Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story * * * *
In her time Hedy Lamarr was frequently referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world, but they always say that about very pretty women don't they?
But further to her good looks, Hedy Lamarr was an inventor. Inspired by her loving father her curiosity began as a child and continued her whole life including her acting career. She was an actress who did reasonably well in Hollywood movies in the forties and fifties. But at night she was at her drawing board.
During the war Hedy wanted to make a contribution and felt her inventions could help. The Navy had already figured out how to communicate with a torpedo by radio to direct it to its target, but the radio frequency was a dead give away to the enemy. What Hedy did was invent a new form of radio frequency which the enemy could not read. But she was just a pretty girl so the Navy "wisely" rejected her invention. However, it did not languish forever because here is the sting - we are all using it today: it's called Bluetooth, GPS and Wi Fi. So next time your GPS gets you where you want to go, think of Hedy. Unfortunately with six unsuccessful marriages and a retirement spent in seclusion, life might not have taken Hedy where she wanted to go, though there is a scene of her talking in her latter days where she quotes The Paradoxical Commandments, a most appropriate proclamation given her circumstances.
Bombshell is a good film that has been well made. It's a very well researched documentary on a fascinating subject and worth catching if you can. I'm afraid it's on rather limited release.
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| Not just a pretty face |
During the war Hedy wanted to make a contribution and felt her inventions could help. The Navy had already figured out how to communicate with a torpedo by radio to direct it to its target, but the radio frequency was a dead give away to the enemy. What Hedy did was invent a new form of radio frequency which the enemy could not read. But she was just a pretty girl so the Navy "wisely" rejected her invention. However, it did not languish forever because here is the sting - we are all using it today: it's called Bluetooth, GPS and Wi Fi. So next time your GPS gets you where you want to go, think of Hedy. Unfortunately with six unsuccessful marriages and a retirement spent in seclusion, life might not have taken Hedy where she wanted to go, though there is a scene of her talking in her latter days where she quotes The Paradoxical Commandments, a most appropriate proclamation given her circumstances.
Bombshell is a good film that has been well made. It's a very well researched documentary on a fascinating subject and worth catching if you can. I'm afraid it's on rather limited release.
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