The Bamboo Blonde (1946)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Admirable film.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Directed by Anthony Mann, known mostly for working with James Stewart on (primarily) Westerns like The Naked Spur (1953), this film stars singer Frances Langford in the title role, Ralph Edwards, Russell Wade and Jane Greer. Based on Wayne Whittaker's story, this slightly above average B musical romance features a screenplay by Olive Cooper and Lawrence Kimble.The film opens with businessman Eddie Clark (Edwards) telling a reporter the story behind his conglomerate of products branded "Bamboo Blonde". Patrick Ransom, Jr., son of "the Ransoms", a wealthy couple in New York, is about to join the war in the Pacific as the new Captain of a B-29 crew, one that has been together for some time. He is naturally apprehensive about the assignment as their new skipper, wondering if they'll accept him, and is also dismayed that his socialite fiancée (Greer) is not there with his parents to see him off. Though his folks don't really care for her, they've kept it to themselves. When he phones her, she says that she can't make it; she doesn't, however, tell him it's because she'd rather go to a party ... without him.Wanting to ditch him, a member of his crew tells him they are all meeting at Eddie's club, which unbeknownst to him is actually off limits to serviceman. When he arrives, he sees that the establishment is virtually empty. Before he is seen by the M.P.'s in Eddie's office, Louise, the nightclub singer played by Langford, hides him in her dressing room. Much to his enjoyment (and ours?), she sings a song which he is able to watch through the curtains and, upon learning that the club is "out of bounds", he then exits out the backdoor. When Louise is leaving the club through same door, he is still there, having just figured out that he was dumped by his crew. She offers to take him to dinner and does, at a down home place called "Mama's". They have a wonderful time, though when Patrick tells Louise he lives on a farm, she assumes he's a farmer and he doesn't enlighten her further.Two hours later, Patrick and Louise are back at the station and he notices a photo booth, insisting that she sit for an instant picture, which she does. Then, when he's kissing her goodbye, his whole crew witnesses the event, whistling and applauding. Unfortunately, the ace crew he inherited has a string of mishaps and fails to succeed immediately under their new skipper. One of the crew hatches an idea to paint the face of (who they assume is) the Captain's girlfriend, the blonde Louise, on the body of sarong-clad girl on the nose of the plane ... for luck! Since Patrick is too embarrassed that he doesn't even know the girl's name, the crew dubs her the "Bamboo Blonde". And, of course, the good luck charm works. In fact, Captain Patrick's B-29 becomes the most successful bomber in the squadron. Once the news of this reaches the home front, Eddie sees it as an opportunity to market his club with Louise as the "Bamboo Blonde" which, though she too is embarrassed, he does and to great success.The Armed Forces then decides to bring the "Bamboo Blonde" and its crew back home to sell war bonds across the country. Wanting as much publicity as possible, they (including Eddie) arrange a big welcome home party and a reunion for Patrick and Louise, who are both thinking they got the other into something undesirable. Patrick's "fiancee", Eileen (Greer), suddenly becomes interested in him again, now that he's a war hero, and decides to get him back. She goes to the festivities with the intent to disrupt things, and succeeds by whisking him away. Later though, with his mother's assistance, Patrick is able to escape Eileen and return to find Louise at "Mama's" and the two of them pick up where they left off.There is some more drama, however, instigated by Eileen, who doesn't give up easily. But things end up pretty much where one expects them to in this one.

Anthony Mann, of all people, shows a very capable hand with the musical form in this RKO B, a very-end-of-the-war mixture of patriotism, class consciousness, and utter nonsense. Among its virtues: Frances Langford, always likable and singing up a storm; Iris Adrian, Pauline Kael's favorite sarcastic sidekick of the '40s; Ralph Edwards, showing surprising pre-"This Is Your Life" comic deftness as a scheming agent; and Jane Greer, as Russell Wade's bitch-girlfriend, as stock-character a villainess as you'll ever see. The songs aren't much, but Frances does nicely by "Good for Nothing' But Love" (twice), and a South Sea Islands production number is hilariously, endearingly tacky, with chorus girls slinking about in godawful choreography. The story has loose ends that aren't tied neatly together, and it ends very abruptly, but it's an enjoyable low- budget programmer that fairly screams 1946.

I am a great fan of Anthony Mann because of his brilliant and inventive, sometimes scary noirs. I knew he'd directed other types of movies but this is the first (other than his later Westerns and 1950s stuff) I've seen.This is a very appealing romantic comedy. Frances Langford was no great actress but she had a pretty mezzo. She is a little like Doris Day, it seems, and a little like the great Anita Ellis.Russell Wade: Why didn't this guy have a major career? He is very good here, as he is in "The Ghost Ship." And I almost didn't recognize Jane Greer as his bitchy society-girl fiancée! She is (as always, except in a 1950s comedy whose name blessedly escapes me) wonderful. She seemed best in noirs, as bad girls with no conscience. Here she is a rich girl with no conscience.This has the same structure as classic noirs. It is told in flashback. I found the movie appealing from start to finish.

Okay, this movie isn't Citizen Kane. But it is an hour of so of zippy well-produced entertainment -- and I think you have to say it is one of the most perfectly typical movies of its time. I mean, it has every stereotypical character, traditional plot device and normal production touch you might expect in a light comedy produced during wartime. We have a fast-talking and slightly corrupt nightclub promoter. We have an adorable torch singer with a heart of gold. And we have a somewhat naive leading man who nevertheless possesses the sterling qualities that will make him a war hero. Oh, and don't let me forget -- we also have a beautiful and manipulative woman, the sort who doesn't like to lose.The plot is your basic boy-meets-girl stuff. It concerns a man who meets a nightclub singer -- very cutely, of course. They have a nice long chat over dinner and fall deeply in like. The fellow goes to war the very next day. Boy and girl secretly pine for each other, even though each of them knows they really don't have a right to do so. The girl's lovely face gets painted on the nose of our hero's B-29. The plane and crew becomes famous for heroic exploits (which consist mainly of surviving) and then hero and torch singer are reunited for a bond tour. They have to pretend to be lovers. The problem here is that the hero's rich-bitch fiancé intrudes. She doesn't love the guy at all, but now that he's a war hero, she demands that the big lunk go through with the ceremony.You can kind of guess how this one ends. Can't you? Oh, please. And there's a big twist at the end, when we find out about the fellow's family background -- but if you don't see this one coming a half-hour in advance, you probably haven't seen enough thirties and forties movies.Naturally the lovely Miss Langford has some elaborate production numbers, with a wonderful big-band soundtrack.Now, this sort of summary might make this movie sound like the oldest and tritest story ever filmed. But the fact is that every now and then someone produces a movie that so perfectly encapsulates every convention of its genre that you stop seeing a lack of originality as a flaw. Instead you can marvel at its perfection, the way you can admire a perfectly cut diamond. Nothing original about a perfectly cut stone, is there? But it sure looks purty.So of course the boy and girl fall in love. Of course they conquer all. Of course Frances Langford gets to wear skimpy outfits and sing her lungs out. No wonder Bob Hope took her on so many USO tours.I gather that Anthony Mann's involvement is one of the reasons this movie works so well. He became a noted director in the years after this film was made, and while I can't count myself as one of those who is obsessed with his work, I know that there are many who are. Suffice it to say that some directors might have made a mess of a movie like this one, but Mann keeps it moving right along, and the level of acting is pretty much what it ought to be. Okay, so maybe the critics were right when they called this movie clichéd and hackneyed. But there was a reason for those clichés: Sometimes they actually worked. Next time this one shows up on cable, put your feet up, put your mind on hold and let yourself enjoy the darned thing.