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The Black Dahlia (Widescreen Edition) | 
| Director: Brian De Palma
Actors: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, John Kavanagh
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy New: $0.70
You Save: $12.28 (95%)
New (85) Used (181) Collectible (2) from $0.01
Rating:  226 reviews
Sales Rank: 15224
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Genre: none
Rating: R (Restricted)
ESRB: Teen
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 122 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: MCAD61029180D
UPC: 025192918025
EAN: 0025192918025
ASIN: B000K2UVZM
Theatrical Release Date: September 15, 2006
Release Date: December 26, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The Black Dahlia drips with film noir atmospherics as it unspools a lurid and complicated story taken from James Ellroy's true-crime-inspired novel of the same name. Two boxers-turned-cops--Lee "Mr. Fire" Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking) and Bucky "Mr. Ice" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett, Black Hawk Down)--are morally tested as they pursue the killer of a young would-be actress, grappling with corruption, narcissism, stag films, and family madness along the way. L.A. Confidential turned Ellroy's heated prose into a taut, compelling movie, but The Black Dahlia collapses like a soggy meringue. Director Brian De Palma (who once made such vibrant, entertaining movies as Carrie and The Untouchables) can't muster the energy to craft one of his trademark bravura action sequences and seems outright bored by the more mundane tasks of shaping performances and establishing mood. The actors flounder; Eckhart seems to be emoting for two, perhaps to compensate for Hartnett's bland lack of affect; even actresses as dependable as Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) and Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry) give clumsy, unconvincing performances. The one exception is an unsettling performance by Mia Kirshner (Exotica) as the doomed actress, seen only in perverse screen tests and stag films. The story is incomprehensible (and when you can follow it, it's silly); the dialogue is atrocious; the characters make hardly any sense from scene to scene. The movie is, however, good for many moments of absurd camp, such as when Bucky enters the most lavish, palatial lesbian bar you'll ever see, featuring a Busby-Berkeley-style stairway of smooching babes and a crooning k.d. lang. --Bret Fetzer
Product Description
Inspired by the Most Notorious Unsolved Murder in California History.From the acclaimed director of Scarface and the author of LA Confidential comes the spellbinding thriller The Black Dahlia. Two ambitious cops Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) investigate the shocking murder of an aspiring young starlet. With a corpse so mutilated that photos are kept from the public the case becomes an obsession for the men and their lives begin to unravel. Blanchard's relationship with his girlfriend Kay (Scarlett Johansson) deteriorates while Bleichert finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Madeleine (Hilary Swank) a wealthy woman with a dark and twisted connection to the victim.System Requirements:Running Time: 122 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 025192918025 Manufacturer No: 61029180
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| Customer Reviews: Read 221 more reviews...
Classic DePalma : Stylish but silly May 17, 2009
Richard Ross
If Brian DePalma would have focused solely on the murder and police investigation of the Black Dahlia this film would have been a near masterpiece. It certainly looks amazing thanks to production design by Dante Ferretti and photography by the Oscar nominated Vilmos Zsigmond. Everything else about it sucks. Set in the mid to late 40's the film resembles so many films from that era. Which is to say it's melodramatic and absurdly over the top in spots. Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) are two homicide detectives assigned to the murder case of Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner) a.k.a. The Black Dahlia so named because of her all black wardrobe and promiscuous nature. Bleichert is a by the book cop whereas Blanchard is a hothead zoned out on Benzedrine. He becomes obsessed with the Dahlia causing him to alienate his girlfriend Kay Lake (Scarlet Johansson) and letting a murderer go free. The film throws so many characters and motivations at us in the first half hour that after an hour and a half it's impossible to remember them when DePalma tries to tie up all the loose ends. It's a losing game because just when you think you've got it under control there is a gaping hole in the logic. Hilary Swank is useless in the role of Madeline Linscott a rich girl who keeps insisting she looks like the Dahlia when clearly she doesn't. Her and Bleichert have a steamy affair even though Buck is involved in a love triangle between Lee and Kay. All the sex scenes are ridiculously overheated. The whole film is laughable.The only things that save it are good looking femmes like Johannson, Rose McGowan, and Rachel Miner all of whom look good in the period costumes and hairstyles. The real highlight for die hard DePalma fans is his re teaming with the Phantom himself William Finley. What does Finley play? A disfigured killer of course. This film could have been something special instead of a film that looks great but is confusing and frustrating.
 This is a movie about the Black Dahila murder? Right? March 21, 2009
YA Librarian (Always Cloudy Upstate NY)
I should have come to Amazon to read the reviews before I rented this movie. This has to be one of the most horrible movies I have seen in my entire life.
First we begin with the Zoot suit riots. Why I'm not really sure..but we do. Then we have a boxing match between two young men who later become partners. Why we have this boxing match I'm not really sure. However, I was eating dinner at the time and I must have been more focused on my salad than the movie.
Anyway, Lee Blanchard and Bucky Bleichert are cops investigating pimps, I think. They are partners and there is some sexual tension because Bucky like Lee's wife (at least I think she is his wife). Finally 20 or 25 minutes into the movie we finally get into the Black Dahila murder. Our detectives stumble upon the crime scene because they happened to be in the neighborhood.
What happens next is mostly about the men's lives. We get bits and pieces of the Black Dahila's murder, but not enough to keep my interested in this movie and I nearly drifted off to sleep three times (after I finished eating). There are four different plots going on at once which makes this movie bloated.
The detectives' storyline is the main plot to this story which was aggravating to this viewer. If they wanted the Black Dahila murder to be a subplot, fine, but could it have been a little more prominent than what we got?
The book maybe better. I dont know because I haven't read it. Although books always tend to be better than movies. Still, go with the reviews on this. The majority of Amazon costumers believe this movie is bad, and they are right. Try the book before you rent this piece of garbage.
 MY REVIEW February 2, 2009
Letosa Anderson (MIAMI, FL)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought the movie took an interesting turn from the true story but would have like it more if they kept the story ending close to the true story.
The Black Dahlia According to James Ellroy January 30, 2009
Michael B. Druxman (Austin, TX)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There's much to like in THE BLACK DAHLIA, the 2006 filming of author James Ellroy best-selling novel that was inspired by Los Angeles' most infamous unsolved murder case.
Director Brian DePalma has not only recreated Los Angeles of the 1940s to perfection, but he has also filled the film with several memorable sequences.
These include the discovery of Elizabeth Short's severed body at the same time that a police shoot-out is taking place on the next block, and, later, a triple murder on a three-story open staircase in an office building.
On the other hand, Ellroy's novel and Josh Friedman's screenplay adaptation are both very complex, with multiple storylines continually criss-crossing to the point where the picture is sometimes difficult to follow.
An audience can only assimilate so much exposition at one time. Thus, this is that rare movie that would have benefited from a longer running time, so that these storylines could have been better developed.
The principal plot revolves around the relationship between two Los Angeles police detectives, both former boxers who are now partnered. Josh Hartnett is the younger, more idealistic of the pair, while Aaron Eckhart has the experience, but is also plagued by demons from his past that are stirred up by The Black Dahlia case. Indeed, he becomes obsessed with Ms. Short's grisly murder.
Scarlett Johansson is Eckhart's platonic girl friend, who is attracted to Hartnett. She also has a dark secret, as does Hilary Swank, the bi-sexual, nymphomaniac spoiled daughter of a wealthy contractor who Hartnett ultimately discovers is the key to the Dahlia mystery.
There are some fine performances in THE BLACK DAHLIA. I was most impressed with Mia Kirshner as Ms. Short, Mike Starr as a police detective and, although some critics have disagreed, Ms. Swank as the femme fatale.
The DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment contains three excellent "Making of" documentaries, the most interesting of which has Ellroy discussing the facts of the actual The Black Dahlia case and revealing the personal tragedy (i.e. the murder of his mother when he was ten-years-old) that compelled him to write his novel.
Michael B. Druxman
2 stars out of 4 January 24, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Ann Arbor)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Bottom Line:
The Black Dahlia often looks good (some of its scenes are in fact spectacular) but it's so unbelievably over the top and convoluted that it has to be seen to beleived; a colossal waste of talent and money, the film is only recommended to those who enjoy watching cinematic train wrecks.
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