Product Details

• Actors: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, Franchot Tone, Pat O'Brien
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: March 7, 1994
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301967615
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,374 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The whirlwind comedy Bombshell deserves a place in the pantheon next to such screwball cinema classics as Bringing Up Baby and My Man Godfrey. The incomparable "laughing vamp" Jean Harlow, for whom the term bombshell might well have been coined, scintillates in this ferocious exposé of the Hollywood studio system. Harlow essentially plays herself: a platinum blond sex goddess--here named Lola Burns--who every woman wants to be and every man wants to bed. (The line between fiction and reality is so thin here that Lola shoots retakes of Harlow's movie Red Dust.) The world sees Lola's life as a glamorous bed of roses, but her real existence abounds with thorns. She's a "glorified chump," surrounded by sycophants, spongers, and salesmen--not to mention a rabid press, egged on by the studio's double-dealing freight train of a press agent, Space Hanlon (the kinetic Lee Tracy). Lola even has a stalker! But she longs for life's simple pleasures: a quiet home and the patter of little feet (at least that's what she wants this week).

The film is blessed with a first-rate supporting cast, especially Frank Morgan (the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz) as Lola's blowhard, boozing father; Una Merkel as her sour, sticky-fingered personal assistant; and Louise Beavers as her much-beleaguered maid. Three enormous, energetic English sheepdogs--Harlow's own--jump into the fray whenever a dull moment threatens. Luckily, none come to pass. --Laura Mirsky

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious look into the darker side of Hollywood stardom, December 8, 2002

By 

Simon Davis (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bombshell [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It took a great deal of courage for MGM to produce a picture like "Bombshell" as it was akin to turning a funhouse mirror back onto yourself. It delivers a devastating and "warts and all" look at how the studios created, groomed, manipulated,and marketed the great stars of the Golden period of Hollywood in the 1930's. All this satire is delivered with a copious serve of laughs which makes "Bombshell" a delight to behold by anyone who likes old movies or loves the glamour of the "good old days" of Hollywood movie making.

"Bombshell" indeed has it all, larger than life movie queens, conniving press agents, ruthless studio bosses, old style movie star mansions and all the fake sincerity that you can imagine went into creating such a unique place as Hollywood. The story centres around one 1930's Movie Queen, Lola Burns (played by Jean Harlow in an hilarious performance) a typical product of the period, complete with humble beginnings, platinum blonde hair and a liking for flamboyant clinging outfits and huge hats, who also sports an assorted collection of family hangers-on who are both supported and bailed out of frequent trouble by her her. The fine line between fantasy and reality is very fine indeed in "Bombshell" and that's what makes it such a special viewing experience and a movie buff's delight. Lola works for Mammoth Studios which is obviously based on MGM right down to the porticoed entrance way. She is actually working on the production of "Red Dust" with Clark Gable which Jean Harlow had completed the previous year and part of the action actually takes place on the old "Red Dust" set which was still standing. Frequent mention is made of various contemporary MGM performers and also current productions like Garbo's and Gable's "Susan Lennox: Her Fall And Rise". Marvellous stuff and in viewing "Bombshell" it's often hard to work out what is real and what is just part of the movie being viewed.

MGM excelled themselves in all departments with "Bombshell". Victor Fleming directed at a full throttle pace which suits this fast moving story perfectly. He had directed Jean Harlow the year before in the huge hit "Red Dust" and would go on to everlasting fame as the director of both "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard Of Oz" and numerous other Clark Gable vechicles. His gruff, no nonsense approach to direction fitted this production like a glove. Jean Harlow has probably her best role in "Bombshell" and it was tailor made for her abilities and persona. She is wonderful as the put upon and frustrated movie queen who is tired of the fake glamour and parasites who live off her and who only wants a child and a normal life away from all the false stories, flash bulbs, and lies printed about her in the Hollywood Tabloids. Inded the part is very biographical right down to the grasping, relations, sensational headlines and glamourous paroxided appearance. Rarely has she shone so brightly in a part and it is obvious that in portraying Lola she is enjoying getting a little bit back on the Hollywood establishment that was hounding her at the time over her news grabbing personal life. Lee Tracey an actor I have rarely seen has the other flashy lead role of Space Hanlon the conniving publicist to end them all, who possesses no scruples at all and who will do anything to create a sensational headline for his lead articles (generally at Lola's expense). This takes many creative forms such as framing Lola's "phoney" suitor the Marquis de Pisa at the Coconut Grove or exposing the latest "sensation'from among Lola's beleagured family life.

"Bombshell' benefits greatly from the superb supporting cast, among them many famous MGM regulars. Frank Morgan, forever associated with his role of the wizard in "The Wizard Of Oz" produced countless fine performances over the years and he is superb as Lola's drunken and brag hearted father who is totally reliant on Lola for the kind of lifestyle (paid for by Lola's endless hard work), that he and his drop out son would like to get used to. Pat O'Brien is effective as the director brought in for retakes on Lola's latest picture who is an old flame and is eager to get the romance going again. Franchot Tone and C.Aubrey Smith in smaller roles as a fake titled family set up by Space Hanlon to break up Lola's romance are also a treat and it comes as quite a surprise to see C. Aubrey Smith in a complete change of character from his usual work, in such a con artist role .

For anyone who enjoys a look into the workings of old Hollywood or are interested in the "glamour factory" for any reason, "Bombshell" is unsurpassed as a cynical, no holds barred but nevertheless comical look at what made Hollywood tick. Produced with just the right elements of humour and autobiography it is a laugh a minute and is one of the finest but also unflattering looks that Hollywood has ever taken of itself. Marvel at the genius evident in this MGM gem from 1933 because it portrays a manufactured world of glamour we will never see again.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lee Tracy Strikes Again, August 25, 2001

By 

El Kabong - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bombshell [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I often wonder if Lee Tracy would be more fondly remembered by a larger percentage of the public had he been fortunate enough to hang around longer than 1934 (when he was sent into Hollywood semi-exile), as the precious handful of Tracy vehicles we DO have are blessed/cursed by the prevailing conditions of early talkies. Nowadays, fans - especially younger ones - tend to either dismiss them as mildewed horse-and-buggy holdovers with zero releance or entertainment value, or (just as bad) view them with smug condescension as dear, quaint little antiques....like Little Orphan Annie shaker-mugs or an authentic flapper's cloche. Nearly every major starring vehicle Tracy made arrived in either '32, '33 or '34, thus if you've seen him at all, it's always in that very narrow window of time. While those years produced an inordinate number of very good films (far more adult in tone and treatment than would've been possible the following 15 or 20 years), they were also technically primitive years compared to the strides in film processing and sound recording the next few decades would see. Thus y'can't help wondering how much bigger a star Tracy (or Harlow for that matter, who died in 1937) would've been had they been able to continue making movies through the 40s & 50s. We'll never know, thus Lee Tracy - one of our great comic actors, whose presence in a movie automatically enlivens and enriches it - pretty much remains an answer to a trivia question nobody asked. In light of the foregoing, take a tip from this corner and sit down and watch BOMBSHELL. Properly regarded as Jean Harlow's best vehicle, this lightning-quick, savagely sarcastic comedy of Hollywood in the early 30s is one of Tracy's best as well. (Actually, the depth of this cast is quite impressive: Harlow, Tracy, Frank Morgan, Una Merkel, Franchot Tone, Pat O'Brian, C Aubrey Smith & Ted Healy - that ain't chopped liver.) Tracy, like always, is incredible: scheming, scamming, wheedling, utterly insincere and unprincipled, yet never for a moment does he lose the audience's sympathy. His gift, to make you root for the shameless con man despite yourself, is turned up full in BOMBSHELL, and the entire production is amped up to his speed of delivery. Harlow, never more beautiful or more caustically funny, shines even brighter than Tracy does. (They, suffice it to say, make a TERRIFIC team, and I'd've loved to see them one more time - I'm not counting DINNER AT EIGHT, obviously.) Down and dirty, fast and loose, rudely funny, cynically observant and near-unbelievably satisfying. (If it moved any quicker, the film stock might spontaneously combust.) Forget the slight antique properties that might date this film and concentrate on its strengths...one of which, by dint of its Pre-Code status, is a remarkably unapologetic unsentimentality, a virtue which would be swept away by the Hays Office broom in late 1934, not to re-emerge on the nation's screens until the rise of the writer-director in the early 40s (men such as Sturges, Huston and Wilder). If you don't love BOMBSHELL on first viewing, you're not as smart as you think you are. Keep an eye out for Tracy's other films (BLESSED EVENT, THE HALF NAKED TRUTH, THE NUISANCE, STRANGE LOVE OF MOLLY LOUVAIN, ADVICE TO THE LOVELORN, NIGHT MAYOR, and the aforementioned DINNER AT EIGHT) and get a close-up look at one of our country's most unique and criminally-neglected comedy talents for yourself.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harlow's Best Performance is Unparalleled, January 27, 2000

By 

R. Williams (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bombshell [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film more than any other, shows why Jean Harlow is remembered as the silver-screens first great sex-goddess-she is simply the funniest and most accessible. She delivers dialogue with rapid fire wit and displays such impressive control of her physical movement and pitch control, that many actors with 20 years of stage experience may have a difficult time matching her. Harlow did this at 22. Harlow aside, this film is probably one of the best satires ever written on Hollywood with a top-notch script written by John Lee Mahin. Director Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz) does a superb job in showcasing Harlow's beauty and talent, it's no surprise that he would eventually move on to Universal acclaim six-years later. A Harlow DVD collection would be nice.