After going through more boxes that I thought I would have to
(it wasn't in the one it was supposed to be, of course), I
found my copy of The Black Dahlia screenplay. It was
published in 1976 by the Southern Illinois University Press.
Along with the screenplay, the book contains a memoir by the
film's producer, John Houseman (originally published in the
August 1965 issue of Harper's), and an afterword by Matthew
J. Bruccoli.
So here are their versions of the story of the movie:
Alan Ladd was going back into the Army in three months and
Paramount wanted to shoot a new movie with him before he
went. But they had no script. At about that time, Houseman
had lunch with Chandler, who complained he was stuck on a
book and thinking about converting it into a screenplay. The
two went to Chandler's house, Houseman read the 120 completed
pages and Paramount bought it for what Houseman called "a
substantial sum." In three weeks, Chandler turned what he had
completed into 70 pages in script form and the studio started
shooting with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. For a while, he
stayed barely ahead of them, but the filming threatened to
catch up to him at page 93, where he stalled. Finally,
Chandler, who had been sober for a while, came up with a
plan. He couldn't write at the studio sober, but he could
write at home drunk. So he gave Houseman a list of what he'd
need -- round the clock secretaries, a doctor on hand (for
"vitamin" shots), etc. He didn't eat a thing and stayed drunk
for eight days, but completed the script, the last line of
which was: Did somebody say something about a drink of
bourbon?
Houseman never mentions the required ending change, strongly
implies but never explicitly says, that Chandler didn't have
an ending, didn't know who did it, and that was why he
stalled, first on the book, then on the script. Bruccoli says
different. He says Chandler knew who the killer was from the
beginning, but the Navy overruled him, since at the the time,
all servicemen conduct in movies had to be approved by said
services. In a 1946 letter to James Sandoe, Chandler
wrote:
Yes, I'm through with The Blue Dahlia, it dates even now.
What the Navy Department did to the story was a little thing
like making me change the murderer and hence make a routine
whodunit out of a fairly oiginal idea. What I wrote was a
story of a man who killed (executed would be a better word)
his pal's wife under the stress of a great and legitimate
anger, then blanked out and forgot all about it; then with
perfect honesty did his best to help the pal get out of a
jam, then found himself in a set of circumstances which
brought about partial recall. The poor guy remembered enough
to make it clear who the murderer was to others, but never
realized it himself. He just did and said things he couldn't
have done and said unless he was the killer; but he never
knew he did them or said them and never interpreted
them.
Two other script changes were made. An actor playing a thug
broke his toe during filming, so they worked that into the
film. Also the last scene was changed. Instead of going off
with his friends to get that drink of bourbon, Alan Ladd left
his friends behind to go off with Veronica Lake.
Chandler's final estimation was:
In less than two weeks, I wrote an original story of 90
pages. All dictated and never looked at until finished. It
was an experiment and for one subject from early childhood to
plot-constipation, it was rather a revelation. Some of the
stuff is good, some very much not.
I also found out today that The Blue Dahlia has not come out
on DVD. I'm pretty sure I have it somewhere on tape. Guess
I've got to move some more boxes.
Mark
ps -- SPOILER: WHO DID IT IN THE MOVIE -- it was the house
dick.
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~--> 1.2 million kids a year are
victims of human trafficking. Stop slavery.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/WpTY2A/izNLAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 02 Dec 2005 EST