Fact1: Johnny Morrison Buzz Wanchek and George Copeland arrive in Hollywood United States Navy aviators, Fact2: Newell sees Johnny and Helen fight, Fact3: Buzz goes out to find Johnny, Fact4: Johnny is picked up in rain by Joyce Harwood, Fact5: Corelli After finds Johnny 's photo of himself Johnny checks into cheap hotel under assumed name
Output: Three discharged United States Navy aviators Johnny Morrison, Buzz Wanchek and George Copeland arrive in Hollywood, California. All three flew together in the same flight crew in the South Pacific. Buzz has shell shock and a metal plate in his head, above his ear. While George and Buzz get an apartment together, Johnny surprises his wife, Helen, at her old apartment, which is patrolled by a house detective, Dad Newell. He discovers that she is having an affair with Eddie Harwood, the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Helen, drunk, confesses to Johnny that their son Dickie, who Johnny believed died of diphtheria, actually died in a car crash that occurred because she was driving while drunk. Newell sees Johnny and Helen fight. Later, Johnny pulls a gun on Helen, but drops it and leaves. Buzz goes out to find Johnny. He meets Helen and, unaware of her identity, goes to her bungalow for a drink. Eddie breaks up with Helen, who then blackmails him into seeing her again. Johnny is picked up in the rain by Joyce Harwood, who is separated from Eddie. Both dont reveal their name, and they spend the night in separate rooms in a Malibu inn. The next morning, they have breakfast, and he decides to give his marriage another chance. Then, the radio announces that Helen has been murdered and that Johnny is suspected. The police interview Newell, Harwood, Buzz, and George. After Johnny checks into a cheap hotel under an assumed name, Corelli, the hotel manager, finds Johnnys photo of himself with Dickie and tries to blackmail him. Johnny beats Corelli up and then discovers that on the back of the photo, Helen revealed that Eddie is really Bauer, a murderer who is wanted in New Jersey. Corelli revives and sells information on Johnnys identity to a gangster named Leo, who kidnaps him. Buzz and George visit Eddie at the Blue Dahlia. Joyce introduces herself. As Joyce picks at a blue dahlia flower, the nightclubs music sets off a painful ring in Buzzs head. Lapsing into a fit, he remembers the agonizing music that he heard at Helens bungalow, as she played with a blue dahlia. Johnny escapes Leos henchmen as Eddie arrives and forces him to admit that 15 years earlier, he was involved in the shooting of a bank messenger. Leo tries to shoot Johnny but hits Eddie instead. Johnny flees to the Blue Dahlia, where the police are trying to force a confused Buzz to admit that he killed Helen. Johnny enters and suggests for Joyce to turn up the music. As his head pounds, Buzz remembers leaving Helen alive in her bungalow. Police Captain Henrickson then confronts Newell with the accusation that he tried to blackmail Helen about her affair and that when she refused to comply, he killed her. Newell then tries to escape from the office but is shot by Henrickson. Later, outside the Blue Dahlia, Buzz and George decide to go for a drink, leaving Johnny and Joyce together.