Bombshell (1933) Reviews

A screwball comedy that takes aim at the life of an actress and the business of publicity within the studio system, Bombshell is a perfect example of Jean Harlow’s particular screen goddess persona and comedic greatness. The story of Bombshell is said to have been inspired by Clara Bow, but there’s more than a hint of autobiography in this tale of a screen goddess seeking to tone down the sex, be treated as a serious actress and find someone to love her for who she really is. Not to mention the various machinery in place to keep her image as a brazen bad girl, a wanton sexual dynamo in play and the lechers (also known as family members) who tag along and waste all of her money.

The wit comes fast and quick, and often at a very loud volume, as Lee Tracy’s scheming publicity man ensures that Harlow’s constantly in print. He forsakes her private wishes and out-right sabotages her goals to be seen as less of a brassy blonde sexpot and as a more fully realized human being. And whenever Harlow catches Tracy’s schemes we can’t help but smile and root her on as she verbally cuts him down and physically assaults him. The bastard deserves it. After all, Harlow’s starlet is a bit of screwball, but her heart is in the right place and she generally tries to do right by herself and those around her.

Though for all of its strengths, Bombshell is never the great screwball comedy that it could have been for two reasons. One is the central romance between Harlow and Tracy. Tracy may truly love Harlow and perform many of his nefarious schemes as a subversive kind of mating display, but he doesn’t deserve to wind up with Harlow in a love embrace. He needs a good sock in the jaw more than anything. Second is the direction by Victor Fleming, he gets great performances from his actors, but he also frequently just has them yelling over each other without the comic finesse necessary to really hear their lines or land their jokes. Howard Hawks would have been an ideal choice for this kind of film, look at what magic he spun out of Twentieth Century. And imagine what kind of great work he could have gotten out of Harlow, who is already giving a great piece of work here, but would have gotten a similarly wondrous performance out of her like her work in Dinner at Eight, still her finest film moment.

But none of those problems really matter when we get to sit back and watch Harlow blow the roof off the place. She’s magnificent here. Believably playing, and not just for laughs, every nuance and development her character takes. She makes her starlet a classic screwball heroine because she probably so innately understood her struggles. And everything that made Jean Harlow a great star in the 1930s is on full display. Her natural sense for comedy, her tough-girl exterior wrapped around a dangerously curvy body that protected a very sweet, traditional girl underneath it all, and, of course, her platinum blonde sex goddess persona. It may not be perfect, but Bombshell is a very strong, funny vehicle for Harlow. If you’ve ever wondered what her appeal was, this isn’t a bad place to start.