Bombshell (1933)

Sexpot film star Lola Burns seeks a new image and tries marrying a marquis and adopting a baby - all sorts of schemes which go awry.

Director:

Victor Fleming (uncredited)

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (screenplay), Jules Furthman (screenplay)

Stars:

Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Harlow	...	Lola Burns
Lee Tracy	...	E.J. 'Space' Hanlon
Frank Morgan	...	Pops Burns
Franchot Tone	...	Gifford Middleton
Pat O'Brien	...	Jim Brogan
Una Merkel	...	Mac
Ted Healy	...	Junior Burns
Ivan Lebedeff	...	Marquis Hugo di Binelli di Pisa
Isabel Jewell	...	A Girl Friend (as Isobel Jewell)
Louise Beavers	...	Loretta
Leonard Carey	...	Winters
Mary Forbes	...	Mrs. Middleton
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Mr. Middleton
June Brewster	...	Alice Cole
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Kennedy	...	Minor Role (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Lola Burns is at the top of the pile in Hollywood. But life ain't easy, what with her father and brother always hanging around for handouts, and devious studio publicity honcho Space Hanlon cooking up endless lurid newspaper stories. Makes a girl want to give up pictures.

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Plot Keywords:

screwball comedy | publicity | hollywood | marquis | movie star | 

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Taglines:

An explosion of laughter...with beautiful Jean Harlow as the female fire-cracker of filmdom! (Newspaper ad).

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

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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.

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Quotes

Space Hanlon: You act like I had something to do with it.
Lola Burns: Who else could? Poor Hugo is arrested just two minutes ago and here it is spread all over the front page!
Space Hanlon: Yeah, but, Sugar, modern journalism is speeded up, just like everything else. You know, special open wire story goes right in the linotype, on the presses, you see it in the newsreel. Brrrrrrrrr. Bomp-bomp-bomp. Bomp-bomp-bomp Bam! Out come the editions - all folded up - spread all over the city by special cars. Newsies start selling 'em to the ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The Race to Save 100 Years (1997)

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Soundtracks

Hold Your Man
(uncredited)
Music by Nacio Herb Brown

User Reviews

It's Da Bomb

Bombshell is one hysterically funny screwball comedy about a movie star played by Jean Harlow, bearing no small resemblance to the real Jean Harlow. Contemporaries of Jean have testified to her wonderful sense of humor and I'm sure she saw the ironies in this film tied to her own life where she too dealt with family hangers-on.

Jean lives with and supports father Frank Morgan, sister Una Merkel, and brother Ted Healy all on her salary as a film star. Being the reigning sex symbol of the screen, she's got men lining up who are interested in her. Those include director Pat O'Brien, playboy Franchot Tone, and no account phony count Ivan Lebedeff and studio press agent Lee Tracy who is relentless in his quest for publicity for Harlow. She's even got some wackadoo played by Billy Dooley who is stalking her claiming to be her real husband. That was actually kind of over the top, we've seen too many stories about people stalking celebrities, that gag did not go over, especially nowadays.

Out of this whole lot, you'll have to figure out who she might get and in my opinion though the deck is clearly stacked towards one of them, for myself I don't think it would have been Jean's lot to have found happiness with any of them.

MGM put a great cast of identifiable character players to support Jean and they make this a most enjoyable film. Yet knowing what we know about Harlow's real life and the leeches she actually did have in it, there is an air of sadness for me permeating the film. Still it's a great example of why Jean Harlow was the star and sex symbol she was back in those Depression days.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bombshell

Filming Locations:

Pioneer Hotel, Downtown, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$344,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1