In 1940s Los Angeles, two former boxers-turned-cops must grapple with corruption, narcissism, stag films and family madness as they pursue the killer of an aspiring young actress.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Bucky Bleichert: Josh Hartnett
• Kay Lake: Scarlett Johansson
• Lee Blanchard: Aaron Eckhart
• Madeleine Linscott: Hilary Swank
• Elizabeth Short: Mia Kirshner
• Det. Russ Millard: Mike Starr
• Ramona Linscott: Fiona Shaw
• Deputy DA Ellis Loew: Patrick Fischler
• Dolph Bleichert: James Otis
• Emmett Linscott: John Kavanagh
• Chief Ted Green: Troy Evans
• Morrie Friedman: Anthony Russell
• Tomas Dos Santos: Pepe Serna
• Capt. John Tierney: Angus MacInnes
• Martha Linscott: Rachel Miner
• Sgt. Bill Koenig: Victor McGuire
• Pete Lukins: Gregg Henry
• Lorna Mertz: Jemima Rooper
• Sheryl Saddon: Rose McGowan
• Mp: Dan Ponce
• Cop: Graham Norris
• Shore Patrol: Mike O’Connell
• Desk Officer: Michael P. Flannigan
• Baxter Fitch: John Solari
• Baxter Fitch’s Girlfriend: Stephanie L. Moore
• Gunman #1: Noel Arthur
• Gunman #2: Todd Thomas
• Detective: Steve Eastin
• Coroner: Ian McNeice
• Frolic Bartender: Claudia Katz Minnick
• Laverne Bartender: Mia Frye
• Bobby DeWitt: Richard Brake
• George Tilden: William Finley
• Madeleine’s GI: Joost Scholte
• Dealer: Terrell J. Ramsey
• Friedman’s Tough Guy #1: Teo
• Friedman’s Tough Guy #2: Kiril Efremov
• Perp: Petar Milchev
• Lesbian Bar Dancer (uncredited): Désirée Cyganek
• Elizabeth’s Screen Test Director (voice) (uncredited): Brian De Palma
• Elizabeth Short’s Father (uncredited): Kevin Dunn
• Lesbian Bar Singer (uncredited): K.D. Lang
• Man (uncredited): David Raibon

Film Crew:

• Producer: Avi Lerner
• Original Music Composer: Mark Isham
• Producer: Rudy Cohen
• Director: Brian De Palma
• Producer: Moshe Diamant
• Producer: Art Linson
• Director of Photography: Vilmos Zsigmond
• Screenplay: Josh Friedman
• Editor: Bill Pankow
• Production Design: Dante Ferretti
• Novel: James Ellroy
• Art Direction: Christopher Tandon
• Sound Assistant: Trent Richmond
• Executive Producer: Rolf Deyhle
• Executive Producer: Danny Dimbort
• Music Supervisor: Ashley Waldron
• Co-Executive Producer: Samuel Hadida
• ADR Voice Casting: Sandy Holt
• Executive Producer: Josef Lautenschlager
• First Assistant Director: Mark Egerton
• Digital Intermediate Colorist: Mike Sowa
• Foley Recordist: Peter Persaud
• Music Coordinator: Selena Arizanovic
• Executive Producer: Henrik Huydts
• Co-Executive Producer: Gerd Koechlin
• Co-Executive Producer: Manfred D. Heid
• Executive Producer: Boaz Davidson
• Visual Effects Coordinator: Lillani E. Moran
• Co-Executive Producer: Victor Hadida
• Executive Producer: John Thompson
• Co-Executive Producer: Jochen Kamlah
• Sound Designer: Paula Fairfield
• Boom Operator: Randall L. Johnson
• Post Production Coordinator: Candice Levy
• Executive Producer: Andreas Thiesmeyer
• Executive Producer: Trevor Short
• Special Effects Coordinator: Anthony Simonaitis
• Foley: Steve Baine
• Sound Effects Editor: Carla Murray
• Sound Effects Editor: Lee de Lang
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Mark Dornfeld
• Special Effects Coordinator: Kevin Hannigan
• Visual Effects Producer: Michele Ferrone
• Sound Effects Editor: Nathan Robitaille
• ADR & Dubbing: Lisa J. Levine
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Keith Elliott
• Construction Coordinator: David T. Cannon
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Mark Zsifkovits
• Set Costumer: Elitsa Taseva
• Location Manager: Gabriel Georgiev
• Unit Publicist: Alisa Buckley
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Todd Beckett
• Stunt Coordinator: Kaloian Vodenicharov
• Set Costumer: Jill Korengold
• Location Manager: David Diamond
• Gaffer: Robert Jason
• Script Supervisor: Sue Field
• Still Photographer: Rolf Konow
• Costume Supervisor: Marisa Aboitiz
• Stunt Coordinator: Amir Khalighi
• Set Costumer: Ed Fincher
• Stunt Coordinator: Gary Hymes
• Camera Operator: Joseph D. Urbanczyk
• Publicist: Guy Adan
• Transportation Coordinator: John W. Barbee
• Studio Teachers: Nancy Pyne-Hapke
• Camera Operator: Ross W. Clarkson
• Camera Operator: Neven Mihailova
• Still Photographer: Merrick Morton
• Choreographer: Mia Frye
• Camera Operator: Larry McConkey
• Steadicam Operator: Jaromír Šedina
• Gaffer: Nimi Getter
• Music Editor: Ramiro Belgardt
• Casting: Johanna Ray
• Set Decoration: Elli Griff
• Makeup Artist: Heba Thorisdottir
• Art Department Coordinator: Sara Philpott
• Casting: Teresa Razzauti
• Hairstylist: Bonnie Clevering
• Makeup Artist: Dimitrina Stoyanova
• Hairstylist: Barbara Olvera
• Casting: Lucy Boulting
• Hairstylist: Rosica Canovska
• Art Department Coordinator: Irina Hadzhieva
• Makeup Artist: Morag Ross
• Art Department Coordinator: Anna Hadzhieva
• Hairstylist: Carol Pershing
• Costume Design: Jenny Beavan
• Assistant Art Director: Ray Yamagata
• Hairstylist: Elisabeth Fry
• Makeup Artist: Zoltan Elek
• Makeup Artist: Ivon Ivanova
• Stunts: Stanimir Stamatov
• Property Master: Dirk Buchmann
• Supervising Dialogue Editor: Jill Purdy
• Property Master: Melody Miller
• Stunts: Borislav Iliev
• Stunts: Danko Jordanov
• Stunts: Teodor Tzolov
• Stunts: Stilyan Mavrov
• Producer: T. Rafael Cimino

Movie Reviews:

• John Chard: I have been pointing my gun at a lot of people this week.
• A box office failure and a neo-noir film that confounded critics and fans alike, The Black Dahlia now appears to be a pic that has had its strengths ignored. As the clamour to kick Brian De Palma continues unabated to this day, and the point blank refusal to accept that Josh Hartnett is a better actor than the likes of Pearl Harbor suggests, it’s a film worthy of a revisit by genre/style fans alike.
• Plot revolves around the infamous murder of one Elizabeth Short in Hollywood, 1947. An aspiring actress who was found butchered and her murder to this day remains unsolved. De Palma and his writer Josh Friedman adapt from noir legend James Ellroy’s novel of the same name, the crux of the story is about two hot-to-trot detectives who get involved in the Short case, and pretty soon there is a can of worms that has been shaken and opened, and there’s dizzying worms everywhere – we think?
• De Palma loves noir, he has dabbled with it for a long time, not all of it works, but often he delivers for like minded cinephiles. With expectation levels high and following in the slipstream of the critical darling that was L.A. Confidential, Black Dahlia never really had a hope of achieving its lofty ambitions, yet it’s a tremendously realised picture from a noir stand point. Whilst it showcases the technical wizardry of the director.
• The charges of it being convoluted are fair, it’s a spinning narrative, stories within stories, characterisations obtuse, but so was The Big Sleep! I know, I know, this is not fit to lace the boots of Hawks’ genius movie, but tricksy narratives have always been a fundamental part of many a film noir, so why the distaste for this one? Especially since the period design, costuming, styling, photography and characterisations are so rich in detail? For instance Hartnett’s detective is gumshoe nirvana, while Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank fatale the femme with mischievous glee.
• But of course De Palma then spells it out for the finale, explaining things, a sort of macabre wrap up for those that needed it. Either way he was never going to win, it’s too complex, it didn’t need spelling out, while Mr. De Palma we have to tell you that your characters have been too cold, we don’t feel them?! Huh? This is noirville, a place frequented by bad people, idiots and hapless dreamers, of dupes and double crossers. Hell there’s even a suggestion of necrophiliac tendencies in this, and that’s before we even delve into the machinations of the two femme fatales, a family that’s lacking Adams Family Values and coppers of dubious motives.
• Yeah, it’s cold, and yes De Palma is guilty of trying to please all parties by covering all bases, but it’s far from being a stinker. Haters of De Palma, Hartnett and complex noir narratives can knock two points off of my own personal rating, otherwise it’s 7/10.
• GenerationofSwine: OK, I’m in the minority here, but I liked it.
• I also like period pieces and I like this period, so…this might be a bit bias.
• But it has Scarlett Johansson in it and she is always watchable even when she is at her worst.
• And it has Josh Hartnett and I really do like him as well, and I like him in the sort of William Holden sort of he tends to do well when he does a voice over kind of way.
• Except he isn’t dead in a swimming pool at the start of the film. However, Mia Kirshner is certainly dead at the start of the film and she’s one of those actors that usually does a great job despite being constantly over-looked.
• What you have is a film VAGUELY about The Black Dahlia, VAGUELY about a couple of buddy cops with a secrete, VAGUELY about a love triangle, and VAGUELY about the period….and that is why it didn’t sit well with so many people. It was Vaguely about a lot of things and never exactly about any of them.
• However, there is enough mystery to it to hold my attention, enough style to make it cool and fun, and good enough acting to make it believable.
• In other words, it still entertains despite the mess. Because of that, 10 out of 10, there is a lot wrong with the film, but ultimately it achieves its goal.