2006年VOA标准英语-Classic Crime Story Comes to the Big Screen in

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
17 September 2006

Filmmaker Brian De Palma takes movie audiences back to 1940's Los Angeles in his new 'film noir' thriller¹ adapted from a classic crime story by hard-boiled author James Ellroy.

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		Aaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett in Universal Pictures' The Black Dahlia

The mystery has haunted the Los Angeles Police Department for some 60 years: who killed Elizabeth Short? The gruesome 1947 murder of the young, would-be starlet remains² one of the city's most notorious unsolved crimes:

Police detectives Bucky Bleichart [BLY'-cart] and Lee Blanchard - partners on the force and best friends off-duty - become obsessed³ with the case of the dead young woman whose flirtatious⁴ black dresses earned her the nickname "The Black Dahlia." Each soon finds himself in too deep. A tragedy in his own family dogs Lee; for Bucky, it's the clues that lead to a high society femme fatale:

Oscar-winner Hilary Swank plays the dame⁵ with the deadly curves; Josh Hartnett, who stars as Bucky Bleichart, says "Because the characters are so well-developed in the book and the scenario⁶ is so clear, it's almost like all we had to do as actors was develop a shorthand with each other ...a sort of understanding with each other so that we could move through the piece, because I think (James) Ellroy has done most of the work for us. We know how we feel about any of the characters at any given moment because it's in the book.

For example, both of the detectives were professional boxers⁷ before joining the police force; and Hartnett says training for that sport helped him create the screen version of Bleichart. "Ellroy makes a direct correlation⁸ between the way that Bucky acts as a fighter and the way that he acts in his life. The way he takes apart an opponent is very similar to the way that he takes apart the case. For me, when I got into the ring I felt I was starting to understand the character, so I spent seven months boxing," he says.

Aaron Eckhart co-stars as 'Mr. Fire,' short-fused detective Lee Blanchard; and Eckhart took his cues from the silver screen. "It's fun to play 1947 cop because you look at the old movies and they talk fast with a certain cadence⁹ to their rhythms. You get to smoke hand-rolled cigarettes - you always have a cigarette hanging out of your mouth - and you get the fedora (hats) ...all that sort of stuff. It was cool," he says.

Scarlett Johansson plays Kay Lake, the beautiful woman who is in a relationship with Lee, but finds herself drawn¹⁰ to Bucky. The 21-year-old actress says she enjoyed stepping into the 1940's style and mannerisms; but she found delivering the old-fashioned lines an unexpected challenge. "As a modern actor, we made this movement that started in the 1970's: realism and the gritty kind of natural technique. It was interesting to pair that with the dialog (that is) so stylized and impossibly unrealistic, saying things like 'How could you, Dwight, how could you?' We never say those things. That kind of dialog is so dated," she says.

The story of the movie and the book is fiction, but "The Black Dahlia" murder was real ...and remains unsolved. Author James Ellroy, who says he is pleased with how director De Palma interprets the story, probably knows more about the case than anyone outside of police detectives. "There is one thing I never talk about: who killed Betty Short and why. Some theories are better than others, but they are all unprovable in the end; and none of the theories has anything to do with my book," he says.

"The Black Dahlia" is adapted from the novel by screenwriter Josh Friedman. The cast also features Mia Kershner as the young murder victim. Production designer Dante Ferretti recreated several blocks of 1940's Los Angeles in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the film was shot; and the musical score with its film noir echoes of the era is by Mark Isham.

1 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

4 flirtatious   

adj.爱调情的，调情的，卖俏的

参考例句：

• a flirtatious young woman 卖弄风情的年轻女子
• Her flirtatious manners are intended to attract. 她的轻浮举止是想引人注意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

6 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

7 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

9 cadence   

n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫

参考例句：

• He delivered his words in slow,measured cadences.他讲话缓慢而抑扬顿挫、把握有度。
• He liked the relaxed cadence of his retired life.他喜欢退休生活的悠闲的节奏。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。