AllMovie

The title of Deco Dawson's seven-minute experimental film Elizabeth Short refers to the victim of the still unsolved 1947 Black Dahlia homicide in Los Angeles. Whereas other filmmakers have opted to tell Short's story using straightforward, traditional narratives, Dawson constructs a "collage film" from old newsreel footage about the case, newspaper images, and a multilayered soundtrack. In so doing, he underscores the grotesque nature of the crime and thus reveals the great tragedy that lies buried beneath the tabloid fodder: the loss of a promising young life.