WHO IS THE BLACK DAHLIA?

US, 1975, 100 minutes, Colour.
Ephrem Zimbalist Jr. Ronny Cox, Macdonald Carey, Lucy Arnaz, Tom Bosley, Linden Chiles, Gloria de Haven, Mercedes Mc Cambridge, Brooke Adams, Rick Jason, June Lockhart, Donna Mills.
Directed by Joseph Pevney.

Aan entertaining crime mystery. It is not a murder mystery, because the famous case of the middle forties was never solved. The interest is in the portrait of the victim. the jigsaw puzzle of her life and the possible motivations of the unknown killer. The tone of the film is of the television series style, for example F.B.I., with the presence of Efrem Zimbalist Jnr. Lucy Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, is good in the central role and she is supported by a large cast, especially of Hollywood veterans including Macdonald Carey and Mercedes Mc Cambridge as the Black Dahlia's grandmother. The director is Joseph Pevney. a veteran director of many films - of the fifties and early sixties.

1. An interesting and entertaining crime thriller, murder mystery? A piece of Americana reflecting the styles of the forties?

2. The films quality as a telemovie - treatment of a serious theme, the creation of mystery and suspense, character, portrait, investigation? Aud ence presuppositions about police thrillers?

3. The question of the title and its focus on Elizabeth Short and her nickname? The irony of the unknown answer? The relationship to the murderer? The structure of the film as attempting to explore the question?

4. The effectiveness of the structure: the focus on the finding of Elizabeth Short's corpse, the build-up of her life an it could be reconstructed. the work of the investigators? Their intermeshing? The verbal and visual links and contrasts? The ironies of what people said about Elizabeth Short and the reality? The effect of a jigsaw, a puzzle?

5. The portrait of Elizabeth Short? The emphasis on close-ups, profiles, the freeze frame in presenting her? The significance of the title in relation to her and her personality? The kind of girl she was at home, her relationship to her grandmother, hopes and ambitions, her relationship with her father and going to see him, his rejection of her, her walking around California and encounters with soldiers, the ambiguity of her attitudes, appearing as a prostitute, her reserved response? The hitchhiking episodes, the building up of her friends and acquaintances? Her application for a job and her success at it and then disappearing after some publicity? Her wanting to have acting lessons? Her being arrested for drinking and warned? Her approach to the Hollywood producer. the encounter with his girl friends and her attitudes towards them, the mystery of her presence at the bus station, her friendship with Joe and the proposal, the interlude with him? Elizabeth as interpreted by the documents about her, his letters, people's understanding her from the evidence? An ordinary American girl? The probability of her being murdered? An American type?

6. The horror impact of her corpse and its discovery, the nature of the murder, the skilful draining of the blood and the references to this throughout the film?

7. The portrait of the police - Hansen and his telling the story? Efrem Zimbalist's style? His skill in detection, his obsession, having Elizabeth’ Short’s picture and the way people referred to this? Her effect on him and his memory, even decades after the investigation? His aid, following up of clues, success with documents, interrogations, the collecting of information? The encounter with Elizabeth’s grandmother? The girl who lived with the producer? Joe?

8. The characters and types in Elizabeth Short's life who might have been her killer? Her father and his antagonism, the soldiers and their fighting, the hitchhiker and his proposition, her Hollywood connections?

9. How well did the film highlight her mystery and contradictions and the varied reactions of people?

10. The portrait of her grandmother and her love for her?

11. The files on The Black Dahlia? The various leads, the tru e confession over the phone and it coming to nothing, the false confessions, the memoirs of Hansen?

12. A glimpse of American society, people, death, hopes of a girl, betrayals, guilt? An insight into American society?