content: The Black Dahlia was an excellent book. It made my "Ten Best" list in 1987.L.A. Confidential, by the same author (James Ellroy), was an excellent book made into an excellent movie.Black Dahlia, the movie, doesn't make it to that level. Bad acting, incompetent direction, pathetic plotting...there's nothing to praise.In point of fact, Black Dahlia isn't a movie. It's an interminable cigarette commercial.