Blonde Bombshell

Original title: Bombshell

1933
A
1h 36m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

3.3K

YOUR RATING

Jean Harlow and Lee Tracy in Blonde Bombshell (1933)

A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.

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Satire Screwball Comedy Comedy Drama Mystery Romance

A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

3.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The film was unofficially a spoof on the life of Clara Bow, Holllywood's original "It Girl." The film's character Lola Burns mirrors Clara Bow, as Pops Burns does Robert Bow (her father), Mac does Daisy DeVoe (her secretary), Gifford Middleton does Rex Bell (her husband), and E. J. Hanlon does B.P. Schulberg (a producer at Paramount). Victor Fleming, the director, was Bow's fiancée in 1926.

Goofs
A piece of debris can be seen at the top of the camera lens in several of the shots of Lola riding a horse in the desert. The debris appears and disappears from shot to shot.

Quotes
Lola Burns: Hey, I didn't give you that for a negligee, it's an evening wrap!
Loretta: I know, Miss Lola, but the negligee what you give me got all tore up, night before last.
Lola Burns: Your day off is sure brutal on your lingerie.

Connections
Edited into Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)

Soundtracks
Low Down Rhythm
(uncredited)
Music by Jesse Greer

User reviews68

Review

Featured review

8/10

Sharp Hollywood Satire from the Golden Age

"Bombshell" does for the Hollywood of the 1930s what "The Player" does for the Hollywood of the 1990s. It's quite interesting to see how well established the Hollywood System was already in the early 1930s when this film was made. Already at that time the film world was centered on stars, studios, and a sycophantic support network that was focused on a false facades and phoniness. There are plenty of hilarious scenes in "Bombshell" sending up the studio system in a way that I found quite surprising given the year (1933) that this film was produced. It seems to present a sensibility - sarcastic, witty, honest - that I don't usually associate with the Golden Age of Hollywood. So many jokes about alcohol and drunkenness! "Bombshell" makes "The Thin Man" seem like an advertisement for AA by comparison.

Good supporting cast - nice to see Frank Morgan (aka the Wizard of Oz) as the inebriated father of star Jean Harlow. Lee Tracy is completely convincing as the smooth-talking oily agent who harbors a secret passion for his client. But what really makes "Bombshell" work - and which explains why I rate it at 8 out is 10 - is the tremendously self-effacing performance of Jean Harlow. She's just terrific!