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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2024 16:26:12 GMT
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 19, 2024 16:52:32 GMT
"The Blue Dahlia" has become my favorite Ladd-Lake pairing.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2024 17:40:34 GMT
"The Blue Dahlia" has become my favorite Ladd-Lake pairing.
Years ago I was browsing a shelf at a public library in southern California, looking for published screenplays. Raymond Chandler's screenplay for 'The Blue Dahlia' was on the shelf. So, I checked it out, went home and read it. It actually reads better than the movie plays, because you can see more clearly the themes Chandler was trying to explore. Many of these themes were diluted or cut from the final film, due to interference from the production code office and Paramount execs who had run test screenings and decided to make alterations.
In the original screenplay, Bendix's character was the murderer of Ladd's wife (Doris Dowling) because he had snapped due to PTSD. This was a big no-no per the production code office, as they did not want audiences to even go there in their thought process, that men who had come back from the war might be unbalanced because of the war. That went against patriotism and regarding these men as heroes, instead of as killers.
As a result, the revised ending of the film makes Will Wright's character, the house detective, the culprit...which really doesn't seem to fit in very well with everything we've seen before in the story. I find it one of the least satisfying denouements in film noir. But if you read Chandler's screenplay, you can "enjoy" how the story was meant to be told. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 19, 2024 18:24:29 GMT
"The Blue Dahlia" has become my favorite Ladd-Lake pairing.
Years ago I was browsing a shelf at a public library in southern California, looking for published screenplays. Raymond Chandler's screenplay for 'The Blue Dahlia' was on the shelf. So, I checked it out, went home and read it. It actually reads better than the movie plays, because you can see more clearly the themes Chandler was trying to explore. Many of these themes were diluted or cut from the final film, due to interference from the production code office and Paramount execs who had run test screenings and decided to make alterations.
In the original screenplay, Bendix's character was the murderer of Ladd's wife (Doris Dowling) because he had snapped due to PTSD. This was a big no-no per the production code office, as they did not want audiences to even go there in their thought process, that men who had come back from the war might be unbalanced because of the war. That went against patriotism and regarding these men as heroes, instead of as killers.
As a result, the revised ending of the film makes Will Wright's character, the house detective, the culprit...which really doesn't seem to fit in very well with everything we've seen before in the story. I find it one of the least satisfying denouements in film noir. But if you read Chandler's screenplay, you can "enjoy" how the story was meant to be told.
I always thought "This Gun for Hire" was their most-popular pairing, but I'm sure you are right. |
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2024 18:58:35 GMT
Is THIS GUN FOR HIRE more popular? Perhaps you're correct.
Per MovieCollector's database, TCM chooses to broadcast THE BLUE DAHLIA more often.
Interestingly, Ladd is fourth-billed in THIS GUN FOR HIRE. Veronica Lake is top-billed. Robert Preston is second-billed and the lead actor. Character actor Laird Cregar is third-billed, which is still higher than Ladd.
THE GLASS KEY (1942) has Ladd third-billed. Brian Donlevy is top-billed as the lead actor. And Lake is second-billed.
It isn't until THE BLUE DAHLIA that we have Ladd in the lead role...top-billed, with Lake, Bendix and the other cast billed underneath.
I know that billing doesn't necessarily reflect how popular a film is, but I have a feeling TCM's programmers tend to choose THE BLUE DAHLIA as the one they air most often, because Ladd is indisputably the star of it and it's a good noir vehicle for everyone involved.
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