In a message dated 12/2/05 11:34:58 AM,
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net writes:
> 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.
>
>
>
that's a GREAT story. better than the one in The Blue Dahlia,
or at least the one filmed. on a side note, for those of us
in L.A., a stage version is playing in Venice at the Pacific
Resident Theater thru Dec 18. it got a fairly decent review
in today's L.A. Times. I'm thinking of checking it out
myself
John Lau
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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