I was very much looking forward to experiencing “The Black Dahlia,” the new Brian De Palma picture based on a James Ellroy book centering on the real-life, horrific murder of a young woman in 1940s Los Angeles.

De Palma is an amazing technical director, having helmed some of the best visually dynamic films of the ’70s and ’80s (see “Phantom of the Paradise,” “Carrie,” “Scarface” and “The Untouchables”). Ellroy wrote the novel which the excellent 1997 film “L.A. Confidential” was based on. And the Black Dahlia story is simply compelling by default.

But the movie is another story.

The body of a 22-year-old woman, Elizabeth Short, who incidentally had spent time in the Lompoc Valley as a store employee at Camp Cooke, was discovered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles in January 1947. What made the story sensational was that the body was completely severed at the torso, drained of blood and removed of organs. The killer had slashed the sides of her mouth into a gruesome smile.

Just as screenwriter Robert Towne sets up a crime story amidst the backdrop of the sordid history of how Los Angeles got its municipal water in “Chinatown,” Ellroy’s story uses the Short murder as a centerpiece to a larger plot involving two detectives who become friends after a fixed police department boxing fight. The two cops, Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) of course get more than they bargained for when the investigation turns up ties to the underworld, high society and the porn industry.

Of course, with any proper film noir cinematic enterprise, you must have a femme fatale. And here we have, not one, but two in the lovely Scarlett Johansson as the Blanchard’s girlfriend Kay Lake and the beautiful Hilary Swank as a woman who once had a relationship with Short.

The problem with the film seems to lie in its editing and tone. Scenes don’t quite seem to flow into one another, leading to a lack of any sense of setup and payoff. The script doesn’t invest in thoughtful character development. And none of the scenes seem to carry any hint of seriousness or gravity, thanks to the director being more in love with the visual composition of his scenes than the ideas and emotions that could have been conjured up within them.

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Johansson seems wasted in the film, and it’s a shame. In the film “Match Point,” she plays a woman caught in a love triangle and the picture works because there are scenes that convey the consequences and gravity of her predicament. De Palma just treats her like two-dimensional scenery in “The Black Dahlia.”

Hilary Swank, who might have had lofty ambitions for her turn as the vampy Linscott character, fails to present any sort of believability with the role, and what comes across is more silly than what should have been mysterious and tragic.

Hartnett is absolutely vacant in the lead role of Detective Bucky Bleichert. The guy has little range, a few facial expressions and speaks in a horrible monotone, reminiscent of early Costner. Unfortunately, we have to hear the guy do this flat bland voice-over job throughout the picture.

De Palma does know how to frame his camera and move it around in a scene. He’s been compared to Hitchcock in his obvious use of composition and copying of the master’s technique. But sometimes his work is a little too obvious. There are two pretty sequences that De Palma basically rips from his own film “Scarface” with the bird’s eye view crane shot and a fall into a fountain. I say it’s OK to pay homage to a good visual directing, but it’s weak when its derivative of your earlier work.

If you’re looking for great crime films set in vintage Los Angeles, treat yourself to the real deal with Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” and Curtis Hanson’s “L.A. Confidential.” Those films celebrate the magic and beauty of the film noir genre, while “The Black Dahlia” feels like a weak, campy send-up.

One star out of four.

Neil Nisperos can be reached at 737-1059 or nnisperos@lompocrecord.com.