Well made documentary about fascinating actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. The film follows Lamarr's life from childhood in Austria, to her becoming an international sensation for her notorious nude scene in "Ecstasy," to escaping Nazis and hiding the fact that she was jewish, to moving to America and becoming a major Hollywood star, and most interestingly her wanting to help the war effort by inventing a way for the Navy to wirelessly control torpedos without having their signals jammed by the enemy. It's this part of her life that I've always found the most fascinating. She was widely considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and I'm inclined to agree with that assessment, but she was so much more than just a pretty face. Unfortunately, because of her ravishing beauty, no one took her ideas seriously and they were dismissed by the military and went unused during the war. Lamarr was a tinkerer and a maker before there was such a thing. For a time she dated Howard Hughes, who set her up with a workshop and put his scientists and engineers at her disposal. She received a patent for her war effort invention (spread spectrum and frequency hopping) which was in fact later used by the US military around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Lamarr received no credit or monetary compensation for her contribution (she sadly failed to sue the government for copyright infringement within the legal time). The very same technological concepts she came up with were later used to to keep cell phone signals private as well as kept wireless internet and bluetooth signals from being hacked, but she never received any recognition or financial benefit for her ideas. As Lamarr got older, she began to see her Hollywood career fade and she became something of a recluse. It's not said in the film, but I've always held the theory that Lamarr had faded from the public consciousness because none of her movies have endured. She appeared alongside some major stars in her time (James Stewart, Judy Garland, William Powell, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Spencer Tracy, etc.) and made some entertaining films, but none of them would be considered classics. "Algiers" is likely her best film, but it's not a classic and not one that's well known outside of classic film lovers. I suppose this review ended less of a critique of this documentary and more of my own biography of Lamarr's life and my own thoughts on the actress/inventor. To this film in particular, it does a good job of telling her story, but what this documentary did better than others I've seen on Lamarr is that is used newly discovered recordings of Lamarr, which allowed her to narrate her own story for the first time (there was an autobiography that was ghost written and made into a sensationalized and highly inaccurate account of her life that she disowned), so it's a real treat to hear her tell her own story to a great extent. Lamarr's was a brilliant and beautiful woman, who has wrongfully been largely forgotten, but hopefully this documentary and the renewed interest in highlighting female contributions to science will bring well earned recognition to Ms. Lamarr.

I'm a doc fan and a Hollywood fan so the Hedy film was a great fit. 8 out of 10.

Many film lovers ONLY know Hedy Lamarr the actress whose face lite up the silver screen. Few knew of her contribution to our digital/wireless/blue-tooth enabled world through her inventive mind. Bombshell is that very story wrapped around her cinematic career. The director delivers a wonderful documentary of the great Hedy Lamarr.

Having never heard of Hedy Lamarr until discovering her by accident whilst researching some topics on the web, I was firstly in admiration of her beauty. My first reaction was "WOW". She is one perfectly, visual lady. There are many stunning women across the globe and Hollywood is a haven for them and we don't need to ask why. My initial vision of this lady immediately drew me in and I had a compulsion to find out more about who she was and what she did. The movie, which I found intriguing, brought a mixture of emotions at times both inspiring and saddening. There were comical parts (I won't spoil it by mentioning them) it was a sweet moment. It came at a point in the movie which (for me) was perfectly, sweet moment.In Hedy and her life, I see a lady who was obviously discontented due to so many marriages. Beauty - Albeit is known largely to be a blessing for some who have it but, sadly, it can be a curse for some when people fail to look beyond the physical appearances. This presentation proved this and it was no doubt the central theme.What I also noticed in Hedy, was a lady who spent her life aiming to please and to be somebody she wanted to be and at the same time, not realising just how good she was. We must remember that in the time of her life, women were expected to be 'ladies' and venturing into a man's line of work was unheard of. I think Hedy broke the ultimate taboo and pushed the boundaries of what she was 'expected' to be. Beauty comes naturally. Brains are something else.Hedy had both and it showed because she never let anybody set limits for her.