Movie: The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall, 1946)
Riders on the Storm and Light My Fire are great, but L.A. Woman is the main reason this is called Tarantino and the Doors. The video clip, directed by Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek 14 years after the song's release (and 14 years after Jim Morrison's death), goes a long a way towards that. It starts off combining archival footage of the band hanging around with bright snapshots of 1980's Los Angeles, playing like the opening to an 80's rom-com about yuppies in ascendance. It doesn't long however before the first hints of distress. The cheery atmosphere is slowly interrupted by a mysterious guy dressed in black putting off a cigar over Josef von Sternberg's Walk of Fame star, and a naked woman's body that we never get a full picture of, all set against the slightly ominous lights of Hollywood. And by the time an angelic woman starts dancing against the backdrop of giant skeletons, the clip has fully descended into expressionism and surrealism. "Midnight alleys roam/Cops in cars/The topless bars/Never saw a woman so alone." sings Morrison throughout it all. The lyrics, clearly inspired by 40's and 50's noir, seamlessly fit all the eras and styles Manzarek's images seek to evoke. It's one of my favorite music videos in part also because it demystifies The Doors, which makes their whole shtick more appealing. Morrison liked to present himself as a sort of poet God living outside the realm of ordinary people. It was an obvious act that appealed/appeals to me, but many find (understandably) insufferable. Manzarek's video clip places Morrison and the rest of the band right in the middle of ordinary life, and allows its mysterious elements to directly emerge from there, rather than presenting them as separate from daily existence. That's more interesting and provocative than performative Lizard Kings.
In 1947 Elisabeth Short was found mutilated in a Los Angeles park. The murder, one of the most mysterious and publicised in American history, has never been solved, but the press immortalised Short as the 'Black Dahlia', likely influenced by 1946's noir The Blue Dahlia, a highly entertaining film that isn't nearly as dark or tough to watch as its key historic connection may suggest. That's not to say that it's comforting. In the opening scenes we meet Johnny (Alan Ladd), Buzz (William Bendix) and George (Hugh Beaumont) as they return as heroes from the Pacific. The war has ended, America has won, but everyone is on edge. Buzz has a metal plate in his head, causing bouts of temporary amnesia and unease. Whenever loud music is playing the film puts us in Buzz' headspace by placing him in an extreme close up and letting the music drown out the dialogue. Johnny, has lost his son during the war, and is apprehensive to return home to his wife Helen (Doris Dowling), a twitchy, barely functioning drunk having an affair with Eddie (Howard da Silva). As the owner of The Blue Dahlia nightclub, Eddie should be at ease. He has money and access to powerful men and beautiful women, but is haunted by a dark past and his own feelings of inadequacy. He can't quite convince himself that he deserves all his riches and in the back of his mind he always seems to believe that it all might crashing down any second. It's no wonder his wife Joyce (Veronica Lake) is constantly on the verge of escaping forever. When Helen is murdered, Johnny is the main suspect.
The studio forced writer Raymond Chandler to change his original ending to not emphasise too much the negative psychological effects of World War 2. As a result, The Blue Dahlia is left with a solution that makes little narrative or thematic sense, and a rather uninteresting killer. It's not a big deal, because the film constantly creates interesting connections between the characters, and keeps providing new revelations that add new wrinkles and depth. The opening scene immediately signals director George Marshall's fun approach. When the three friends enter a bar, they are shot sitting next to each other with Buzz in the middle, and when another patron turns on the jukebox, it's Buzz who creates a scene. The scene introduces Buzz as the film's main protagonist, but then reveals that it is going to follow Johnny home and the story will ultimately center on him. The film is filled with such instances of misdirection, consistently finding small surprises up its sleeve.
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