The Black Dahlia

[katiemakeup]

Any news on this yet? I think it comes out this year...

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

A new version?

There was a version made in the 80's I believe, which starred Robert Duval. Pretty good.
I wonder if anyone will ever do the (possibly) related story of the Kingsbury Run Murders in Cleveland Ohio, as none other than the very famous Eliot Ness was then the safety director of the city. A notorious unsolved case which would make for a good, gritty period story, if done right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I can't for the life of me remember a Black Dahlia movie either in the 80's or with Robert Duvall. There was a TV movie in 1975 with Lucie Arnaz and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. that was pretty good. That TV movie was my introduction to the Dahlia story in my mid-teens, and the first big event from history that my mother had personal knowledge of from her younger days that we talked about at length, besides WWII and life in general in Long Beach and so forth. Until that movie came out, I'd never heard about it, nor had she mentioned it. She remembered it as the first event where the life spun on a dime and suddenly the world wasn't the safe, secure and carefree place it had been before. In the blink of an eye, you were suddenly an adult and no longer felt totally safe and invicible. As she put it, up until mid-January 1947, she & her girlfriends (she was 19, going on 20) wouldn't hesitate to walk out the front door alone to go for a walk and get a soda in the evening or to meet "the gang" for a movie - well, her exact description was that nice young ladies no longer ventured out anywhere without an older brother or nice neighbor boy or dear old dad escorting you, and you didn't feel your parents were as over-protective and silly as you once believed they were. Suddenly, you felt like anyone you met on the street could turn out to be Jack the Ripper, or he was going to jump out of the bushes at the drop of a hat. She grew up in Long Beach, CA where Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia) lived for a short time before the murder, and probably less than 30 miles from where the body was found, and the news of the murder spread like wildfire, and it was the talk of the town for months. Long Beach went from a fun beach community to dangerous city overnight. The police were questioning anyone and everyone.

The Brian DePalma movie based on James Ellroy's book is in post-production. It's scheduled to come out in mid-September according to latest reports - no posters have been released yet showing a definitive release date, so that may change. Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Hillary Swank, Scarlett Johanson, Mia Kirschner star. Some say Hartnett's lack of or limited talent and box-office poison position doom this to being a worse film than it should be, but Ellroy's comments from the set have been almost exuberant. Yes, if you know Ellroy, he's normally spitting venom about anything & everything, so this is a big surprise. Ellroy's the writer of L.A. Confidential, among others. I'm reading the Dahlia book right now and it's a great read. This movie takes place prior to L.A. Confidential (that was the last of a trilogy, some say four-book series) so there are a few L.A. Confidential characters shown in their younger days. And no, none are played by the same actors between the two movies.

And only a very limited number of pictures from the set have hit the net. I'd assume it's going to be a great "hat" movie with flashy cars and snappy fashion (there's some hints of that in the book) but I guess we'll just all have to wait and see.

 

[The Wolf]

The name of the movie is...

True Confessions made in 1981 starring Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro.

There was a movie based on a murder commited by Evelyn Dick of her husband in 1946. It is called Torso and has Brenda Fricker in it.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[dr greg]

Duvall Dahlia

The film you're thinking of is True Confessions which has references to the Dahlia murder, I haven't seen it in 20 years so it's hard to remember exactly.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083232/
LA Confidential is the 3rd book in what is known as Ellroy's LA QUARTET, White Jazz was the 4th,

 

[Doh!]

Ellroy's novel is a terrific read; hopefully, the film does it justice.

 

[jake_fink]

I'm looking forward to this film, though with reservations.

Reading the LA Quartet is exciting, not just because the books are all pretty good, but because you can see the development of a writer. By White Jazz Ellroy has found his voice and is at peak form. His follow-up, American Tabloid, the first of a proposed trilogy is, I think, his greatest work. Dense, fast paced, frightening and with a seamless shift from voice to voice. The second book in this trilogy, The Cold Six-Thousand was a disappointment. Here his schtick begins to seem like schtick, the narrative becomes too difuse and the characters are not as well-developed, as well, the voices all begin to seem mannerd in the same way, they become Ellroy rather than the smooth free indirect that he had managed in the earlier books. The third in this trilogy has been a long time coming. I hope it is a return to form, because his next project will apperently have something to do with Hoover and the 20s or 30s, so I'd like to want to read that.

BTW: If anyone knows how I can get a copy of True Confessions I'd be most appraciative. It hasn't been available on dvd (R1) for years - if ever.

 

[Cobden]

Sounds an interesting movie. I was always fascinated by the case, ever since I was discovered she was murdered on the street I used to live on back when I was living in LA.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Well TECHNICALLY, nobody knows where she was held, tortured, murdered & dissected. Her body was then cleaned up and left in a vacant lot - and they only found 1 small drop of watered down blood on the sidewalk - the body had been completely drained. The more one learns about it, the more gruesome it becomes. The photos are definitely not for the faint of heart nor weak of stomach.

 

[jake_fink]

Steve Hodel's book Black Dahlia Avenger is a fascinating read, if you're into Dahliainia, whether you believe his hypothesis or not.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I think it was the Chandler newspaper family (of the "Los Angeles Times") that gave the order to do her in.

 

[koopkooper]

I believe it's out in September in the States....November in Australia

 

[Naama]

Sounds interesting, but, I just hope they don't make up too much. I mean, movies can be fiction, for sure, but if they sell it for the truth it should be the truth.... I don't want something like "from Hell" :rage: horrible movie!

Naama

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I believe it's out in September in the States....November in Australia

September 15 here in the U.S.

Sounds interesting, but, I just hope they don't make up too much. I mean, movies can be fiction, for sure, but if they sell it for the truth it should be the truth.... I don't want something like "from Hell" :rage: horrible movie!

Naama

But the 90% of whole story is made up for this movie. About the only thing that isn't made up is that a wannabe actress from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Short, is murdered, her mutilated body found in the early morning hours of January 15, 1947 in a vacant lot in the Liemert Park area of Los Angeles. Beyond that, it's all fiction. The investigators, the possible suspects, various events. This isn't being sold as the true, fact-based story of what happened. If you're looking for a documentary detailing the facts as they're known and those involved with the case, you're not going to see it at your local movie theatre. There are no actual suspects in the case used in the book and those involved directly in the murder and cover-up are fictional.

 

[artdecodame]

Somewhat off topic, but still regarding the Dahlia...There was a neat episode of "Perfect Crimes?" on The History Channel the other day. It was probably a re-run as the 50th anniversary of the crime is mentioned, but if it airs again it's worth a watch.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

She remembered it as the first event where the life spun on a dime and suddenly the world wasn't the safe, secure and carefree place it had been before. In the blink of an eye, you were suddenly an adult and no longer felt totally safe and invicible. As she put it, up until mid-January 1947, she & her girlfriends (she was 19, going on 20) wouldn't hesitate to walk out the front door alone to go for a walk and get a soda in the evening or to meet "the gang" for a movie - well, her exact description was that nice young ladies no longer ventured out anywhere without an older brother or nice neighbor boy or dear old dad escorting you, and you didn't feel your parents were as over-protective and silly as you once believed they were. Suddenly, you felt like anyone you met on the street could turn out to be Jack the Ripper, or he was going to jump out of the bushes at the drop of a hat.

Pretty much the same reaction people had in August of 1969 when Sharon Tate and the La Biancas were killed. The Manson family wasn't arrested until nearly four months later, and for those four months, the mystery gripped Los Angeles society and people were afraid of their own shadows.

 

[Sierra Charriba]

It looks that "The Black Dahlia" , the film of Brian de Palma, is ready to be released. In my opinion, is the best James Ellroy's novel and the 40,s atmosphere can be very well built in De Palma's film (if he wants). I hope the film be as good as "L.A. Confidential", with a subjet (the murder of Elisabeth Short) more interesting.

 

[jake_fink]

It is going to open the Venice Film Festival in August, which has been promising in the past. Some footage was shown as part of a larger preview for multiple films at some point recently and descriptions were posted on IMDB. I'm still looking forward to it, thoug still with reservations.

I disagree with it being his best book, by the way. I think it's his first book to show promise and hint at what he was going to be capablle of, but he still had a way to go. I think White Jazz (the fourth part of the LA Quartet - Black Dahlia being the first) and American Tabloid are wildly fantastic and the pinnacle of his work so far.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Some stills from the BD...

-dixon cannon

 

[scotrace]

Them is Big!

I b'leev I'll have me nutherwunem Moon Pies...

I have a huge, unreasonable crush on Scarlett Johansson. One of the best talents out there.