Brian De Palma directed The Black Dahlia movie, which is based on James Ellroy’s book of the same name (see review here), a fictionalization based on the infamous Black Dahlia murder case that occurred in post-war California and remains unsolved to this day.
as is the case with most movie adaptations, the book was better, but admittedly, i would have enjoyed the movie more if i hadn’t read the novel first. De Palma’s version was an immensely toned down rendition of Ellroy’s work, and as such, nowhere near as intense. the actors gave excellent performances, especially Fiona Shaw who played Ramona Cathcart Linscott (Sprague in the book). incidentally, Shaw is perhaps better known as Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter movies.
the main character, Officer Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), is so named because of his large buck teeth. i wondered if Hartnett would be sporting a fake set of chompers. Brian snorted and guessed that his character would probably be known as “Dwight” rather than “Bucky” in the movie. he was close.
the movie’s running time is 121 minutes, so understandably, the screenwriter culled and successfully reworked key scenes. several of the victim’s screen tests (within the movie) were aired at the police station, and Bucky watched these as intesely as a quarterback studies game films. this narrative technique, which isn’t employed in the novel, is distracting. it shifts the viewers’ focus to the victim and away from Bucky, who is the main character and whose story is being told.
as a protagonist, De Palma’s Bucky is more sympathetic than Ellory’s, and if you haven’t read the book first, you just might buy the movie’s conclusion. my recommendation: wait for the DVD.
