Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)

• Year: 2017
• Released: 08 Mar 2018
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 8 wins & 6 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6752848/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bombshell_the_hedy_lamarr_story
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bombshell-the-hedy-lamarr-story
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, German, French
• Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
• Runtime: 88 min
• Writer: Alexandra Dean
• Director: Alexandra Dean
• Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Mel Brooks, Jennifer Hom
• Keywords: woman director, biography, world war ii, 1960s, 1940s,

	7.3/10
	70/100
	95% – Critics
	85% – Audience

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Storyline

A profile of Hedy Lamarr is presented, it largely based from some found audio recordings of Lamarr herself, the information corroborated by other sources. She is most remembered for being a glamorous Hollywood movie star in the 1940s after emigrating to the US following a somewhat infamous movie career in her native Austria, but that Hollywood career which was never fully realized like many of her contemporaries due to circumstances, despite she possessing characteristics to the umpteenth degree revered with Hollywood actresses of the time. What is also presented is her turbulent personal life, which included six marriages, the general lack of romantic love in her relationships, addiction to cosmetic surgery late in her life, and the long estrangement with who was her oldest offspring, “adopted” Jimmy Loder. But arguably what may come as the biggest surprise about her to the documentary’s viewers is her inherent scientific intellect, her biggest achievement in that regard being awarded a patent for an invention developed as part of the US war effort (WWII), but for which she never got the credit – financial or otherwise – the invention itself deserved, especially as it is the basis for the technology used in many of the electronic devices of today.

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Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Movie Reviews

Even-handed….you learn about the genius and the genius’ faults as well.

I mentioned that the documentary was even-handed because all too often, I’ve seen biographies of various celebrities which either only focus on the bad or only the good about folks. Folks have positive and negative qualities…and Hedy Lamarr is no exception.

The film is a biography of the actress that also focuses on her inventing the concept of rotating frequencies…enabling a sub, for example, to launch a radio-guided torpedo without worries about the enemy jamming the signal. It’s a strange invention for an actress to have made…and the film helps to show that Lamarr was not just a pretty face. It also, sadly, talks about her personal life…which was filled with husband and husband and disappointment after disappointment. And, it talks about Lamarr’s drug use (created by the studio) and her odd personality quirks. All put together, it makes for an intriguing look at a fascinating lady. Well worth seeing…and a nice film about a feminist in 1930s-40s Hollywood.

Fascinating life lived

A Forbes reporter finds tapes of an interview with Hedy Lamarr which forms the backbone of this documentary of the Hollywood legend. She is an Austrian teen who caused a scandal with her nudity in Ecstasy. At 19, she marries a munition tycoon allied with the Nazis. Being a Jew in an edgy movie, her film gets banned by the Nazis. With a jealous, controlling husband, she escapes to the west where she becomes a Hollywood star but beyond the spotlight, she is an inventor in her own rights. She struggles in the studio system. In the end, she lived her own life despite the obstacles. This is a fascinating life of a woman who is more than her beauty. She used it but also is trapped by it. By the end, she trapped herself but she leaves behind a lasting legacy beyond her movies.

A tribute including triumph, tragedy and a most unexpected talent

“Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” is an American English-language documentary that premiered back in 2017 already and looking at the awards recognition writer and director Alexandra Dean received recently, this could (maybe also at the Oscars) be one of the big players from the documentary genre in months to come. It runs for 1.5 hours and as the (not too perfect) title gives away, this is a film that focuses on successful actress Hedy Lamarr. There is one secntence that describes the film fairly well in my opinion, namely that she never was as big as Garbo or Dietrich, but a legend in her own right. We find out a whole lot about her life, her struggles with husbands and how none of all these could live up to how much she adored her father. Interestingly enough, there is no real reference about her mother. Then we get a great deal of information about her career, her glory years after leaving Germany during the Nazi days for the US and how she became irrelevant quickly before having a great comeback with Cecil B. De Mille and then moving back into oblivion again, her struggles with money and the lack of connection with her adopted son. Interviewees include children and grandchildren from her as well as long time friends. But the one area that makes a difference here compared to every other mediocre biography documentary is the technical aspect, the talk about Lamarr being an extraordinary inventor and one thing she failed with, namely the Coca Cola capsule drink stayed in mind as much as her far more technical developments that did not make an impact during the years of war due to the ignorance of a few, but were groundbreaking from today’s perspectiv in the communication industry. And even if I am not really interested in technologiy at all, it made me happy to see her receove the recognition eventually still before her death and when we see her son accept this invitation, it is a really special moment when the phone rings while he is on stage. Moving decades back, there is no denying what a stunning beauty Lamarr was and yes it may have had a negative impact on her intellectual work. Anyway, the highglight is probably the long quote by Lamarr at the very end that I found really touching about forgiving people their weaknesses in terms of how they treat others. Lovers of the old movie days will find a great deal of joy in here too with many references about the Lamarr film Ecstasy that was such a trail blazer for her career in a positive as well as negative way. So I think Dean did a fairly good job here overall and looking at how she is far from an experienced filmmaker, it is even more impressive what she has managed to come up with here. I also liked the many interesting Howard Hughes references. So obviously, I give this film a thumbs-up for sure and recommend checking it out. A definite contender for 2017’s finest when it comes to film on film. See it.