Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

Directed by Alexandra Dean
Year: 2017
Country: U.S.
Language: English
English Closed Captions

What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930s and 40s and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of cell phone and bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for Snow White and Cat Woman and a technological trailblazer who perfected a secure radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes during WWII. Weaving interviews and clips with never-before-heard audio tapes of Hedy speaking on the record about her incredible life—from her beginnings as an Austrian Jewish emigre to her scandalous nude scene in the 1933 film Ecstasy to her glittering Hollywood life to her ground-breaking, but completely uncredited inventions to her latter years when she became a recluse, impoverished and almost forgotten—BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY brings to light the story of an unusual and accomplished woman, spurned as too beautiful to be smart, but a role model to this day.

“Critic's Pick. Very enjoyable... Ms. Dean relates Lamarr’s ventures, those onscreen and off, with savvy and narrative snap, fluidly marshaling a mix of original interviews and archival material that includes film clips, home movies and other footage.”


“A masterful portrait of a most complex character... Restores Lamarr’s rightful place in the history not only of film, but of science as well.”


“A thoroughly engaging, eye-opening showbiz doc!” 


“Bombshell becomes not just a stupendous tribute to Lamarr, but also a tribute to every brilliant woman ignored.”


“Superb... Recognition (and compensation) proved elusive in Lamarr’s lifetime, but in this marvelous documentary, a brilliant woman...finally gets her due.”


Cast
Hedy Lamarr
Mel Brooks
Robert Osborne
Peter Bogdanovich
Gillian Jacobs

Crew
Directed by Alexandra Dean