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The Blue Dahlia

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The Blue Dahlia

The Blue Dahlia is a 1946 American crime film and film noir with an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler directed by George Marshall and starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix. It was Chandler's first original screenplay.

Three demobilized United States Navy aviators, Johnny Morrison, Buzz Wanchek, and George Copeland, arrive in Hollywood, California. All three flew together in the same flight crew from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. Buzz has shell shock and a metal plate in his head above his ear.

While George and Buzz get an apartment together, Johnny surprises his wife, Helen, at her hotel bungalow where she is hosting a riotous party with many drunken revellers. Johnny discovers that Helen is having an affair with Eddie Harwood, the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Johnny punches Eddie as he leaves and then apologizes for losing his temper. The party ends and everybody leaves. Helen, drunk, confesses to Johnny that their son, Dickie, who Johnny believed died of diphtheria, actually died in a car crash that happened because she was driving while drunk. Johnny and Helen scuffle, which is witnessed by the hotel detective, "Dad" Newell. Johnny decides to leave. He pulls a gun on Helen, states 'that's what you deserve,' but drops the gun on a chair and leaves.

Buzz goes out to find Johnny at his hotel bungalow. He meets Helen Morrison in the hotel bar and, unaware of her identity, goes to her bungalow for a drink to wait for Mrs Morrison.

Helen rings Eddie who breaks up with her over the phone. However, she then blackmails him into seeing her again. Eddie visits Helen at her bungalow; this is witnessed by the hotel detective.

Johnny is picked up by Joyce Harwood (who is driving to Malibu) while walking in the rain. She is estranged from Eddie. Neither reveals their names. Although attracted to each other, they part ways and Johnny spends the night in a beach-side inn. The next morning, at the same inn, Joyce sees Johnny at breakfast and reveals that she stayed at the same inn. They decide to walk on the beach to look for moonstones. Whilst purchasing a bus ticket for Los Angeles, Johnny hears the radio announce that Helen has been murdered and that Johnny is suspected. He then quickly leaves to board a bus.

The police interview Newell, Harwood, Buzz, and George.

Johnny checks in to a cheap hotel in Los Angeles under an assumed name. Corelli, the hotel manager, finds Johnny's framed photo of himself with Dickie and tries to blackmail him. Johnny punches Corelli out, smashing the frame in the process; he discovers on the back of the photo that Helen has written an insurance note revealing that Eddie is really Bauer, a murderer who is wanted in New Jersey.

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