CALLING HEDY LAMARR d: Georg Misch
Calling Hedy Lamarr (2004)
Direction: Georg Misch
MY PHONE LADY
Shot in digital format, Georg Misch’s entertaining documentary Calling Hedy Lamarr has the look of a well-crafted low-budget movie and the feel of a quirky independent film. That is hardly the sort of approach one would expect to find in a documentary about one of the most beautiful, most glamorous, and most synthetic film stars of the 20th century. Yet, Misch mostly gets away with it. What Calling Hedy Lamarr lacks in terms of style and depth of analysis is compensated for by a sly, offbeat look at the cult of celebrity in American culture.
In Calling Hedy Lamarr, several friends and family members of Austrian-born actress and phone addict Hedy Lamarr (1911 or 1913-2000) get together in a staged conference call to talk about the legendary movie star. Among those are Lamarr’s South Florida neighbors, a journalist, and the actress’ son and daughter.
They reminisce about Lamarr’s famous beauty, her unusual traits, her film career, her numerous husbands and lovers, and her creative mind. (She and a friend, George Antheil, patented the concept of "frequency hopping," currently used in cell phones, certain "smart" bombs, and other devices.) One friend recalls one of Lamarr’s outings at a local fast-food place. Another mentions the actress’ sense of humor. And another says she may have been a spy. Lamarr’s children remember their mother more as aloof movie star than caring mom.
The phone conversations are interspersed with snippets showing Hedy Lamarr being interviewed, her TV appearances, and the actress at home doing a Sunset Blvd. send-up. Misch also includes a number of clips from Lamarr’ films, among them Ecstasy (1933), in which she has a brief nude scene, and Algiers (1938), her first Hollywood vehicle.
Mostly, however, when people aren’t on the phone we get to see long sections featuring Anthony Loder, Lamarr’s son with actor John Loder, who candidly discusses both the ephemeralness of his mother’s fame and his own failure at becoming a film personality.
Throughout it all, the editing at times suggests that Hedy Lamarr herself is somehow taking part in the conference call.
Reviewed at the 2004 AFI FEST
Photos: Mischief Films
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Tags: Algiers, Calling Hedy Lamarr, Classic Movies, Documentaries, Ecstasy, Films on Filmmaking, Georg Misch, Hedy Lamarr, John Loder, Three-Star Movies
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Would anyone know where I could find this film?
Gary
Gary,
I’d suggest you contact Mischief Films.
http://www.mischief-films.com/sub2.php?ID=83&S=E
Good luck!