Oh, written by Raymond Chandler and with Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. We’re out of B movie territory, finally.
Not that there’s anything wrong with B movies.
…
Wow! This is some kinda noir masterpiece! There’s just so much in here! Ladd’s semi-mute stoicicity (that’s a word). Lake’s dead-pan witty repartee. William Bendix simmering like some kind of natural force of violence and chaos. The rain. The cars. The bars.
It’s just kinda a little perfect thing.
A dizzying array of noir-ish twists and an ending I didn’t see coming.
It’s fabulous.
The Blue Dahlia. George Marshall. 1946.
Popular movies in April 1946 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 5817 | 7.2 | The Blue Dahlia |
 | 584 | 7.1 | The Green Years |
 | 2632 | 7.0 | Dragonwyck |
 | 2692 | 6.9 | Bedlam |
 | 351 | 6.7 | Two Sisters from Boston |
 | 579 | 6.7 | Devotion |
 | 304 | 6.6 | Mysterious Intruder |
 | 256 | 6.5 | The Falcon’s Alibi |
 | 721 | 6.5 | The Virginian |
 | 2495 | 6.4 | Make Mine Music |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.