THE LAST OF THE BLONDE BOMBSHELLS

UK, 2000, 84 minutes, Colour.
Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Leslie Caron, Olympia Dukakis, Cleo Laine, Joan Sims, Billie Whitelaw, June Whitfield, Thelma Ruby, Millie Findlay, Felicity Dean.
Directed by Gillies Mac Kinnon.

Difficult to know what younger generations will make of this film, a trip down memory lane, to World War II, to the role of women during the war, to the woman’s band playing in clubs in London. Older audiences will find it quite nostalgic. This is especially the case with the images of the war, the clubs, the sailors and the other men, the styles of hair and clothes, the selection of favourite songs and their repetition.

And the cast is quite extraordinary, ranging from the serious Judi Dench, to the last film of comedian Joan Sims, to classic actress Billie Whitelaw, to television comedian June Whitfield, to the songs of Cleo Lane, and exotic French touch with Leslie Caron, the American touch with Olympia Dukakis. And Ian Holm plays Patrick, the male member of the band who donned women’s dress and wigs to play, as well as having a sexual relationship with most of the women.

The film opens in 2000, at a funeral, Judi Dench is Elizabeth burying her husband, explaining things to her granddaughter and what it was like for women during the war and the domestication afterwards. She plays the saxophone and joins a busker in the public area much to the horror of her family. Patrick turns up and she decides to try to get the band together, the film showing the visits to each of the women as well as flashbacks to their playing.

The goal is to play at a school function for her granddaughter, with some ups and downs, the group assembles, and the performances are success – and Elizabeth and Patrick might have a future together.

The film was directed by Gillies Mac Kinnon, a director of many genre films, A Simple Twist of Fate, Playboys, Pure, The Escapist.

1. British nostalgia? A millennium perspective on World War II in Britain?

2. The London settings, the present, the funeral, homes, restaurants, busking and playing, the locations for each of the members of the band, the school hall, performance?

3. London during the war in the club, the women playing, the men in the audience, the Blitz and its effect?

4. The school, the old favourites, the repetition throughout the film?

5. The top cast, screen presence, the variety of characters, serious, humorous, American, exotic French and the resistance, the vocals and Cleo Laine?

6. Judi Dench as Elizabeth, appearing at the funeral, her grief for her husband, the golf-player, and memories, ordinary life as a wife and homemaker? Sharing with her granddaughter? The meals, the family gathered, expectations of Elizabeth and her grief? Seeing the player, talking with him, joining him, the coins, the sharing of the money? The family seeing this, the reaction, sense of humiliation?

7. Patrick, his arrival, irresponsibility, the failures of his marriages, his betting, meals with Elizabeth, at home, meeting the family, justifying himself?

8. Elizabeth and her decision, to play, the photo of the band, the decision to reunite, search for the women? Finding Betty, playing the piano, her previous marriage to Patrick? Evelyn, her being in prison? Dinah, American, Scottish inheritance, in the castle, her drinking? Her attendant? Elizabeth flying, Patrick driving, home together? Gwen, singing in Wolverhampton and the clubs? Annie, conversion, playing with the Salvation Army, the religious arguments? The granddaughter, contacting friends, discovering Madeleine, memories of her leaving for the French resistance?

9. The memories, the band playing, the dress, the blondes, their title, singing, the men’s response? Elizabeth as a schoolgirl, arriving to put on the wig? Patrick, his interest, in drag, playing, at the toilet and the discussions, the arrest, his enlistment? The end of the film, the hearts on the drum, the sexual relationship with all the girls except Elizabeth?

10. Elizabeth explaining situations to her granddaughter, the role of women in the war, the jobs that they had, becoming more domestic after the war?

11. The women coming together, the characters, going to the school, precarious situations about the performance, Gwen turning up, the kids, their parents, listening to the modern group and the applause, the Bombshells singing, playing, the adults dancing, the children listening?

12. Elizabeth, her arguments about Patrick, the attraction, playing golf, the resistance, their future?