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DePalmas Black Dahlia (1 Viewer)

Colton

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The best book to read that details the Black Dahlia mystery is "SEVERED" by John Gilmore whose father was one of the police officers that worked on the case. Very brutal reading with morgue photos.



- Colton
 

Kevin M

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Whoops, you're absolutely right Matthew, sorry for the cursory look at your post Rob. My fault.
 

seanOhara

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The novel is about two cops, partners involved with the same woman, who become obsessed with the Short murder and pursue it on their own. The leads they follow go off in a completely different direction from the official investigation, so there's only a light crossover with the Dahlia case you'll read about in True Crime books.
 

JonZ

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"The best book to read that details the Black Dahlia mystery is "SEVERED" by John Gilmore"

Ive been wondering if I shoudl read that book or not. Ive read that its extremely well done while others have said Gilmore has some facts wrong.For those who may not know he claims to pinpoint who killed her and even where it took place. Ill just paste this from wikipedia and put it in spoilers....

"Jack Anderson Wilson (a.k.a. Arnold Smith)
Wilson was a life-long petty criminal and alcoholic who was interviewed by author John Gilmore while Gilmore was researching his book Severed. After Wilson's death, Gilmore named Wilson as a suspect due to his alleged acquaintance with Short. Prior to Wilson's death, however, Gilmore made an entirely different claim to the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in a story appearing Jan. 17, 1982. While Severed says that homicide Detective John St. John was about to "close in" on Wilson based on the material Gilmore provided, St. John told the Herald-Examiner in the same article that he was busy with other killings and would review Gilmore's claims when he got time. As reliable sources of information about the case, such as the FBI files and portions of the Los Angeles district attorney files, have become publicly available, statements about Short and the murder attributed to Wilson in Severed and supposedly tying him to the crime have not been borne out as accurate. Severed also claims Wilson was involved in the murder of Georgette Bauerdorf.[15] Severed, and many other sources based on Severed, erroneously claim that Short and Bauerdorf knew each other in Los Angeles, supposedly because they were both hostesses at the same nightclub. In reality, by the time Short arrived in Los Angeles in 1946, Bauerdorf had been dead for two years and the nightclub had been closed for a year. "

" It is known that she had a rare condition that made her vagina unpenetratable as it was "incomplete"

Wasnt it Gilmores book that fiirst brought this light?

I do admit to having a curiousity about this and the Zodiac case(which is just so fucking bizarre. Im much more familiar with that case but thats another discussion for around the new year). Like Holadem said Im certainly not squeamish but in my old age have become more sensative to real life crimes.
 

Rob_Walton

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No worries, mate. I don't even watch the likes of Audition or Ichi so there's no chance I want to see some girl sliced in half. Hopefully the film will deal with that aspect in a subtle manner. For the Dahlia book (and possibly the film) it's the brilliance of the work itself, and the suffocating longing for justice, which captured my attention. Ellroy's book is almost a slice of his fevered nightmares. And, to me, it's utterly unforgettable.
 

Brent Hutto

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I don't believe the movie is about the murder of Miss Short as much as it is about the web of corruption and general dirt-bag-ness that existed in and around the LAPD in that era. So while squeamishness about the depiction of a brutal murder could certainly be a reason to avoid the movie, one could most likely ignore the graphic bits fairly easily if one wanted to experience the typical Ellroy milieu and characterization that will be the central focus of the movie.

For that matter, any of the CSI or Law and Order franchises have portrayed equally viscious and nausea inducing dismemberments right there on prime-time television. I'm not sure why this particular cold case would be any more gruesome.
 

Holadem

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Having unwittingly steered the discussion in this direction, I feel compelled to respond. I indicated in my original post that (1) the reality of this case is a factor in my negative reaction (2) this reaction is unusual for me. I am not sure how else to explain this.

My interest rose with a better understanding of the likely structure of the story. I had imagined a speculative biography, rather than an investigation.

LA Confidential is somewhere in my top 10, I have a Chinatown poster in my living room, I find film's depiction of the dark underbelly of LA generally compelling.

--
H
 

Kevin Grey

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The EW preview mentioned that, as a part of a long development process and budget shrinking, one of the filming locations switched from Berlin to Rome to Bulgaria. Now it's been almost a decade since I read the novel, but I don't recall any locations other than LA in the novel. Am I remembering wrong?
 

Aaron Reynolds

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I asked before -- why does everyone seem to think that suddenly DePalma will go for graphic gore? He doesn't have that kind of track record, even is his "brutally violent" Scarface, where virtually everything gory happens offscreen. The chainsaw scene is entirely implied -- reaction shots, cameras that move away, sounds.

This isn't Sam Raimi's Black Dahlia, or Paul Verhoeven's Black Dahlia.
 

Kevin Grey

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Well there was that drill from Body Double. Not as bloody as it could have been but still a bit gory. And Untouchables had a fair amount, including IIRC, some brains stuck to a wall.
 

Aaron Reynolds

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Ha! Maybe in your memory it was gory -- but what did you actually see in the drill scene?

What a perfect example! DePalma is absolutely the right person to handle gruesome material because he makes it feel gruesome without showing you much, if anything.
 

Kevin Grey

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I remember the drill coming through the ceiling with blood spiraling down it, as well as a shot of the drill penetrating her robe, if memory serves.
 

TravisR

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They built 1940's Los Angeles sets in Europe (I don't remember where exactly) and I'm sure there will be lots of CG backgrounds. I could be wrong but I doubt it'll make much of a difference since how much of L.A. still looks the same 60 years later? As long as they get the correct cars in the shots, it should look fine. :)

EDIT: A character does go to Elizabeth Short's hometown in the novel.
 

Kevin M

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Everybody isn't assuming it will be gory, I misunderstood a comment about "violence could be kept intact" as pertaining to this film.....it wasn't.


..................however on the other subject of DePalma's treatment of gore in his films, you seem to be forgetting The Fury, Dressed to Kill & the more recent Mission To Mars.....all fairly graphic as I recall.
 

Aaron Reynolds

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Never saw The Fury. Been nearly 20 years since I saw Dressed to Kill, though I bought it recently so I can give that a spin soon.

I guess I walked out of Mission To Mars before the gore. ;) What was gory in it?

As to the plot mechanics of Body Double, oh I have no idea at all anymore. That movie spun me 'round in circles. But I do remember reading a recent analysis of both it and Scarface that talked about graphic violence without the depiction of graphic violence.
 

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