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Fascinating look at the life and work of Hedy Lamarr. About five years ago, I distinctly remember reading in an electrical engineering journal about the inventions of Hedy in the field of telecommunications. I rushed to the local library and sure enough there were several books about her. It was such a pleasure to see this documentary. It tied it all together for me. We learn a good deal about her early life and upbringing and her start in the European Film business. Like many European artists, Hedy was alarmed at the rise of Fascism and decided for a better life in America. We also learn about the early studio system, both the positive aspects and also about some of the negative ones, which are front and centre with the public these days. Hedy was a multi faceted artist/inventor and we see her forming collaborative relationships with all sorts of people from avant-garde pianists to airplane designers! She was certainly a modern day Ada Lovelace.

For some reason I thought it was going to be a bio epic.  I wondered who they would get to play Ms. Lamar.  Using archival footage, stills and a recording of an interview with the star they got Hedy Lamar to play Hedy Lamar.  It was a moving touching history of a woman who had many accomplishments.

She helped Howard Hughes design better planes by studying streamlining in birds and fishes.  She invented Frequency Hopping (along with composer George Antheil).  She founded Aspen as a ski resort.  She produced movies (unheard of for a woman at the time).  She came up with techniques on cosmetic surgery to hide the scars.  Unfortunately she also became a poster child for reasons not to undergo the operation.  Her unsuccessful surgeries probably added to her being a recluse.

She wanted to be recognized for her mind and not her beauty.  Yet she married a series of men who treated her as a trophy wife.  Her most famous contribution to science was in devising a system for secret transmissions (frequency hopping).  It's greater value was not realized until the advent of GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi.

She was recognized/honoured for her invention at a Science Forum which she opted not to attend but left a recording played by her son.  The film showed her phoning halfway through the presentation to ask how it went.  Her son advises that he is in the middle of it and that he loves her.

Frequency hopping has multiple inventors. In 1899 Marconi performed an experiment using the technique.  Nikola Tesla received a patent in 1903.  German military used frequency hopping in World War One.  A Polish inventor, Leonard Danilewicz had the idea in 1929.  In 1942 a patent was awarded to Hedy Lamar.  In 1980 a Winnipeg filmmaker originated the idea (called Variable Transmission Broadcast) as a plot device to represent Norway in a symbolic re-enactment of World War Two where rival transportation companies, representing Germany and England, sought to steal the idea symbolic of invading Norway (both sides wanted to).  The film did not get made but it is ironic that frequency hopping technology of Bluetooth has Scandanavian roots.  Ray Zinn gained a patent in 2006 for his version.  Slight improvements justify issuing new patents.

Although she had raised $25 million for the War effort her patent was confiscated based on her being a foreign alien (having been born in Austria).

The navy had secretly used her technology some ten years later.  She would have been entitled to royalty payments if she had known.  She also didn't know that you can only go back six years from the time one launches a lawsuit.  It is not enough to have a patent; one has to Police it to see if being infringed; Prosecute (take it to court); Prove it was your idea they stole; and Profit* for the effort By the time she found out her patent had long expired.

The film covers her being exploited as a movie star and inventor and innovator.  This late tribute values her contributions and recognizes her pioneering roles.

* back then you could recover costs - today that provision has been taken away.  So it is profitable to steal patents and only pay royalties once losing in court (happens may be one time in eight that an inventor sues).  See "Flash of Genius".

I mentioned that the documentary was even-handed because all too often, I've seen biographies of various celebrities which either only focus on the bad or only the good about folks. Folks have positive and negative qualities...and Hedy Lamarr is no exception.

The film is a biography of the actress that also focuses on her inventing the concept of rotating frequencies...enabling a sub, for example, to launch a radio-guided torpedo without worries about the enemy jamming the signal. It's a strange invention for an actress to have made...and the film helps to show that Lamarr was not just a pretty face. It also, sadly, talks about her personal life...which was filled with husband and husband and disappointment after disappointment. And, it talks about Lamarr's drug use (created by the studio) and her odd personality quirks. All put together, it makes for an intriguing look at a fascinating lady. Well worth seeing...and a nice film about a feminist in 1930s-40s Hollywood.

4/25/18. This is a really well done biopic about an underrated actress who got her just due with this film. I really liked her in Samson and Delilah although I haven't seen any of her other movies. Over the years I have heard her mentioned as an inventor and thought that was a curious fact to share about an actress. This biopic goes into enough detail for the viewer to understand just how intelligent Lamarr was in electronics and that her inventions are still being used in our time through the technology we use. Sadly, she was never compensated for her patents. If she was she wouldn't have lived such a hardscrabble life in her later years and had all that plastic surgery that really ruined her face. It is somewhat sad to see how such a talented woman had a series of unhappy marriages that emotionally ruined her and how Hollywood never gave her the recognition she wanted and so truly deserved. Worth catching.

A well directed documentary on the life of Hollywood icon Hedy Lamarr. Viewing her life in its entirety, the documentaries main focus is to shed light on who she was outside of the limelight. Most notably her contribution to science. The doc doesn't shy away from the bad times either, and goes through her decline after her Hollywood years were over. A truly beautiful but complicated woman. An interesting watch.

Fascinating documentary on the gorgeous, brilliant, and complicated screen star Hedy Lamarr. Her beauty was known to all, even serving as the inspiration for the face of Disney's Snow White. Yet few, including myself , knew of her inventing genius, and how one of her patents (frequency hopping) would serve in later years as an important part of cell phone, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and military technology.

All in all, I thought this was an exceptional documentary filled with surprises.

A Forbes reporter finds tapes of an interview with Hedy Lamarr which forms the backbone of this documentary of the Hollywood legend. She is an Austrian teen who caused a scandal with her nudity in Ecstasy. At 19, she marries a munition tycoon allied with the Nazis. Being a Jew in an edgy movie, her film gets banned by the Nazis. With a jealous, controlling husband, she escapes to the west where she becomes a Hollywood star but beyond the spotlight, she is an inventor in her own rights. She struggles in the studio system. In the end, she lived her own life despite the obstacles. This is a fascinating life of a woman who is more than her beauty. She used it but also is trapped by it. By the end, she trapped herself but she leaves behind a lasting legacy beyond her movies.

No trick photography, no special gimmicks. Nothing out of the ordinary is needed when the life story we're presented with is so unique. The Hedy Lamarr story is way more than a biography of an old timer who used to be a Hollywood star. It's more than the story of "the most beautiful woman in the world" whose talents well exceeded her beauty.

It's a story of our failings as a society when faced with whatever defied the conventions we live by. And the tragedy of those that wouldn't fit under the labels we like to stick on whoever crosses our path. To put it in a single sentence it's a story most of us know nothing about but all of us should. If you do get the chance just go see it.

Our bookclub read "The Only Woman in the Room" and I found that very superficial and disappointing. I walked away from that certain that Hedy Lamarr was far more complicated.

Thus that led me to this film which is certainly a more intricate tale, and one that is more than the hollow hagiography the book offered. Even with the ups and downs described in this documentary, one feels as though Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler still escapes us. Never mind the New York Post.

But then again the beauty of frequency hopping is found in how crucial variety is, and how a message can be as mixed as the signals it is transmitted on. And overtime those signals get partially amplified, partially distorted, and ultimately lost.

Hedy's daughter and (younger) son seemed to speak well of their complicated Mom. Personally I'd rate that above even a Navy patent.

If this shows up on public TV or somewhere in your area, definitely go and see it. It's amazing.

The documentary is the story of Hedy Lamarr, one of the most gorgeous women ever in Hollywood, and also the inventor of frequency hopping, which is still used today in everything - WiFi, Bluetooth, you name it.

Her story is inspirational and also extremely sad. Above all else, it is fascinating.

Her children are interviewed, as is Robert Osborne, and there are film clips from her career, and interview footage with Lamarr.

A few years ago on Jeopardy, there was a category called "Hedy Lamarr." Alex Trebeck wound up running the category himself, and asked, "Have none of you ever heard of Hedy Lamarr?" "Well," piped up one woman,"I know Hedly Lamarr from Blazing Saddles." A real pity, and it would be lovely if that were a thing of the past.

If we are all honest nobody really knew about the story of Hedy Lamarr, and that's not even because she's not from our generation. Of course, I knew her as an actress, but what she accomplished besides her acting career is far more interesting, and it's good to have a nice documentary about it. The documentary is well done, with interviews from all kind of people, going from family members, actors, journalists and scientists and so on. There is also alot of interesting footage of her childhood, movies, her public appearances and her at an older age. She's been called the best looking woman in the world at that time, I wouldn't go that far, but she wasn't ugly that's a fact. The start isn't great, her as a Jew married to a weapon supplier of the Nazi's but at the end she did her best helping to fight the Germans, and that through her creative inventing mind. She should deserve much more then just a plaque for her invention. At least this documentary will give her the respect she deserves for the things she did. She was probably not an easy person to live with, but that's because she was a victim of Hollywood and drugs. In the end, I think she would be much better off if she didn't start her acting career and just concentrated her efforts in the promising inventions she had in her creative mind. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is certainly worth a watch, just to have another and better view of the woman she was, way more then just a glamorous Hollywood diva.

In some ways this is a standard documentary on a Hollywood star from its golden years.

Hedy Lamarr did not have much of a film career. She was signed by Louis Mayer on a trip to Europe looking to sign starlets on the cheap before war broke out. Lamarr had caused scandal with a racy continental film called Ecstasy that featured nudity and a simulated orgasm.

Lamarr's best known film is Samson & Delilah but she did not managed to capitalise on it. Instead she went to Europe to produce a film and ended up in debt.

Lamarr had a turbulent private life. Amphetamine addiction thanks to Dr Feelgood, shoplifting and many short lived marriages.

What lifts this documentary was Lamarr's contribution to radio communications, frequency hopping that she co deviced in World War 2. Sadly she did not profit much from it. Lamarr's first husband was in the armaments field in Germany and the documentary examines whether she might had lifted the idea. However Lamarr was a lady full of diverse ideas which included building a ski resort in Colorado and taking skin from hidden parts of the body

Lamarr was a recluse in later life but some tapes were rediscovered where she talked to a journalist about her life and career. It is at least an honest, thought provoking documentary.

Many film lovers ONLY know Hedy Lamarr the actress whose face lite up the silver screen. Few knew of her contribution to our digital/wireless/blue-tooth enabled world through her inventive mind. Bombshell is that very story wrapped around her cinematic career. The director delivers a wonderful documentary of the great Hedy Lamarr.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Exceptionally entertaining documentary that takes a look at the life and career of Hedy Lamarr, the actress who many consider to be the greatest looking woman to ever appear in movies. The documentary covers her early childhood, the notoriety that came with her nude scenes in ECSTASY as well as her time in Hollywood and a controversial dealing with the U.S. government.

If you're a fan of Lamarr then you'll certainly want to check this documentary out. It starts off talking about the actress in her later years as well as a book she was to write about herself but that never materialized. The film's main draw is the fact that Lamarr did give an interview later in her life and those audio tapes were recently discovered and on display here.

I really enjoyed this documentary because it did a very good job at covering various aspects of Lamarr's life and it didn't shy away from some of the bad stuff. I respect the documentary for being open and honest on these subjects and a lot of credit goes to her children who are interviewed here and shine a light on what was going on in their mother's life at the time all of this was going on.

The documentary certainly pays close attention to her movies including the controversial nudity that she did and her reasoning's for it once she came to Hollywood. The good portion of the running time is devoted to how smart Lamarr actually was and how she designed a very important item during WWII and one that should have brought her riches but didn't.

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY is well-researched and contains a lot of great information on the actress. The interviews with her family as well as fans (like Mel Brooks) makes this a must-see.

GRADE: B-

THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.

IN BRIEF: An insightful documentary about the actress, Hedy Lamarr and her unacknowledged scientific inventions.

JIM'S REVIEW: Hedy Lemarr was a most fascinating woman and Alexandra Dean's documentary, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, certainly adds to her allure. Most called her an international movie star of the 40's. Others called her a spy. Very few recognized her scientific achievements. It was always a case of beauty over brains.

The film focuses on her untold story from her childhood and early bohemian life in Vienna during the 1930's, her rising 40's Hollywood career, subsequent scandals, and many marriages and divorces. It also shows her as a woman of creativity and intelligence, one who actually patented inventions that were early prototypes of WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS technology. Documents reveal her plans for radio controlled torpedoes during World War II, aeronautic aviation advances, and secret communication systems. One can easily accept the film's main title for its double meaning after seeing the evidence on display.

However, Ms. Lamarr's scientific aspirations and skills were derailed by her beauty and chauvinistic attitude at that time. It was her glamour that most wanted to idolize which led to a thriving film career. Using archival footage, photos, interviews with family, animation, and film clips of Ms. Lemarr's films, the documentary chronicles her life using a found taped interview by the actress that tells many hidden details of her flamboyant life as its primary source.

While always interesting, this documentary seems to overcompensate about her scientific breakthroughs and bogs down with the technical underpinnings of her inventions. The animation is crude and unnecessary. The film provides glosses over the few facts about her numerous love affairs and marriages it shares and uses her Hollywood films as an afterthought that takes second place to her personal backstory. All seems well researched, but one wishes the filmmakers would have concentrated more on her two-sided complex life, with more film clips and exposition about her love affairs and relationships. It rarely stays on any one aspect of Ms. Lemarr's for too long.

Still, with such a fascinating woman as the subject, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is always compelling and offers many facts unknown to this reviewer. I gained more insight and admiration from this documentary for this under-appreciated talented woman which is a strong statement in itself for Ms. Dean's film too.

NOTE: This document is now available in movie art houses that showcase independent films. It is also on DVD and local streaming services.

Unlike Hedy Lamarr this documentary is not a bombshell. Having read about Lamarr's life story before, I came to the documentary hoping that it would be enlightening beyond what is commonly available. Instead, I came away feeling bad for Lamarr doubly for what happened to her and for what this documentary did too her as well.

I like many others who watch this will be in awe of the full extent of all the she did before seeing this film. You will even be saddened that she was not really fully allowed to do what her passion really was. It was a constant "Wow! She did that? and Her mind thought like that?" Most of what she did was forced upon her to keep as a sort of secret hobby. It was a different time back then. It will leave you wondering about all she could have done if she had been born now. I was in shock of the many great things and people we do know to push limits in their inventions that she helped inspire and make better. Her mind never stopped when the cameras shut down.

I just remember falling in love with her watching old movies at my Granny's during sleep-overs. Back in the day where there were only a handful of channels and we had to walk across the room to turn the dial. In the evening there would be the Late show, then the Late-Late show and the Late-Late-Late show before the National Anthem would play early A.M. and the T.V. But, one of her greatest inventions which was turned down after being inspired like many Americans to do their part during the War.

Again, sadly it was a different time back then and women like her. Women as well known and as beautiful as her were imposed upon to do their part and just look pretty and start selling War-bonds, and being eye-candy for the troops.

She is one of those people that you wish that if there is life after death or reincarnation that she got to become whom she was meant to be in her first life. Now that women can be viewed a little differently for what they have to offer more now than just being another pretty face. A must watch if you love documentary movies as much as I do. A must-must watch if you grew up watching her movies way back when. You will love her even more.

Hedy Lamarr was a remarkable woman, and like so many other remarkable people she was a complex individual with a dark side.

Her first taste of fame was the 1933 Czech film "Extase" in which she appeared naked. The film was controversial and scandalous, although by today's standards your grandmother wouldn't be shocked.

She is also known as an inventor, and is said to have had a fascination from an early age with how things work.

Lamarr was married and divorced no fewer than six times; the documentary does not gloss over this, nor about the two incidents of shoplifting, which were clearly the result of psychological issues rather than financial ones. Not mentioned is the 1967 incident in which she falsely accused her younger lover Donald Blythe of rape, an incident that cost her $15,000.

At one time she was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but as she aged and her looks faded, she resorted unwisely to plastic surgery, something that did not go unnoticed. We hear from many people who knew her, including her offspring. Lamarr died in January 2000 at the relatively advanced age of 85. She was buried in her native Austria.

I am aware that this will be an unpopular opinion, but maybe someone else agrees with me:

"I want to sell my life story to Ted Turner." This is one of the first quotes we hear from Hedy. I was open to learning about this woman's life because I love biographical documentaries, however the tone of this seemed very contrived. She wanted so badly to be a famous movie star. She went about this by having risqué photos taken and putting her best dresses and jewelry on while strutting about to gain that attention. Then when her plan works out for her and she's got what she wanted, she is dissatisfied because people don't appreciate how intellectual she is... I'm sorry but she comes off as an obnoxious, unhappy brat to me. And I don't buy it that she "invented" all these groundbreaking technologies. Puff piece