Fosco Dubini, Rubens Ewald Filho, tradutor and Donatello Dubini
Hedy Lamarr: The Personification of Seduction
In the Mostra’s Lounge, directors Donatello and Fosco Dubini talk about the documentary Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood StarBrothers Donatello and Fosco Dubini, co-producers of the documentary Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star, met with the public this Sunday the 22nd in the Mostra’s Lounge. The discussion was mediated by film critic Rubens Ewald Filho. The idea of making a documentary about the Austrian star came from co-director Barbara Obermaier, who invited the Dubini brothers to the project. “I didn’t actually know who Hedy Lamarr truly was before starting the film”, says Donatello. The production presents a psychological portray of the actress through testimonies by Lamarr’s friends, such as Mickey Rooney, Lupita Kohner, Kenneth Anger and many others. But the directors insisted in pointing out that they did not intend to present a definitive profile: “We are not psychologists, we only cared about portraying Lamarr’s life as best as we could, for the spectators to draw their own conclusions”, states Donatello.
Lamarr was famous for the scandalous scene she performed in 1933, when she made the first nude scene in cinema in the film Ecstasy. Fosco Dubini reveals a curiosity: “In the orgasm scene, director Gustav Machatý kept pricking her with a needle to get from her real reactions.” After that, the actress had an extraordinary career with more than 25 films in Hollywood, among which many of poor quality, as stressed by Ewald Filho. The film critic asked the directors what would be the explanation for so great a success in spite of Lamarr’s dubious qualities as an actress with several bad films in her resumé. “I know she was not a great actress. She was much more interesting as a person”, says Donatello. The Dubini brothers, however, stressed that at that time Hollywood needed a star with her profile. “She embodied the model of the European seductive woman. Her exotic style had a secured place in the industry”, concludes Fosco.
Intelligence at the service of the Allies
But Hedy Lamarr did not make history only because of her exuberant beauty and because of her films. Curiously, the actress invented a technology used by the Allies in World War II to guide torpedoes in without being intercepted by interfering radio broadcasts. Such technology, called Spread Spectrum, is used until these days in wireless communication systems, including cellular telephones. To Donatello, Lamarr’s discovery is not enough reason to confirm her widely spread intelligence. “She was well educated, an independent mind, but I don’t think she was as smart as people said”, he concludes.
Another polemic situation in the actress’ career was the two times she was caught shoplifting in department stores. “The first time, the scandal coincided with the release of her autobiography. We can not state that, but it may have been a marketing strategy”, speculates Donatello. Hedy Lamarr died in the year 2000 in Florida, United States of America. Naturalized an American citizen in 1953, she married six times and had three children. As other stars of the 1940s, she was also a victim of the dreams and publicity factory. “Lamarr lived different frequencies. She created a different lifestyle for herself”, concludes Fosco.
Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star is screened on October 24th, at 10:20 p.m., at Sala UOL de Cinema, and October 25th, at 7:00 p.m., at FAAP.