The Bamboo Blonde

Anthony Mann: The Bamboo Blonde (US 1945). The nightclub owner Ralph Edwards (Eddie Clark) and the torch singer Louise Anderson (Frances Langford).

Anthony Mann

    États-Unis / 1945 / 68 min / 35 mm Copie unique / VOSTF

D'après la nouvelle Chicago Lulu de Wayne Whittaker.

Avec Frances Langford, Ralph Edwards, Russell Wade.

    Rétrospective Anthony Mann

    Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy, Lignes 14, 6, 6 April 2024.

La Cinémathèque française : " En mission contre les Japonais, un pilote devient héros de guerre grâce au visage d'une chanteuse de night-club peinte sur son bombardier. Une romance musicale tournée pour la RKO, avec, en fiancée jalouse, la sublime Jane Greer, bientôt tête d'affiche de La Griffe du passé. "

AA: A sappy but sympathetic piece of escapism, a show business tale, a romantic comedy of misunderstandings, a love story across class barriers, a wartime story that is not a war film.

A chance encounter on the last night before going to war starts it all. It is not a date between Louise Anderson (Frances Langford) and Patrick Ransom, Jr. (Russell Wade) but they spend two spare hours together, and Patrick likes Louise's down to earth way in her suggested dinner place Mom's Pantry where Louise insists to pay. Pat does not even know her name, and Louise remains in the belief that Pat is a simple farm boy. Before leaving, Pat wants to have Louise's picture at the photo machine.

In command of a B-29 bomber, Captain Patrick Ransom, Jr. is a new recruit but an experienced private pilot. Instantly he becomes a butt of practical jokes by his crew, such as sending him to the dubious nightclub where he meets Louise. 

Fighting in the Pacific, the bomber has bad luck. Then the crew paints a curvaceous pin-up girl on the nose of the bomber. Based on Louise's picture in Patrick's wallet they add her facial features and coin the name "The Bamboo Blonde". The luck turns, they become national heroes and are asked to participate in a war bond campaign under the Bamboo Blonde brand.

There are interesting themes. One is the morale, the team spirit, that elusive something that changes the course of the bomber crew from bad to great. 

Another is true self vs. false self. Louise and Patrick have to defy pressure to change to something that is alien to them.

Louise's employer is the nightclub owner Ralph Edwards (Eddie Clark), pushy, energetic and dynamic. He inflates the Bamboo Blonde brand to incredible heights, but Louise, the original Bamboo Blonde, feels increasingly estranged from the bombasm. It is all about the money. War bonds are ok, but everything, including Louise, also turn to pawns in Ralph Edwards's business game.

When Patrick returns home, Louise learns that he is a rich inheritor with a snobbish fiancée, Eileen Sawyer (Jane Greer). Louise tries to sabotage her reputation in Patrick's family in order to get rid of the situation. But Patrick feels the same way about the situation. He has not been happy with the arranged marriage plan with Eileen.

Rich people are sometimes unhappy because they don't know who their friends are - whether they love them or their money. Patrick and Louise have instantly connected on an equal ground - on a blind date.

It is a pleasure to discover Jane Greer here before her film noir highlights with Robert Mitchum (Out of the Past and The Big Steal). Many decades later, Jane Greer performed also in Against All Odds, the remake of Out of the Past.

"35 mm Copie unique" was announced. The print is clean and stable but largely in low contrast, like a blowup from a 16 mm television print. There are also passages with good black levels and I try to deduce the original visual quality from them.