You've seen other reviews, you've read the synopsis, you already know what this film is about, and you know who the stars are ... I'm just here to point out something I've not seen mentioned.Everyone in this movie YELLS THEIR LINES!Why speak when YOU CAN SCREAM?It's all very chaotic, and the one-liners come at you fast and furious and LOUD!I could have enjoyed this film so much more if everyone had toned it down a notch or three. So much of Bombshell is just Jean Harlow SCREAMING about something.You've been warned.

With it all, Jean Harlow gave quite a performance in this 1933 film. She portrays a volatile actress giving out constant outbursts with her staff.The film shows the effects of a publicity agent whose scheming has brought Lola (Harlow) to what she is. She desperately wants to be her own woman, but is caught up in the general Hollywood mayhem.The part where Harlow wanted to adopt a baby, but the people from the agency being scared off by the various Hollywood types including her outrageous father and pathetic brother/The film also brings out how everything in tinsel land is so basically false.Her publicity agent really loves her and the film ends with her finding out about his latest scheme. These agents will stop at nothing to get their star ahead.

Well how do you pass on a movie with a title like "Bombshell", especially when Jean Harlow's in the cast. Up till now, my quintessential idea of a screwball comedy was Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell trading barbs in "His Girl Friday", but this one certainly gives the latter picture a good run for it's money. Harlow appears pretty much as her own persona, an actress at the top of her profession who's seemingly unable to balance the demands of stardom with the pressures of those around her seeking to take advantage of her wealth and fame. I didn't quite know how to react to Lee Tracy's character, smarmy business agent Space Hanlon, who manages to keep Lola's name in newspaper headlines. He's got an answer for everything, and I think it's only his delivery that keeps him from being an outright cad.This movie is probably a good candidate for seeing more than once, since it's almost impossible to keep up with the furious pace and dialog. If you stop long enough to laugh you'll probably miss something that's even funnier or more outlandish, so it's best to stay focused. Helping this all come together is a well selected cast that includes Frank Morgan, Pat O'Brien, Una Merkel, Ivan Lebedeff and Louise Beavers. I was a little puzzled by Ted Healey's selection to portray Lola's brother Junior, a role that probably should have gone to someone younger looking, but maybe it's just me. It might also have been a good idea to give Una Merkel a few more lines as Lola's secretary Mac; she looked like she could have held her own with this bunch.Best line of the picture, if not the corniest, has to go to Franchot Tone, who as Lola's newest love Gifford Middleton, exclaims that "I'd like to run barefoot through your hair". That sounds kind of sweet until you try to conjure up a mental picture to go with the description. Seeing as how old Gifford turned out to be a phony, I wonder who came up with the lines he used. It had to be Hanlon.

This is an interesting change of pace comedy for Jean Harlow. She is not playing a lower class shop girl or even a prostitute like in THE GIRL FROM MISSOURI or RED DUST, nor a slumming upper class girl (as in THE PUBLIC ENEMY). Instead she is playing a very popular film star with a very sexy body and screen personae - gee, it sounds like she is playing Jean Harlow. According to the thread the character she is playing ("Lola Burns") was supposed to be based on Clara Bow (certainly the two names are similar in sound). But it could be based on Harlow's attempts (tragically repeatedly doomed) to have a happy normal life but finding her screen personae interfering.Still, even if one starts thinking of Harlow's marriage to Paul Bern or her romance with William Powell, the film is engrossing and humorous enough to make you push aside the tragedy of the life of Harlean Carpenter. Lola is, like all movie stars, a prisoner of the studio's determination to get all the public attention publicity can garner from it's merchandise (it's stars). In particular Lola finds herself at the mercy of the studio's head publicity man "Space Hanlon" (Lee Tracy). Tracy is always coming up with goofy stunts, or twisting events that involve Lola in her attempts at normality (like adopting a baby, or dating a "normal" man (Franchot Tone) into another mess. The studio only cares that she personifies sexual allure - so Hanlon keeps making that the key to his publicity: he even arranges a fight between several men on the set of her latest film (one is director Pat O'Brien) supposedly over Lola's love.Lola is not against sex and love - the quote in the "Summary line" is Lola's when her maid wakes her at the start of the film, and she's just had a promising sex dream. She really needs a confidante - but everyone around her takes advantage of her. Her father (Frank Morgan) is an alcoholic, cadging old scoundrel (who keeps reminding her - to her growing disgust - of her owing him obedience as her loving father). Her sibling (Ted Healey) is also an alcoholic, constantly having sexual affairs that she has to get him out of. Her maid actually steals from the household accounts (Lola is aware of this - she is not stupid). And all constantly are as demanding on her as her studio.Ironically there is one person who would be her confidante and more - but he knows she'll reject him. It's Space, who loves her. In fact, some of the stunts he sets up is to get rid of possible rivals. Eventually, can he get her to recognize this? Ah that is the final point of the film.Harlow was a gifted comic actress, knowing how to use her image for fun (such as Wallace Beery's unfaithful wife in DINNER AT EIGHT). But I suspect because of her own problems in Hollywood and real life she put more of herself in this film than in any other. I can't say it was her best performance (I tend to like RED DUST and CHINA SEAS a little more) but it was somehow her most real performance, and the film benefits as a result.