Black Dahlia film butchers novel

The True Story

Elizabeth Short was an aspirant actress who fled to California. On January 15, 1947, she was found murdered. She had been beaten severely with massive head trauma, and her body was covered with cigarette burns. Her killer had also severed her body, removing her internal organs. The killer cut her face from the corners of her mouth to her ear lobes, permanently giving her a grisly smile. The murderer then posed the two parts of her naked body next to an intersection.

Elizabeth Short was only 22 at the time of her murder. The press dubbed her “The Black Dahlia” because of her jet black hair and her fascination with black clothing. The Black Dahlia Murder inspired the largest manhunt in Los Angeles history. However, despite nearly a thousand police officers and unprecedented allocations of money, the murderer was never caught. Many rumors have circulated about the beautiful black-clad figure over the last half a century, but very few of them can be authenticated.



The Author

James Ellroy’s mother was murdered in a similar way to the Black Dahlia when he was ten years old. A few months later his father gave him a book entitled The Badge in which there was an article about the Black Dahlia. In his mind he began to combine the two women and in 1987 wrote a fictional novel, The Black Dahlia, which combined the lives of the two women.



The Novel

James Ellroy’s novel, The Black Dahlia, is primarily about two LAPD officers who become obsessed with the Black Dahlia Murder. The novel is narrated by Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert. Both Bleichert and fellow cop Lee Blanchard are former boxers. Bleichert is promoted to a Warrants Officer after boxing with Blanchard, becoming Blanchard’s partner. Bleichert begins spending a lot of time with Blanchard and falls in love with a woman Blanchard is living with, Kay Lake.

A few months after Bleichert’s promotion, Bleichert and Blanchard become involved in the Black Dahlia murder case. Blanchard makes finding the killer a personal vendetta. His sister had been kidnapped and probably murdered when he was 15, and he associates the murder of this young woman with his sister. Blanchard becomes obsessed with the case and disappears. Bleichert takes up Blanchard’s obsession in his absence and eventually finds that Blanchard has been murdered. Bleichert marries Kay, but his obsession with the Dahlia puts a serious strain on their relationship.

The novel was written in an extremely straightforward manner. Ellroy did not feel the need to sugarcoat anything. The characters’ emotions were raw and their actions illogical, yet, at the same time, completely believable.

Nearly all of the characters in the book come to life with Ellroy’s intense characterization. All of them have faults. For example, the novel’s hero Bleichert has many skeletons in his closet. Before he was hired, it was found out that his father was a Nazi sympathizer. To “buy” his way into the LAPD he turned some of his Japanese friends over to the American government to be put into internment camps. He also cheated on his wife and covered up killing a man.

The novel also paints a radically different picture of what today we consider heroes. It depicts both the United States servicemen and LAPD in a negative light. The officers of the LAPD enjoy police brutality, and the servicemen are beating people up and frequenting whore houses.



The Movie

In September, a movie based on Ellroy’s novel was released on the big screen. The movie stars Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, and Mia Kirshner, and was directed by Brian De Palma. After seeing hours of unedited film Ellroy praised the film as brilliantly depicting the story. After seeing the final version, he claimed it was incomprehensible.

I agree with Elroy. The film simply did not make sense to anyone who had not read the book. Facts relating events in the movie were cut from the final version, and it was simply too quickly paced. My boyfriend accompanied me to the movie. Not more than five minutes passed without him asking me what was happening.

The movie did stay fairly true to the novel until the end, but the end was completely different. The actors and actresses gave splendid performances; however, the movie as a whole was disappointing.