Above: Italian personality poster for Hedy Lamarr. Art by Sergio Gargiulo.Once promoted as “Hollywood’s No. 1 Glamour Girl,” Hedy Lamar (1914-2000) was much more than a pretty face, as the new documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story gloriously attests. Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Austria, Lamarr was catapulted to fame as the star of the scandalous 1933 Czech import Ecstasy, in which she appeared nude (and ecstatic). In America she became one of the biggest stars of the 1940s, often called the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, a designation she thought of as a curse. But she was also blessed with a curious and inventive mind. As an amateur inventor she pioneered what is known as “frequency hopping” during World War II to prevent the Nazis jamming Allied torpedoes, a technology which has become the basis of Bluetooth and Wi-fi. With that in mind, it might seem perverse to...
- 11/24/2017
- MUBI
In the first part of Hollywood’s Golden Era when classic beauties such as Gene Tierney, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich and Merle Oberon ruled the screen, Heddy Lamarr was the fairest of them all. In fact, her face became the inspiration for Walt Disney’s animators when they created the Snow White figure. By any measure except critical acclaim, Lamarr had a successful career. She starred in blockbusters like Cecile B DeMille’s Samson and Delilah and the steamy White Cargo (that had her impersonating a woman of color). And given the chance, she did hold her own against some of...read more...
- 5/1/2017
- by Greg Ptacek
- Monsters and Critics
Hedy Lamarr: 'Invention' and inventor on Turner Classic Movies (photo: Hedy Lamarr publicity shot ca. early '40s) Two Hedy Lamarr movies released during her heyday in the early '40s — Victor Fleming's Tortilla Flat (1942), co-starring Spencer Tracy and John Garfield, and King Vidor's H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), co-starring Robert Young and Ruth Hussey — will be broadcast on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Pt, respectively. Best known as a glamorous Hollywood star (Ziegfeld Girl, White Cargo, Samson and Delilah), the Viennese-born Lamarr (née Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), who would have turned 100 on November 9, was also an inventor: she co-developed and patented with composer George Antheil the concept of frequency hopping, currently known as spread-spectrum communications (or "spread-spectrum broadcasting"), which ultimately led to the evolution of wireless technology. (More on the George Antheil and Hedy Lamarr invention further below.) Somewhat ironically,...
- 11/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Interview Duncan Bowles 19 Apr 2013 - 06:00
He's the president in Olympus Has Fallen, and a fine, fine actor. Aaron Eckhart spared us some time for a chat about his movies...
Note that the following interview contains mild spoilers for Olympus Has Fallen.
When the dust finally settled after the endless casting speculation for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, there was one name above all others that really fired up my anticipation for the movie: Aaron Eckhart. It’s now been well over a decade since I first discovered his work, and ever since the glorious slice of B-movie joy that is The Core, I’ve remained a steadfast fan, with the diversity in his work always drawing me towards films I would never normally consider. Yet to my mind he still remains very much underappreciated, regardless of his talent and some truly memorable performances amongst some great movies.
When...
He's the president in Olympus Has Fallen, and a fine, fine actor. Aaron Eckhart spared us some time for a chat about his movies...
Note that the following interview contains mild spoilers for Olympus Has Fallen.
When the dust finally settled after the endless casting speculation for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, there was one name above all others that really fired up my anticipation for the movie: Aaron Eckhart. It’s now been well over a decade since I first discovered his work, and ever since the glorious slice of B-movie joy that is The Core, I’ve remained a steadfast fan, with the diversity in his work always drawing me towards films I would never normally consider. Yet to my mind he still remains very much underappreciated, regardless of his talent and some truly memorable performances amongst some great movies.
When...
- 4/18/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Algiers Hedy Lamarr can be seen later this month on Turner Classic Movies: I Take This Woman (1940) will be shown on Saturday, April 28, and The Conspirators (1944) on Monday, April 30. I Take This Woman was a troubled production that took so long to make — W.S. Van Dyke replaced Frank Borzage who had replaced original director Josef von Sternberg — that punsters called it "I Retake This Woman." Spencer Tracy co-stars as a doctor who marries European refugee Lamarr. Jean Negulesco’s The Conspirators has several elements in common with Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, including an "exotic" World War II setting (in this case, Lisbon), conflicting loyalties, male lead Paul Henreid, and supporting players Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Curiously, at one point Lamarr had been considered for the Casablanca role that eventually went to Ingrid Bergman. Neither I Take This Woman nor The Conspirators did much for Hedy Lamarr’s Hollywood career.
- 4/24/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr was a major MGM star in the early 1940s. Among her movies at the studio were I Take This Woman, Boom Town, Comrade X, Ziegfeld Girl, and White Cargo. Her co-stars included Spencer Tracy, Robert Taylor, Clark Gable, William Powell, and Walter Pidgeon. As the decade came to a close, Lamarr had her biggest box-office hit: Cecil B. DeMille's Paramount release Samson and Delilah, starring Victor Mature. After her movie stardom had faded, Lamarr was involved in a few bizarre incidents. In 1965, she was arrested in Los Angeles for shoplifting. Though later cleared of all charges, she lost a small role in the B movie Picture Mommy Dead because of that incident. Zsa Zsa Gabor replaced her. Curiously, there would be another shoplifting charge in Florida in 1991, this time for $21.48 worth of laxatives and eye drops. Lamarr's attorney explained that the shoplifting was actually a case of absentmindedness: Lamarr,...
- 3/11/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
To mark the release of the Anna Wong double bill including Java Head and Tiger Bay on DVD now, Optimum Home Entertainment have been given three copies to give away!
Anna May Wong (1905 – 1961) was the first Asian American movie star to become an international star. Her career spanned over four decades. She started in Technicolor’s first two-strip color movie, The Toll of the Sea (1922) and was chosen by Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. to be in The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and co-starred with Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (1932). Both Hollywood and Europe proclaimed her exoticism and she became known for her fluid grace and languid sexuality on screen.
Java Head (1934) – Directed by Thorold Dickinson & J. Walter Ruben and starring Anna May Wong, Elizabeth Allan and John Loder
A heavy-breathing melodrama of the White Cargo school, Java Head was adapted from the novel by Joseph Hergesheimer.
The port city of Bristol, England,...
Anna May Wong (1905 – 1961) was the first Asian American movie star to become an international star. Her career spanned over four decades. She started in Technicolor’s first two-strip color movie, The Toll of the Sea (1922) and was chosen by Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. to be in The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and co-starred with Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (1932). Both Hollywood and Europe proclaimed her exoticism and she became known for her fluid grace and languid sexuality on screen.
Java Head (1934) – Directed by Thorold Dickinson & J. Walter Ruben and starring Anna May Wong, Elizabeth Allan and John Loder
A heavy-breathing melodrama of the White Cargo school, Java Head was adapted from the novel by Joseph Hergesheimer.
The port city of Bristol, England,...
- 6/24/2011
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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