The Bamboo Blonde (1946)

The Bamboo Blonde came out in 1946 just past the era of World War II when this story would still have an appeal. It's a minor league musical with one of the major league vocalists of the day Frances Langford.Russell Wade a young pilot assigned a new crew is in his last night in the states and he meets up with Frances Langford, singer in a struggling nightclub owned by Ralph Edwards. On his last night state side they have an innocent fling and he goes off to war with her picture and the reputation of a lady killer. Wade's also slightly engaged to Jane Greer.But after a run of bad luck the crew paints Langford's picture on the fuselage and the plane starts racking up zeroes with Memphis Belle like clockwork. Langford becomes a celebrity due to the Army Air Corps publicity machine. She's also quite the inspiration to our fighting men.The film is narrated in flashback by Ralph Edwards who's turned The Bamboo Blonde into a cottage industry. Some forgettable songs by an unforgettable singer. It's a pleasant piece of post war fluff.

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.

After seeing "Career Girl" the other day - I can honestly say this film is tons better. The only thing that didn't change was that Iris Adrian was still her best pal and still cracking those one liners. With RKO's better production values ("Career Girl" was a PRC production and it showed) Frances Langford looked a million bucks. Having Anthony Mann as director didn't hurt either.Bamboo Blonde is a big cosmetic company and the story is told in flashback to a reporter who comes for a story.Captain Pat Ransom (Russell Wade) is stood up by his fiancée, Eileen (a gorgeous Jane Greer in an early part) - he then meets Louise (Frances Langford), a singer at a club and together they have a wonderful night. When he has to rejoin his crew she plys him with magazines and gumdrops - she's a grand gal. They go to a photo booth and later back at the base an artist paints her picture on their plane and christens her "The Bamboo Blonde". When the plane becomes a famous bomber, Louise's manager decides to cash in on the name by billing her as "The Bamboo Blonde". Pat and Louise meet again when the bomber goes on a nationwide tour. True love doesn't run smooth and Eileen is there to put a spanner in the works. This film ended rather suddenly as well, with Eileen revealing her true colours when she doesn't invite Pat's parents to a big party. The cosmetic empire was obviously an after thought.You view a Frances Langford film to hear her beautiful voice and sing she does. "I'm Good For Nothing But Love", "I'm Dreaming Out Loud", "Moonlight Over the Islands" and "Right Along About Evening" are far superior songs than any in "Career Girl". Miss Langford is far better photographed in this film as well - she is ravishing.

As a masterclass in what a great auteur can do with trite, uncharacteristic material, 'The Bamboo Blonde' is a must see. With a bizarre mixture of war propaganda, romantic comedy and musical, Mann manages to offer a prototype of the frayed masculinity so familiar from his noirs, Westerns and historical epics (see the final third, the ritual humiliation of the amiable hero); as well as his subversive interest in signs (see especially the musical number where the heroine walks through a landscape of labelled props), and the gaping difference between their value and the reality they hide. All this AND Jane Greer, as duplicitous a nay-sayer here to American masculinity as she would be a year later in the greatest ever noir, 'Out of the Past'.