Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "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.

Michael_Elliott Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Exceptionally entertaining documentary that takes a look at the life and career of Hedy Lamarr, the actress who many consider to be the greatest looking woman to ever appear in movies. The documentary covers her early childhood, the notoriety that came with her nude scenes in ECSTASY as well as her time in Hollywood and a controversial dealing with the U.S. government.If you're a fan of Lamarr then you'll certainly want to check this documentary out. It starts off talking about the actress in her later years as well as a book she was to write about herself but that never materialized. The film's main draw is the fact that Lamarr did give an interview later in her life and those audio tapes were recently discovered and on display here.I really enjoyed this documentary because it did a very good job at covering various aspects of Lamarr's life and it didn't shy away from some of the bad stuff. I respect the documentary for being open and honest on these subjects and a lot of credit goes to her children who are interviewed here and shine a light on what was going on in their mother's life at the time all of this was going on.The documentary certainly pays close attention to her movies including the controversial nudity that she did and her reasoning's for it once she came to Hollywood. The good portion of the running time is devoted to how smart Lamarr actually was and how she designed a very important item during WWII and one that should have brought her riches but didn't.BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY is well-researched and contains a lot of great information on the actress. The interviews with her family as well as fans (like Mel Brooks) makes this a must-see.

jennymahita This is a inspired and eye opening documentary about a brilliant and beautiful, rare being. I am moved by Hedy Lamarr's story, this documentary was thoughtfully made and exciting. It is a deep telling of her contributions to the world and a of a slice of western cultural history. The Navy needs to give Ms. Lamarr's family a huge amount of money. In this time of the post - studio and post - Weinstein Hollywood, the stories of what so many women endured in the film industry need to keep being told. Thank You

mnemarr-53789 Brunette "Bombshell". What this documentary reveals about Hedy Lamarr is phenomenal. I've never seen any of her movies, but she was not only considered the most beautiful actress in Hollywood, she was incredibly intelligent--being the idea person for inventions since she didn't have the training for their implementation. She came up with the idea of frequency skipping which is used in encoding military communications as well as in our WiFi and garage door openers. The Navy never paid her for her patent or even used it until the 50s (male chauvinism being part or most of the problem). She studied fish and birds and came up with the idea for swept-wing aircraft for Howard Hughes. Who knew?But her intelligence apparently didn't carry over into her personal life. She was married six times, her first being to a wife beater and Nazi weapons supplier (she was Jewish). And her discrimination is choosing rolls was problematic. She was first choice for "Casablanca" and "Gaslight", but turned them down, while starring in dubious movies like "Algiers" and "Samson and Delilah"--the latter starring Victor Mature, who I thought was awful, even when I was a kid. I almost never see documentary biographies in theaters, but this is an eye opener.