What 1946 film noir stars Veronica Lake as Joyce Harwood?

The Blue Dahlia is the 1946 film noir starring Veronica Lake as Joyce Harwood.

Directed by George Marshall, the film follows demobilized Navy aviator Johnny Morrison, played by Alan Ladd, after he returns to Los Angeles and discovers that his wife has been murdered. Lake’s Joyce is estranged from Eddie Harwood, the nightclub owner at the center of the mystery, and becomes connected to Johnny as suspicion and danger spread.

The film is notable for its original screenplay by Raymond Chandler, his first screenplay written directly for the screen rather than adapted from one of his novels. Chandler reportedly wrote much of the script under severe time pressure, contributing to the movie’s compact, hard-edged dialogue and tangled criminal plot.

The title refers to the Blue Dahlia nightclub and to a flower associated with the story’s clues. It is sometimes confused with other 1940s noirs such as Deadline at Dawn or I Wake Up Screaming, but neither stars Lake as Joyce Harwood. The film reunited Lake and Ladd, who had previously appeared together in This Gun for Hire.