Reviews

I last saw "The Blue Dahlia" years ago in a college film class. I remember liking it. Now that I've seen it again I find it a mixed bag. There are fine moments but the total package is unsatisfying.

The story concerns returning WWII vet Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) going on the run when he's suspected of killing his two-timing wife (Helen Morrison). He's aided by Navy pals George (Hugh Beaumont) and Buzz (William Bendix), the latter suffering from what we now call PTSD. Complicating things are shady night-club owner Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva) and Joyce Harwood, Eddie's sultry ex (Veronica Lake). Johnny dodges miscellaneous thugs, cops, and plot twists in his quest to unmask the real murderer.

The script was written by Raymond Chandler. Hollywood legend says Chandler had to get drunk to overcome a writer's block preventing his finishing the job. It's easy to believe, because the script is a mess. Alongside truly great scenes are baffling digressions which belong in a different movie. Joyce's romance with Johnny comes from nowhere and contributes nothing to the narrative. Much has been said about Navy Department pressure forcing the studio to change the killer's identity. Maybe in 1946 a homicidal vet would have shocked audiences, but to this modern viewer it's obvious early on whodunnit. The finished movie's final revelation may not be convincing, but at least it's a surprise.

Though he comes close to going over the top in a couple of scenes, William Bendix is terrific as Buzz, the tortured vet. To Chandler's credit Buzz is a complex character. Though basically sympathetic, Buzz's affliction makes him prickly and erratic, a challenge his buddies don't quite know how to handle. Bendix makes the most of a challenging role.

The leads are disappointing. Alan Ladd is convincingly tough in only a few scenes. It doesn't help that he's so well-scrubbed and pretty-looking. The part calls for someone with rougher edges. Pretty is about all Veronica Lake has to offer. Many people deride Lake's acting ability, but the real problem is that as Joyce she has nothing to do. Her character could be eliminated with little effect on the story. Doris Dowling is downright bizarre as Helen, the murdered spouse. She expresses inner turmoil by twitching, grimacing, and rubbing her stomach as if she were acting in a silent movie.

The surprise of the cast is Howard da Silva. When he first appeared as Eddie Harwood I hated him. He looks like Walt Disney and speaks in a flat, tired voice. He seems anything but a powerful upscale hood. But as the story unwinds we see behind Eddie's facade. Cowed by Helen, yearning hopelessly for lost Joyce, Harwood is in over his head, projecting a smooth image while struggling just to stay afloat. In one of the movie's nicest scenes he finally faces reality. Weary and beaten, he confesses to Johnny that inside he always knew he was a small time guy trying to make it in a world that was way beyond his reach. Da Silva's performance proves to be dead on the money, and Harwood ends up one of the film's richest characters.

As a longtime fan of Out of the Past I was disappointed when I finally saw Tourneur's "other" noir film. Despite excellent cinematography and several good scenes, the movie is sunk by a poor leading man and a hopelessly flawed story. For the latter you can't blame Stirling Silliphant. His script is unusually faithful to the source novel, and therein lies the problem.

Noir novelist David Goodis wrote a handful of bleak, pulpy novels published mostly during the 1950s. "Dark Passage" and "Shoot the Piano Player" are two other Goodis movie adaptations. Goodis' novels are tough, fatalistic, and violent with interesting premises and oddball characters, especially the bad guys. His problems, which worsened over time, were a reliance on outrageous coincidence and a tendency to have characters suddenly act in bizarre ways to make the story work out. These flaws lay at the heart of Nightfall's problems.

Ordinary guy Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray) and his doctor friend (Frank Albertson) are out hunting when they witness an auto crash. They run to help only to discover two robbers fleeing a bank job. The crooks let the doctor patch them up, then kill him. But instead of shooting Vanning too, they concoct the preposterous notion of handing him a loaded rifle and ordering him to kill himself to set up an apparent murder-suicide. Naturally this gives Vanning a fighting chance. Unfortunately it doesn't pan out. Vanning is shot anyway. As the robbers escape in his car they pull the hoariest stunt in the book: they pick up the doctor's bag instead of the bag containing the loot. Vanning recovers (not dead, just stunned) and flees with the money. But somewhere in his flight he loses the bag. The crooks return to find Vanning and the money gone. The chase is on.

The premise is appealing: the crooks hound Vanning to tell them where the money is but he really doesn't know. However the episodic narrative is strung together by coincidences and lapses of logic, beginning with the woman Vanning picks up in a bar (Anne Bancroft), who throws in with him for no discernible reason other than to provide someone for the crooks to menace. The crooks themselves (Brian Keith and Rudy Bond) have interesting conflicting personalities, but their disagreements always seem to arise just in time to save Vanning's neck. An interesting subplot involves an insurance investigator (James Gregory) who has been secretly shadowing Vanning. We learn more about his character than that of anyone else in the cast, but he ends up having little to do with the story's outcome.

The final strike against Nightfall is delivered by Aldo Ray. As written Jim Vanning is basically an ordinary guy in way over his head, so scared that he jumps when a newsie suddenly turns on the lights of his newsstand. Vanning tells us he's frightened and weary. Unfortunately Aldo Ray is beefy and tough-looking. His raspy voice, which seems to get even more gravelly in flashbacks, combines with his features to give the impression he could tie the robbers into pretzels without breaking a sweat. Alas, appearance is all in movies, and Ray lacks the acting chops to make us believe this bruiser is an underdog.

In conclusion I would recommend Nightfall as a technical exercise--it sure looks good--but there isn't enough substance to make a satisfying movie.