The Blue Dahlia (1946)

“Seems I've lost my manners or would anyone here know the difference?” 

            I saw the Blue Dahlia for the first time most likely a few years ago. I know I liked it when I saw it because I looked for it again. I did like The Blue Dahlia this time around especially because I have more of an appreciation for classic films and like Film Noir. The Blue Dahlia is considered, depending on who ask in the scholarly film world, to be one of the quintessential Noirs. I would not go that far but it is a good example of a Noir how an innocent normal man is convicted of a crime he did not commit and has to find the people who are the ones truly responsible.

            Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) and his two friends Buzz (William Bendix) and George have just returned home from the War. The three friends stop for a drink before returning to their homes. Buzz goes a little off the wall and is short tempered because of a head injury with a piece of shrapnel behind his ear. George and Buzz plan on finding an apartment to share while Johnny has a wife to get back to.

            Jonny’s welcome home is not so pleasant. His wife Helen is throwing a party and he is not happy to see them all drunk and partying. Helen’s friend Eddie says he will be going, she walks him to the door and Johnny sees them kissing. Johnny shoots out of the room and punches Eddie. Helen tells everyone to leave. Alone, Helen is a mess. Since Johnny left she felt she had a life and went out to parties and got drunk especially after their son Dicky died. Helen confesses that Dicky did not die of an illness as she had written him the boy died when she had to bring him to a party and she smashed her car because she was drunk. Johnny walks into his room takes his gun out of his bag, grabs his bag, and goes to the living room. He points the gun at Helen but says she is not worth and leaves the bungalow.

            Helen calls up George and Buzz worried. George does not do anything because whatever happened is none of their business. Buzz is worried though and he leaves the apartment without telling George where he was going. Buzz goes to the hotel where Johnny was living. He happens to run into Helen. They have no idea who the other is since they have never been introduced before.

            Johnny is walking in the rain. He gets picked up by a woman named (Joyce). He tells her his name is Jimmy Moore. Joyce takes Johnny to Malibu. He almost ditches her but she sees him and tells him not. At a hotel the next morning Johnny hears the news about his wife and how he is wanted for questioning in the murder. Joyce sees Johnny leave the hotel and knows why he was leaving San Francisco.

            Now Johnny has to prove he did not kill Helen. It seems that no matter where Johnny goes he gets kicked around by thugs. He finds a note from Helen behind a photograph of their son saying Eddie is wanted in New Jersey for a murder in case anything were to happen to her. Johnny tries to tell Eddie he has this information but Joyce walks in. Joyce knows he did not kill his wife and is willing to help him.

            The real murderer is eventually caught, no surprise there. I did not remember who the murderer was so I was kept on my toes the whole time.

            The cast was very good. This was one of several films that Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake were paired in. Veronica Lake is one of the ultimate femme fatales… maybe not a femme fatale but definitely one of the ultimate Noir actresses. She had that cool calm to her like nothing ruffled her feathers, an attitude and demeanor that was perfect for the genre. Alan Ladd was also perfect in the Noir genre. He too had the coolness and calm but he also had a tough side. I like Lake and Ladd paired together their acting styles (maybe more so their characters) were in sync with each other. William Bendix I am not a fan of he tends to annoy me but I will admit that he was good in his role.

            The Blue Dahlia I am going to say is a must view for the Film Noir fan. To me it is not one of the best Noirs but it is a great example with its dark story and the innocent man accused of something he did not do and must clear his name. The one major element that brings this film down is Alan Ladd’s meeting with Veronica Lake, it is too coincidental and unreal. There was actually no reason for the character of Joyce to be included in the story but I guess the main character needs a love interest. Raymond Chandler who’s story the film is based off of was not too happy with the character either… well he did not really like Lake he called her “Moronica Lake” because he hated her acting. Anyway, The Blue Dahlia is absolutely worth a watch, maybe even more. The Blue Dahlia is available to view on Youtube. 

This Gun For Hire (1942)

“Don't you trust me?”
“Who trusts anybody?” 

            This Gun For Hire is one of the best Film Noirs I have seen. There is a bad guy who is the protagonist and a stunningly gorgeous femme fatale who is as tough as they come and does not lose her cool. The story involves all the characters in some form and they all come together perfectly at the end.

            Raven (Alan Ladd) is a professional hit man. He is hired by a man named Willard Gates to kill a chemist who has been blackmailing him and get the formulas he has. Raven does the job but Gates double crosses him by giving him marked bills and informing the police that the money was stolen. Raven realizes that the police are on to him and has to get out of town to find Gates and his employer Alvin Brewster of Nitro Chemicals.

            Lieutenant Michael Crane was vacationing in San Francisco to see his girlfriend nightclub singer Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake) when word comes in of the robbery and decides to join the case. Ellen auditions for a nightclub that just so happens to be run by Gates and gets the job. Later on she is taken to meet a senator who gives her an assignment to spy on Gates and Brewster who are traitors to the country and what they plan to do with the chemical formula.

 

 

            Ellen sets out by train to LA to start work at the nightclub. Gates is on the same train but in a sleeper. Raven also hops on the same train and the only seat left just so happens to be the one next to Ellen. Gates sees them the next morning with Raven’s head resting on Ellen’s shoulder. He gets nervous thinking they are working together but neither of them knows anything about the other let alone what they are working towards. News is out that Raven is a wanted man and the way to identify him is through a broken wrist that never healed right. He takes Ellen as his hostage and uses her coat to hide his wrist. He wants to kill her but fate intervenes and Ellen gets away.

 

 

            At the nightclub Ellen meets Gates. He breaks out a package of mints and she remembers Raven saying something about a man and how the man likes mints. She realizes that they are after the same man. Gates invites her over to his place for dinner where he has her drugged and tied up to throw her over a bridge. Raven shows up at the house that night and actually saves Ellen but he takes her as his hostage. She does not try to get away instead she calmly follows him as the police chase them all over town. They spend the night in an old boxcar where they talk out what Gates had taken from the blackmailer. Ellen concludes that Nitro Chemicals is going to sell the formula to the Japanese.

 

            In the end Raven is the one to get Brewster and Gates to sign a confession of their crimes. There is a shoot out at the chemical factory and Raven is fatally shot.

            Now the way I wrote out the summary may be hard to follow but trust me when you watch the film the story is easy to follow. I like the fact that everyone has a connection to Gates and Brewster, they all have their own stake in the two men but for different reasons. I especially liked how the audience is made to have sympathy for a bad guy, that was something that was practically never done in films at that time.

            This is the film that made Alan Ladd a star at Paramount. He did a wonderful job playing Raven. The character was bad he was a professional killer but he had a soft spot for children and cats. That soft spot is what makes the audience care about this bad guy. Anyone could have played a bad guy with a soft spot but Ladd really got it he was perfect as the quiet but lethal guy but still had some moral fiber in his body. The story really makes you feel for him when he tells Ellen about his childhood and how he wound up the way he is.

            Veronica Lake was also perfect in her role. Her character had a bit of a toughness and strength to her which Lake brought out wonderfully. You can tell by looking at her in certain scenes that the character is a bit scared and flustered but keeps in so the situation does not get out of hand. If Ellen Graham can be considered a femme fatal she is one of my favorites.

 

            This Gun for Hire is a great Film Noir. The story takes a grip on you right from the beginning when Raven kills the chemist and does not let go for one second.