The Black Dahlia (DVD)

The Black Dahlia is an adaptation of a bestselling novel about two 1940s L.A. cops who head up the hunt for the killer of a mysterious starlet named Elizabeth Short, but called The Back Dahlia (she liked to wear flowers in her dark hair, especially dahlias).

When I saw The Back Dahlia in its theatrical run, I thought it was a fascinating failure. The cinematic pairing of author James Ellroy and director Brian De Palma was nearly noir nirvana. Nearly.

The fascinating parts include the cinematography, sets, dialogue, the Black Dahlia murder mystery, and the casting. The failures include the unevenness of the story, the bizarre turns into black humor, the pacing and the casting. For my original theatrical review, click here.

I do think the movie — in spite of it not really being about the Black Dahlia at all — will still appeal to fans of ghoulish murder tales and those who are into De Palma's off-kilter vibe.

The extras on the DVD go the extra mile when it comes to talking about the real-life case, and it delves into great detail about recreating the 1940s period on film. In a very nice touch, Universal has added captions for the hearing-impaired to all the additional release material.

• Reality and Fiction: The Story of The Black Dahlia featurette

 This is a sit-down interview with Ellroy, who tells a lot more about the Black Dahlia than the movie does. There are plenty of archival photos used to illustrate the story, as well as stock footage from the era of Short's stomping grounds. He also relates the back story of his novel, and how it finally made it to the big screen (The Black Dahlia was set to be a movie even before L.A. Confidential, which came out in 1997).

• The Case File featurette

While the Case File is at heart a pretty basic making-of featurette, the actors, director, writers, and those worked behind the camera do have some genuinely interesting things to say about their approach to the film and their roles in it.

• The De Palma Touch featurette – Presented by Volkwagen

 Presented by Volkswagen, so you know it's got fahrvergnugen! (No, I don't know what that means… but I do know that Volkswagen is a big sponsor for Universal, so that's why their name is worked into the title here.) This featurette talks about De Palma's visual style, but only as it applies to The Black Dahlia; it's not a recap of his considerable career.

= = =

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson