The Blue Dahlia: A Screenplay

A previously unpublished work by Raymond Chandler. Raymond Chandler's screenplay forThe Blue Dahliais a valuable addition to the published canon for the writer who has been called "the Shakespeare of hard­boiled fiction." Converted from a never-completed novel, this screenplay is all that survives of the novel Chandler worked on betweenThe Lady in the LakeandThe Little Sister. In 1944Paramount Pictures, where Chandler was under contract, needed a rush script for Alan Ladd. Chandler agreed to cannibalize his novel-in-progress, butas detailed in producer John Houseman's memoirhe became stuck and decided that he could only complete his screenplay drunk.The Blue Dahliawas completed on schedule and was well received, earning Chandler his second Academy Award nomination. Although the writer's screenplay is metamorphosed by other hands in the movie-making process, the screenplay as written has an independent existence, and may be read and judged as a literary work. Indeed, the movie studio archives are a valuable literary resource; and it is inevitable that many screenplays will be published as the study of movies ex­pands. The Blue Dahliais the story of a war hero who is suspected of having mur­dered his unfaithful wife. Although it does not involve a private-eye, the work utilizes familiar elements of Chandler's world: the loner hero, the quest for jus­tice, the sense of a corrupt society, and above allthe theme of personal honor.Chandler, Raymond is the author of 'The Blue Dahlia: A Screenplay', published 1976 under ISBN 9780809307661 and ISBN 0809307669.