The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

I came onto this film as one of a large purchased collection, and after reading a batch of reviews on various film sites didn't expect much from it; there were numerous citings that it was perhaps Grable's worst film, that it wasn't vintage Sturges, that it was loud farce devoid of virtues except for an expert use of full Technicolor.

And color it has, And it is a loud farce. But although it completely lacks the soft focus turn of the century costumer that Grable so often appeared it, and barely gives the viewer time to absorb the nutty humor, Beautiful Blonde, from it's initial scenes with Grandpa Russell Simpson teaching his little curly-haired granddaughter to reduce bottles to smithereens with a careful aim to the last mad gunfight, a loud and vulgar and often screamingly funny parody of dozens of final shoot-outs in hundreds of western hero epics, this film exudes a sense of madness, of a cast nearly out of control in the spirit of farce.

One critic mentions how often Olga San Juan as "Conchita" the dark- skinned servant, is insulted—but failed to remark on her hilarious comebacks, a few surely cut off mid-sentence by censorship concerns. If a careful viewer listens carefully (often hard to do in this raucous unendingly noisy film), there are ample double-entendres as well as the beginnings of a limerick that rhymes with "Nantucket." Surely most alert viewers will fill in the blank. This film demands your attention, and if you do not have the patience for noise and chaos as part of your experience, you may actively dislike it.

Grable seems to be having a great time, especially as the substitute teacher with a golden gun, confronted by a pair of demented youths out of some clueless Beavis-world, one an off-the-wall Sterling Holloway. And the film is certainly worth watching just to see so many familiar character actors taking full advantage of their few lines—whether it's Margaret Hamilton, Hugh Herbert or for a brief moment, Marie Windsor in full-on scarlet feather drag—the film is so short, so fast-paced, that co-star Cesar Romero almost seems insignificant, and seems to be plot window-dressing. Which he is!

Of course this is no Palm Beach Story, that brilliant farce about romance and love and money: nor has it the zany coherence of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. But it reflects the scattershot, nutty world that Sturges created so often, and seems like his final party before the silence descended--and you are invited.

If you look at Preston Sturges' "Miracle at Morgan's Creek," 1943, staring Betty Hutton as Judy Kockenlocker, you will see how incredibly perverse it was considering the moral standards in the movie industry at the time. You have a movie suggesting that a woman getting drunk and sleeping with a soldier and becoming pregnant without even remembering his name was a hilarious situation. Sturges took delight in repeating her name over and over again, obviously finding it hilarious that it sounded like the painful situation of a "cock-in-locker." This movie is just as hilarious with its outrageous humor, having multiple and deliberate jokes about a judge who gets shot in his buttocks.

Unfortunately, this film came out in 1949, the year that produced the most film noirs and a year where Congressional investigations into Hollywood political transgressions were taking a horribly serious turn.

One can see this film and Preston Sturges as being the victim of the new politics of the time.

Betty Grable looks sexy in every scene and often adjusts her clothes (taking them on or off) to look even more sexy. Her blatant sexuality comes through in the metaphor of her being able to handle a gun better than any of the men in the picture. Never has the penis/gun equation been more straight forward.

If this movie had come out in 1944 or 1954, it would have been hailed as a masterpiece, but in 1949, the U. S. was preparing for a new world war which was expected to be a lot worse than the last one. The last thing the government (issuing daily warnings about impending world war wanted was an outrageous sex comedy filled with double and triple entendres like this film.

Don't miss it, especially if you are a Preston Sturges or Betty Grable fans. Fans of 1930s and 40s comedies will be happy to see at least half a dozen minor comedy stars, like Hugh Herbert, El Brendel, Sterling Holloway, and Porter Hall, plying their trade with obvious skill and joy,

Zany, scattered and at times downright demented, it is perhaps not so terribly surprising this was considered such a disaster when it came out that it instantly vaporized Preston Sturges' Hollywood career. I guess this sort of loose, free wheeling parody (and at times it has a Coen Brothers inspired kookiness about it) just wasn't the sort of thing audiences took to in 1949.

That very looseness, that daffy unrehearsed quality can give one the impression that the film is simply not as good as it could've been, but my God it isn't THAT bad. There are sparks of originality throughout and while it may never quite catch fire, this is still Sturges and still superior to a good number of tame, vanilla comedies that came out around this time.

It may not have been the case but it certainly looks like many of the actors were having a ball during filming, particularly Cesar Romero. Watch the one scene where he is quizzing some hayseed local about his sweetheart's (Betty Grable) whereabouts. He can barely keep a straight face and happily lets this character actor steal the scene with a funny, one man "who's on first?" routine. I thought Grable did a fine job as well and showed pretty fair comic timing, though I wonder if Sturges really wanted that other Betty (Hutton) for the role and couldn't get her for some reason. Sturges may have allowed those two freaky brothers (one of whom is played by Sterling Holloway) to take things too far; I'm sure audiences at the time watched their crazed antics with stone faces. In fact, they're not even recognizably human which may have been the point. I'm not sure.

An odd, not terribly satisfying movie, but watchable, never boring and with spurts of that famous snappy Sturges dialogue.

I loved this movie--but I love most old films better than the newer ones. This one was hilarious and timeless. Any schoolteacher should really love and appreciate this hilarious film. I had the great honor of meeting Mr. Romero also one time, and he was the most friendly, gracious (and good-looking) man. I didn't know he had once been a big star at one time! Ms. Grable showed she had fantastic comedic timing in the hilarious well-colored flick. If you love to laugh like I do--watch it! Shows Ms. Grable had brains, as well as looks!

'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' could and should have been good. One does indeed expect quite a lot from Preston Sturges, whose prime period was one of the best of any director with particularly the likes of 'The Lady Eve', 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek', 'Hail the Conquering Hero' and my favourite of his 'Sullivan's Travels'. And from a cast that includes Betty Grable, Cesar Romero and Sterling Holloway.

It is unfortunate that instead 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' was a big disappointment, as an overall film and when you take into account what it had going for it. It is not difficult to see why it was considered a major disappointment with critics at the time, and it is especially a big disappointment by Sturges standards (being the film that was his career death knell somewhat, and of all of the films seen of his, which is nearly all, it does get my pick for his worst). Will agree though with others that 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' is not that awful or that it is that much of a catastrophe (so agree far more with its slightly improved over-time re-appraisal), but it is severely wanting in too many areas and is not a good representation really of all involved.

Despite the disappointment felt watching 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend', there are things that make it watchable. The closest the film gets to being beautiful is the production values, with the truly lavish Technicolor, Sturges' first Technicolor film on a side note, being the main reason to see it. The production design and photography are fabulous. The songs may not be exactly memorable, but they are fun and pleasant. Particularly "Every Time I Meet You", which is charming and a welcome lighter moment. "In the Gloaming" is close behind.

A few funny moments here and there, though they are too far and between, particularly with Hugh Herbert and the fantastically nuts finale. The cast generally do well with what they have, with Grable particularly shining followed by suave Cesar Romero and wonderfully daffy Herbert. Margaret Hamilton is also amusing, who also bags one of the funnier moments at the start.

Sterling Holloway however was never more irritating than here, playing one of the Basserman Boys characters, characters so grating and unbearingly over-played that they very nearly single-handedly bring the film down. They don't quite though because there are other things wrong. It is hard to believe that 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' is a Sturges film in direction and writing, his direction is very heavy-handed and suggestive that he was both not interested in the material and struggling to control it, attributes that are not like him at all. The script is little better, the wit, sharpness, bite, sophistication and cynical slyness are barely there and even less so the natural wackiness and daring, instead the dialogue and gags on the most part are far too vulgar, brash and over-time feel so stretched beyond the limit that much of the humour falls flat.

Few amusing and charming moments aside, the story has moments where it is far too slight and then there are other times where one really wishes that the film was longer and had a slower pace. Because much of it is too rushed and the mounting complications get increasingly absurd and confused and it becomes exhausting. The characters were either bland or irritating, and little more than caricatures. Most of the cast have far too little to do, Rudy Vallee especially is wasted.

Concluding, watchable but very underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox