The Blue Dahlia (1946)

This film has been considered a noir classic for the nearly sixty years since its release and garnered an Oscar nomination for its screenwriter, the great Raymond Chandler.  However if truth be told it has not held up all that well and is more competent than exciting.  Alan Ladd plays a war hero who returns with his two buddies to find that his wife has been unfaithful and has been responsible for the death of their son.  When she is found dead, he is the natural suspect although one knows he is innocent.  There are also two characters who might have been the guilty party, but one doesn't really believe this.  Therefore when the real killer is revealed, it is something of an anticlimax.  To some extent my main problem here is with Ladd.  He is an able and attractive actor elevated into a reasonable career by a pushy casting agent wife.  However he is so tiny that one must really suspend belief to see him beating up all the heavies (and don't remind me of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan).  He was continuously paired with wee Veronica Lake, as he is here, to make him look taller.