One of Hollywood’s most confounding mysteries began on June 9, 1959, when actor George Reeves (Ben Affleck), best known as TV’s original Superman, was found dead of gunshots in Beverly Hills. While it seemed like an apparent suicide, was it?

That night, Reeves’ home at 1579 Benedict Canyon Road was filled with friends, including his flaky fiancée, Lenore Lemmon (Robin Tunney), and it was well known that the decline of his film career caused a pervasive sadness that could easily have led to emotional desperation. Only Reeves’ mother, Helen Bessolo (Lois Smith), doubted that he’d taken his own life, hiring a private investigator, Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), to look into the suspicious circumstances. Hovering behind the scenes were Reeves long-time lover and benefactor, Toni Mannix (Diane Lane), whose menacing, ex-mobster husband Eddie (Bob Hoskins) was MGM’s foul play “fixer,” along with veteran publicist Howard Strickling (Joe Spano) in charge of damage control - like keeping illicit liaisons out of the newspapers.

Utilizing multi-layered flashbacks in a film noir style, screenwriter Paul Berenbaum and director Allen Coulter (TV’s “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City”) capture an almost forgotten place and period, focusing on the fictionalized detective in search of an elusive truth. (The real detective, Jerry Geissler, hired by Mrs. Bessolo died before he could prove anything.). As a result, while “Hollywoodland” exposes the soft, seedy underbelly of the pursuit of fame and fortune in a darker, de-glamorized TinselTown, it could use some judicious editing.

The performances propel the suspense. Exuding sleaziness, Ben Affleck captures the bitterness of failed expectations, while alluring Diane Lane is slyly manipulative and Adrien Brody scores as the scummy gumshoe.

On the Granger Movie Gauge, Hollywoodland is an intriguing, enigmatic 8, subtly indicating a cynical conclusion while never explaining it.