hadzhieva

Sara Philpott

Ray Yamagata

Stanimir Stamatov

Jill Purdy

Melody Miller

Dirk Buchmann

Borislav Iliev

I have been pointing my gun at a lot of people this week. 

A box office failure and a neo-noir film that confounded critics and fans alike, The Black Dahlia now appears to be a pic that has had its strengths ignored. As the clamour to kick Brian De Palma continues unabated to this day, and the point blank refusal to accept that Josh Hartnett is a better actor than the likes of Pearl Harbor suggests, it's a film worthy of a revisit by genre/style fans alike. 

Plot revolves around the infamous murder of one Elizabeth Short in Hollywood, 1947. An aspiring actress who was found butchered and her murder to this day remains unsolved. De Palma and his writer Josh Friedman adapt from noir legend James Ellroy's novel of the same name, the crux of the story is about two hot-to-trot detectives who get involved in the Short case, and pretty soon there is a can of worms that has been shaken and opened, and there's dizzying worms everywhere - we think? 

De Palma loves noir, he has dabbled with it for a long time, not all of it works, but often he delivers for like minded cinephiles. With expectation levels high and following in the slipstream of the critical darling that was L.A. Confidential, Black Dahlia never really had a hope of achieving its lofty ambitions, yet it's a tremendously realised picture from a noir stand point. Whilst it showcases the technical wizardry of the director. 

The charges of it being convoluted are fair, it's a spinning narrative, stories within stories, characterisations obtuse, but so was The Big Sleep! I know, I know, this is not fit to lace the boots of Hawks' genius movie, but tricksy narratives have always been a fundamental part of many a film noir, so why the distaste for this one? Especially since the period design, costuming, styling, photography and characterisations are so rich in detail? For instance Hartnett's detective is gumshoe nirvana, while Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank fatale the femme with mischievous glee. 

But of course De Palma then spells it out for the finale, explaining things, a sort of macabre wrap up for those that needed it. Either way he was never going to win, it's too complex, it didn't need spelling out, while Mr. De Palma we have to tell you that your characters have been too cold, we don't feel them?! Huh? This is noirville, a place frequented by bad people, idiots and hapless dreamers, of dupes and double crossers. Hell there's even a suggestion of necrophiliac tendencies in this, and that's before we even delve into the machinations of the two femme fatales, a family that's lacking Adams Family Values and coppers of dubious motives. 

Yeah, it's cold, and yes De Palma is guilty of trying to please all parties by covering all bases, but it's far from being a stinker. Haters of De Palma, Hartnett and complex noir narratives can knock two points off of my own personal rating, otherwise it's 7/10.

OK, I'm in the minority here, but I liked it.

I also like period pieces and I like this period, so...this might be a bit bias.

But it has Scarlett Johansson in it and she is always watchable even when she is at her worst.

And it has Josh Hartnett and I really do like him as well, and I like him in the sort of William Holden sort of he tends to do well when he does a voice over kind of way.

Except he isn't dead in a swimming pool at the start of the film. However, Mia Kirshner is certainly dead at the start of the film and she's one of those actors that usually does a great job despite being constantly over-looked.

What you have is a film VAGUELY about The Black Dahlia, VAGUELY about a couple of buddy cops with a secrete, VAGUELY about a love triangle, and VAGUELY about the period....and that is why it didn't sit well with so many people. It was Vaguely about a lot of things and never exactly about any of them.

However, there is enough mystery to it to hold my attention, enough style to make it cool and fun, and good enough acting to make it believable.

In other words, it still entertains despite the mess. Because of that, 10 out of 10, there is a lot wrong with the film, but ultimately it achieves its goal.

The Black Dahlia (2006) Original Trailer [FHD]

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