Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2018)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Well made documentary about fascinating actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. The film follows Lamarr's life from childhood in Austria, to her becoming an international sensation for her notorious nude scene in "Ecstasy," to escaping Nazis and hiding the fact that she was jewish, to moving to America and becoming a major Hollywood star, and most interestingly her wanting to help the war effort by inventing a way for the Navy to wirelessly control torpedos without having their signals jammed by the enemy. It's this part of her life that I've always found the most fascinating. She was widely considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and I'm inclined to agree with that assessment, but she was so much more than just a pretty face. Unfortunately, because of her ravishing beauty, no one took her ideas seriously and they were dismissed by the military and went unused during the war. Lamarr was a tinkerer and a maker before there was such a thing. For a time she dated Howard Hughes, who set her up with a workshop and put his scientists and engineers at her disposal. She received a patent for her war effort invention (spread spectrum and frequency hopping) which was in fact later used by the US military around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Lamarr received no credit or monetary compensation for her contribution (she sadly failed to sue the government for copyright infringement within the legal time). The very same technological concepts she came up with were later used to to keep cell phone signals private as well as kept wireless internet and bluetooth signals from being hacked, but she never received any recognition or financial benefit for her ideas. As Lamarr got older, she began to see her Hollywood career fade and she became something of a recluse. It's not said in the film, but I've always held the theory that Lamarr had faded from the public consciousness because none of her movies have endured. She appeared alongside some major stars in her time (James Stewart, Judy Garland, William Powell, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Spencer Tracy, etc.) and made some entertaining films, but none of them would be considered classics. "Algiers" is likely her best film, but it's not a classic and not one that's well known outside of classic film lovers. I suppose this review ended less of a critique of this documentary and more of my own biography of Lamarr's life and my own thoughts on the actress/inventor. To this film in particular, it does a good job of telling her story, but what this documentary did better than others I've seen on Lamarr is that is used newly discovered recordings of Lamarr, which allowed her to narrate her own story for the first time (there was an autobiography that was ghost written and made into a sensationalized and highly inaccurate account of her life that she disowned), so it's a real treat to hear her tell her own story to a great extent. Lamarr's was a brilliant and beautiful woman, who has wrongfully been largely forgotten, but hopefully this documentary and the renewed interest in highlighting female contributions to science will bring well earned recognition to Ms. Lamarr.

This documentary exposes the frequent problem of physical beauty obscuring talent and intellect. Ms. Lamarr was clearly a very talented person with much more to offer than something pretty to look at. Her inventive contributions should be given their due respect and appreciation. The documentary does a great job of conveying her personal dilemna in marketing what society would deem as valuable from a woman while struggling to make a lasting contribution to humanity beyond being a superficial object of physical beauty. Her later years demonstrate the deep impact that objectification has on women and society. How many great inventions and discoveries has humanity lost by shackling the potential of half its populations. Fascinating life and documentary.

Immigrant/American Hero swindled by the America government. An Immigrant/American woman drugged and used by Hollywood in America. She deserved so much more then we gave her. Eye opening documentary

GRADE: B- THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.IN BRIEF: An insightful documentary about the actress, Hedy Lamarr and her unacknowledged scientific inventions.JIM'S REVIEW: Hedy Lemarr was a most fascinating woman and Alexandra Dean's documentary, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, certainly adds to her allure. Most called her an international movie star of the 40's. Others called her a spy. Very few recognized her scientific achievements. It was always a case of beauty over brains.The film focuses on her untold story from her childhood and early bohemian life in Vienna during the 1930's, her rising 40's Hollywood career, subsequent scandals, and many marriages and divorces. It also shows her as a woman of creativity and intelligence, one who actually patented inventions that were early prototypes of WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS technology. Documents reveal her plans for radio controlled torpedoes during World War II, aeronautic aviation advances, and secret communication systems. One can easily accept the film's main title for its double meaning after seeing the evidence on display.However, Ms. Lamarr's scientific aspirations and skills were derailed by her beauty and chauvinistic attitude at that time. It was her glamour that most wanted to idolize which led to a thriving film career. Using archival footage, photos, interviews with family, animation, and film clips of Ms. Lemarr's films, the documentary chronicles her life using a found taped interview by the actress that tells many hidden details of her flamboyant life as its primary source.While always interesting, this documentary seems to overcompensate about her scientific breakthroughs and bogs down with the technical underpinnings of her inventions. The animation is crude and unnecessary. The film provides glosses over the few facts about her numerous love affairs and marriages it shares and uses her Hollywood films as an afterthought that takes second place to her personal backstory. All seems well researched, but one wishes the filmmakers would have concentrated more on her two-sided complex life, with more film clips and exposition about her love affairs and relationships. It rarely stays on any one aspect of Ms. Lemarr's for too long.Still, with such a fascinating woman as the subject, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is always compelling and offers many facts unknown to this reviewer. I gained more insight and admiration from this documentary for this under-appreciated talented woman which is a strong statement in itself for Ms. Dean's film too.NOTE: This document is now available in movie art houses that showcase independent films. It is also on DVD and local streaming services.