THE BLACK DAHLIA (DVD Rental Review) -11/3/07

Really this should of been Directed by Alfred Hitchcock who would definitely have made a better job of it than wannabe Hitchcock fan Brian De Palma - Not to say that he hasn't directed some excellent work - "Dressed To Kill" & "Blow Out" spring to mind immediately - It's just that this work isn't it! It is evocative of the period and the set-dressing must have cost a fortune to furnish but for a better detective story of the forties Director Curtis Hanson's "L.A. Confidential" is a better bet and also another adaption of a James Ellroy novel. "The Black Dahlia" a fictionalized version of both James Ellroy's book and the real-life horrific murder of Elizabeth Short (On a par with a Jack The Ripper type slaying) in 1947 stunned the community of that time and has never been solved. Unfortunately the film has so many layers and follows different threads all over the place with no meaning and really suffers for it in it's 2-hour runtime. A tighter script parred down to about an hour and a half would have got the relevant details across succinctly enough.

A host of quality actors share the stage in this film with a virtually unrecognisable Hilary Swank and Fiona Shaw with Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart setting the scene with a brutal boxing match at the start of the film and further support from Scarlett Johansson, Mia Kershner and Mike Starr. A couple of very nasty and bloody sequences grace the film so be warned. It is an entertaining romp through the period setting but takes far too long to get to the grist of the matter until suddenly it's The End amongst all the neo-fumbling Hitchcock homages. Dreary Sunday afternoon rainy day watching only...