| Front Cover |
Actor |
Back Cover |
|
| Brian De Palma |
|
| Steve Eastin |
|
| Troy Evans |
Chief T. Green
|
| Mia Frye |
|
| Gregg Henry |
|
| Aaron Eckhart |
Sgt. Leland Blanchard
|
| Hilary Swank |
Madeleine Linscott
|
| Scarlett Johansson |
Kay Lake
|
| Josh Hartnett |
Ofcr. Dwight Bleichert
|
| Mia Kirshner |
Elizabeth Short
|
| Fiona Shaw |
Ramona Linscott
|
| Mike Starr |
Det. Russ Millard
|
| Rachel Miner |
Martha Linscott
|
| Victor McGuire |
Bill Koenig
|
| Patrick Fischler |
Deputy DA Ellis Loew
|
| James Otis |
Dolph Bleichert
|
| John Kavanagh |
Emmett Linscott
|
|
|
|
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Crime; Drama; Mystery; Thriller |
| Director |
Brian De Palma |
| Producer |
Art Linson; Avi Lerner; Rudy Cohen; Moshe Diamant; Boaz Davidson |
| Writer |
Josh Friedman; James Ellroy |
| Studio |
Universal Studios |
|
| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
R (Restricted) |
| Running Time |
122 mins |
| Country |
Germany |
| Color |
Color |
| IMDb Rating |
5.5 |
|
| Plot |
| The Black Dahlia drips with film noir atmospherics as it unspools a lurid and complicated story taken from James Ellroy's true-crime-inspired novel of the same name. Two boxers-turned-cops--Lee "Mr. Fire" Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking) and Bucky "Mr. Ice" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett, Black Hawk Down)--are morally tested as they pursue the killer of a young would-be actress, grappling with corruption, narcissism, stag films, and family madness along the way. L.A. Confidential turned Ellroy's heated prose into a taut, compelling movie, but The Black Dahlia collapses like a soggy meringue. Director Brian De Palma (who once made such vibrant, entertaining movies as Carrie and The Untouchables) can't muster the energy to craft one of his trademark bravura action sequences and seems outright bored by the more mundane tasks of shaping performances and establishing mood. The actors flounder; Eckhart seems to be emoting for two, perhaps to compensate for Hartnett's bland lack of affect; even actresses as dependable as Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) and Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry) give clumsy, unconvincing performances. The one exception is an unsettling performance by Mia Kirshner (Exotica) as the doomed actress, seen only in perverse screen tests and stag films. The story is incomprehensible (and when you can follow it, it's silly); the dialogue is atrocious; the characters make hardly any sense from scene to scene. The movie is, however, good for many moments of absurd camp, such as when Bucky enters the most lavish, palatial lesbian bar you'll ever see, featuring a Busby-Berkeley-style stairway of smooching babes and a crooning k.d. lang. --Bret Fetzer |
|
|
| Edition Details |
| Edition |
Widescreen Edition |
| Format |
DVD |
| Region |
Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
2.35:1 |
| Layers |
Single Side, Dual Layer |
| Barcode |
025192918025 |
| Release Date |
12/26/2006 |
| Subtitles |
English; French; Spanish |
| Packaging |
Keep Case |
| Audio Tracks |
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC]
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Stereo |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
|
|
Extra Features
|
Reality and Fiction: The Story of The Black Dahlia
·Sit Down with Best-Selling Novelist James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) as He Gives His In-Depth Perspective on the Black Dahlia Crime.
The Case File
·Go Behind the Scenes to Meet the Filmmakers, Actors and Crew Who Brought an Infamous Legend to the Screen.
The De Palma Touch
·See How Acclaimed Director Brian De Palma Brings His Unique and Shocking Visual Style to the Film. |
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