Bombshell (1933)

Lola Burns (Jean Harlow) is a big movie star and sex symbol. Kinda like Jean Harlow. She wants a simpler life, maybe raise a family, but the studio, her publicist, and her family of leeches conspire to screw that all up for her. Roll credits.

Lots of contract players appear here. Frank Morgan, you know, the Wizard, is her dad. Louise Beavers is her maid, taking time off from being everyone else’s maid. This is the tenth film I’ve seen her in and I think she was a maid in every one of them. Expect General Spanky, where she was a slave. Abusive drunk Ted Healy played Lola’s abusive drunk brother. He is best known for getting the Three Stooges together before his abusiveness and drunkenness made working with him untenable. He’d die in a bar fight at age 41.

Ostensibly Bombshell is about Clara Bow, who had just recently quit show business to settle down, raise some children, and live tragically ever after. Many story points, however, mirror Jean’s life. On the fictitious set she even recreates a famous scene from one of her earlier films, one for the boy’s in the lab.

Here I learned of Klieg eye. Klieg lights were the bright arc lights used on studio sets back in the day. Their brightness was essential for early film but caused a condition called Actinic conjunctivitis or ultraviolet photokeratitis, similar to snow blindness. It’s mentioned in passing here. It’s fun to learn about old-timey ailments, like this and Jake leg. Sorry, boss. I can't come into work today. I have the Jake leg and Klieg eye.

Interestingly, Bombshell is the first of Harlow’s films I’ve seen where she is the sole protagonist. The focus is entirely on her and the twenty two year old carries her weight. This pre-code screwball comedy puts her into outfits more revealing than your average soap opera and had her speak dialog less resque than your average TV commercial. Unfortunately the humor is too broad to become invested in the situation and the dialog too early-sound-era to always hear it properly. It was funny at times, just not in the actually-laugh way. AMRU 2.5. Am I in a rut again? I’m in a rut again.