Buy used £2.30

£1.26 delivery December 28 - 29. Details

Arrives after Christmas. Need a gift sooner? Send an Amazon Gift Card instantly by email or SMS.

Select delivery location

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by OnlineMusicFilmsGames

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Colour:

Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available
To view this video download Flash Player

The Blue Dahlia [DVD]

Alan Ladd (Actor), Veronica Lake (Actor), George Marshall (Director) Rated: Parental Guidance Format: DVD

428 ratings

IMDb7.1/10.0

£2.30

Additional DVD options

Edition

Discs

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

DVD
16 Dec. 2005

"Please retry"

—

£6.75

—

DVD

"Please retry"

—

£2.30

£12.88

£2.30

DVD
21 Oct. 2008

"Please retry"

—

£15.89

£15.81

Format	PAL
Contributor	Howard Da Silva, Lionel Lindon, William Bendix, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, Frank Faylen, Howard Freeman, Hugh Beaumont, John Houseman, Doris Dowling, Don Costello, Tom Powers, Will Wright, George Marshall, Raymond Chandler See more
Language	English
Runtime	1 hour and 36 minutes
Studio	Universal

Veronica Lake
453
DVD
8 offers from £1.89
Brian Donlevy
294
DVD
3 offers from £4.98
Gene Tierney
1,102
DVD
17 offers from £2.34
Veronica Lake
155
DVD
11 offers from £4.12
Joel McCrea
268
DVD
9 offers from £0.85
Linda Darnell
80
DVD
5 offers from £15.00

Product description

Classic crime drama directed by George Marshall. When demobbed serviceman Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) comes home to Hollywood from the war, he discovers his wife Helen (Doris Dowling) has been having an affair with local nightclub owner Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva). After also learning his young son has been killed in a car accident caused by Helen's drink driving, Johnny pulls a gun on his wife before storming out. The next morning, upon hearing that Helen has been murdered and that he is the prime suspect, Johnny recruits Eddie's wife Joyce (Veronica Lake) and two old army buddies to help him find the real killer and clear his name.

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 16:9 - 1.78:1
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.03 x 13.76 x 1.48 cm; 83 Grams
Item model number ‏ : ‎ 5050582411782
Director ‏ : ‎ George Marshall
Media Format ‏ : ‎ PAL
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 36 minutes
Actors ‏ : ‎ Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Universal
Producers ‏ : ‎ John Houseman
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000M06GQA
Writers ‏ : ‎ Raymond Chandler
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: 22,687 in DVD & Blu-ray (See Top 100 in DVD & Blu-ray)
- 1,773 in Crime (DVD & Blu-ray)
- 2,399 in Thriller (DVD & Blu-ray)
- 6,840 in Drama (DVD & Blu-ray)

Customer reviews:
428 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		64%
4 star		26%
3 star		4%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

droog

Rainy Nights and Bright Lights in L.A.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 2 April 2017

Verified Purchase

This complex noir thriller brings back the partnership of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in a story which may have been even more relevant post-war, with returning servicemen hoping they can return to their lives pre-war. Unfortunately, this was a pipe dream as far as some were concerned. The return home for Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd), Buzz (William Bendix) and George was not quite so good for Johnny when he finds that his wife,Helen, has hit the booze-and-party circuit at the posh end of Los Angeles which included her boyfriend Eddie. The first meeting between Johnny and Eddie was not very polite and ends up with Eddie being socked in the mouth. This is followed by Helen telling him that she's going to do what she likes with her life,including boozing ; maybe that is what many returning servicemen were to experience.

As the thriller develops, the fact that Johnny pulled a gun on Helen but did not use it becomes a factor in who killed her. The very seedy hotel detective who is called to the crime by Helen's cleaner brings the police into it. Johnny has long gone to find a hotel to live in temporarily; he is alone,disillusioned and stuck in a rainstorm with no taxis available. The rainstorm became another clue to the solving of Helen's murder. The characters involved are examined and one is never sure how they all fit in and if they are whom they say they are. Picked out as a possibility is Buzz who has a plate in his head and suffers from headaches and whose demeanour can be aggressive. The sound of loud swing/jazz brings him out in a rage and everybody seems to be playing it. Eddie Harwood,Helen's boyfriend, owns a night club called 'The Blue Dahlia' which he runs with a partner. Characters with ferret faces and moustaches signalled villainy and night clubs in thrillers are always places where nefarious deeds are done.

Into Johnny's life comes another woman who turns out to be Eddie's estranged wife. He is on the run after hearing over the radio that his wife had been killed, whilst previously he had just left his faithless wife. In the course of the action he is waylaid by thugs whose boss seems to be Eddie's partner. Whilst he does not know it,a clue to his innocence has been in his suitcase all the time, a photograph of Johnny,Helen and their dead son. He did not die of diptheria but was killed in a road crash in a car driven by a drunken Helen. It was what Helen had written on the back of the photo which was of some interest to the police but was not a revelation as to who shot her. As is usual with noir, there were all the narrative trails which led to dead ends and there were quite a few actual dead ends in the film. Attention is focused on Buzz who has all the headaches - was it him?

Unfortunately, when the villain is revealed at the police office,it is rather an anti-climax as by then the list of suspects had come down to one. However, the film was an interesting journey whose narrative twisted and turned and kept the audience interested. The screenplay by Raymond Chandler did not, unfortunately, carry the great one-liners which feature in his hard-boiled novels and films like 'The Big Sleep' and 'Farewell my Lovely' but it is a very good,well-constructed thriller which is workmanlike in its direction by George Marshall. It does tell the story with the action moving between the scenes with clipped dialogue. In other words, this was a worthy member of the noir club.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Helder Antonio Dias dos Reis Videira

A very good noir movie

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 14 September 2022

Verified Purchase

This movie arrived some weeks ago in a very good condition from Poland!
I have to thank you a lot for your Excellent service! Many thanks.
I loved the good performances and I like a lot Veronica Lake in this kind of films noir.
Many thanks and bye-bye from Lisbon (PORTUGAL).
Hélder Reis Videira

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Mr. M. Sanders

The Blue Dahlia

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 28 December 2010

Verified Purchase

Black Dahlia or Blue Dahlia?

Well this film the Blue Dahlia preceded the real 'Black Dahlia' killing by a year, food for thought? Although there was no connection except for the 'Dahlia' name part, I guess many people who have seen 'Dahlia' style films such as L.A. Confidential and the De Palma Black Dahlia film, will no doubt be curious as to what this film has to offer.

I find these old 40's and 50's noir genre films very useful tools for research, as I like to write in this style. So I guess I look at them more analytically than just watching them as films for films sake.

Some reviewers have given less than flattering reviews to this film, but it has many good points I feel and as good as many other films of the era, it does take a whilet to get going but when it gets on rails, it goes.

There are some good scenarios and charachter back stories, the Buzz charachter for instance has a medical condition from a war injury which is treated in a kind of Christie-esque 'ABC murders' way, I won't give the plot away, but suffice to say that 'Buzz' becomes a candidiate for murder - so acquaint yourself with the Agatha Christie ABC Murdes case, which will help you understand that part of the film.

The Blue Dahlia story is pacy, remember this is 1946, not 2006, much less was permissable on screen then so the writing had to be clever. This film really has the 'Cluedo' feel about it, you know the main charachter didn't do it, so you have to work out who did.

The film delivers the climax scene in Harwood's Blue Dahlia club office which you'd find difficult to predict who the killer was, the cast charachters all weave their own little trails which are done well, the main charachter Johnny, played by Alan Ladd is well played, a man on an emotional journey trying to be thinking rationally at the same time and not knowing when someone flashing a badge at him is a real detective or some phoney.Veronica Lake as Blue Dahlia Club owner Harwood's wife is a curious enigma, cropping up on Johnny's tail all the while, you get the feeling as does he that somebody has organised this trail, what will happen next??

For an old film, the action and fight scenes are also well done, bearing in mind the constrictions of the censorship at the time.

The story ingredients are drip fed over the film and fall into place at the end, you'd almost like to see an end sequence of clips telling what the charachters did after the final scene.

A great film I think, certainly has it's place with the other Dahlia related films that followed!

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Alex da Silva

Goddam monkey music!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 5 June 2010

Verified Purchase

Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd) returns from the war to his wife Helen (Doris Dowling). However, she has been tarting about behind his back with Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva) and she is also responsible for the death of Johnny's son. This revelation proves too much for Johnny and he walks out. However, Helen is shot that night and Johnny becomes the number one suspect. He forms an alliance with Eddie's wife Joyce (Veronica Lake) and the film becomes a murder mystery. Who-dunnit....?

The acting honours go to Howard Da Silva as the confident nightclub owner and Doris Dowling as the partying floozy, followed by Alan Ladd in the lead role. William Bendix as Johnny's buddy "Buzz" is really annoying. He shouts his way through the film and although he gets much credit for playing an ex-serviceman with shell-shock, the truth is that he is irritating. What's also irritating is the habit Buzz has of constantly repeating Johnny's name.

I wasn't sure what the film was about for the first half hour or so. It's entertaining but I didn't know where it was going until we got the murder. The film gets a bit slow in parts. The story also stretches credulity with the rather convenient meeting between Johnny and Joyce and their association with each other. The ending is also a cop-out. Although the film keeps you guessing as to the identity of the murderer (I didn't guess it), all is ultimately revealed in a very poor confession from out of the blue. Tacky. It could have been much better.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	AbeBooks Books, art & collectables	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Download Audiobooks	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	DPReview Digital Photography	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations

Amazon Home Services Experienced pros Happiness Guarantee	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands

Amazon Warehouse Deep Discounts Open-Box Products	Amazon Business Service for business customers	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food

The Blue Dahlia [DVD]

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product description

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.