The Bamboo Blonde
6 /10 1 Votes
Director Anthony Mann Production RKO Pictures Duration Language English | 5.8/10 IMDb Genre Musical, War, Romance Costume design Renie Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Release date July 15, 1946 (1946-07-15) Based on the story "Chicago Lulu"
by Wayne Whittaker Writer Olive Cooper, Lawrence Kimble, Wayne Whittaker (story) Cast Frances Langford (Louise Anderson), Ralph Edwards (Eddie Clark), Russell Wade (Patrick Ransom, Jr.), Iris Adrian (Montana Jones), Richard Martin (Jim Wilson), Jane Greer (Eileen Sawyer)Similar movies Interstellar , Pitch Perfect 2 , Birdman , Frozen , Mulan , Aladdin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Bamboo Blonde is a 1946 American war film directed by Anthony Mann based on an original story "Chicago Lulu" by Wayne Whittaker. Saddled with a low budget, it stars singer Frances Langford in the title role, Ralph Edwards (from TV's This Is Your Life) and bit player Russell Wade. As an RKO star, Langford was famous for her role in entertaining the troops in World War II, and the film featured a number of songs that her character sings at a nightclub.
Contents
Plot
Businessman Eddie Clark (Ralph Edwards) tells a reporter the story behind his conglomerate of products branded as the "Bamboo Blonde". During the Pacific War, Captain Patrick Ransom, Jr. ([Russell Wade]]), the pilot of a B-29 bomber is stood up by his fiancée Eileen Sawyer (Jane Greer) on the way to meet his new crew at a New York nightclub, owned by Clark. Instead, he sees Louise Anderson (Frances Langford), a beautiful blonde singer at the nightclub. Although engaged, he falls in love with the singer, but has to leave next day for action in the Pacific, joining an experienced bomber crew as their new pilot. The crew is reluctant to accept their new "skipper" and decide to dump him at the out-of-bounds nightclub, coming back later to find the Captain and the torch singer kissing.
In the Pacific, after realizing that a string of their bad luck has to be broken, Captain Ransom acquiesces to the crew painting the image of "Bamboo Blonde" on the nose of his bomber, as the crew members think that the striking blonde singer they had seen, is his girl. The "Bamboo Blonde" becomes famous when the B-29 sinks a Japanese battleship and shoots down numerous Japanese fighter aircraft. The armed forces decides to bring the "Bamboo Blonde" and its crew back home to sell war bonds across the country and Clark knows that he can exploit his singer's connection to the famous bomber. Back in New York, the Captain leaves his fiancée and seeks out Louise, who has also fallen in love with the pilot.
Cast
Production
In May 1943, RKO originally advertised that a countrywide series of contests would be used to find an "unknown" to portray The Bamboo Blonde in a future romantic comedy feature. Anthony Mann, on only his 11th film as a director, is better known for later working with James Stewart on (primarily) western films like The Naked Spur (1953), film noirs and epics in his last years. This early film is typical of a period when Mann accepted any and all assignments in a variety of genres.
Music
The soundtrack included many big band pieces performed by Frances Langford.
References
The Bamboo Blonde WikipediaThe Bamboo Blonde IMDb The Bamboo Blonde themoviedb.org