A pleasant little TV movie with a really top-drawer cast (of old-timers, at any rate), The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells is one of those easy-going films which is extremely undemanding to watch and enjoy. It's all very minor and disposable, and once it's finished there's not much to remember a few days later, but while it's on the film is effortless fun and gives these lovable old rogues 'n' rascals a real chance to shine.
Following the death of her husband, elderly widow Elizabeth (Judi Dench) starts to become remarkably reflective about her life, and spends a lot of time thinking about her youth as a saxophonist with a wartime swing- band. Against the wishes of her grown-up children Patricia (Felicity Dean) and Edward (Nicholas Palliser), Elizabeth decides to go back to her musical roots and starts busking at a London ice rink. Here she is spotted by the sweet-talking old charmer Patrick (Ian Holm) who, back in the war years, was a male drummer-in-drag with the Blonde Bombshells (attempting to dodge being drafted into the army by disguising his gender). Soon – and with a little help from her grand-daughter Joanne (Millie Findlay) – Elizabeth gets the bug to re-form the Blonde Bombshells and put on one last show for her grand-daughter's school show. Helped (and occasionally hindered) by Patrick, Elizabeth sets about tracking down the surviving band members and bringing them together for a latter-day gig. But this proves no easy task, as in the intervening decades they have gone their various ways – one is dead, one is senile, one is in prison, one has dedicated herself to the Salvation Army, one is a wealthy alcoholic, and a few others have retained some semblance of their musical background.
Dench and Holm can make anything watchable, and they're in particularly good form in this nicely-written, nostalgic offering. It helps when you have a supporting cast of real calibre too – and with the likes of Olympia Dukakis, June Whitfield, Joan Sims, Billie Whitelaw and Leslie Caron filling the roles of the other band-members, one could hardly hope for greater calibre than that. Towards the end, the story becomes a little schmaltzy and predictable (these films about mismatched, everyday people getting together for a hare-brained event always seem to stick to a well-worn formula). However, for the first two-thirds of its duration, The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells is very touchingly handled indeed, with many beautifully acted moments and some lovely wistful dialogue. The manner in which the narrative hops back and forth in time from the present to the war years is expertly judged, and never really becomes jarring or episodic as can so often be the case in films of this kind. Overall, The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells might be lightweight and inconsequential but it's enjoyable stuff while it lasts.
Following the death of her husband, elderly widow Elizabeth (Judi Dench) starts to become remarkably reflective about her life, and spends a lot of time thinking about her youth as a saxophonist with a wartime swing- band. Against the wishes of her grown-up children Patricia (Felicity Dean) and Edward (Nicholas Palliser), Elizabeth decides to go back to her musical roots and starts busking at a London ice rink. Here she is spotted by the sweet-talking old charmer Patrick (Ian Holm) who, back in the war years, was a male drummer-in-drag with the Blonde Bombshells (attempting to dodge being drafted into the army by disguising his gender). Soon – and with a little help from her grand-daughter Joanne (Millie Findlay) – Elizabeth gets the bug to re-form the Blonde Bombshells and put on one last show for her grand-daughter's school show. Helped (and occasionally hindered) by Patrick, Elizabeth sets about tracking down the surviving band members and bringing them together for a latter-day gig. But this proves no easy task, as in the intervening decades they have gone their various ways – one is dead, one is senile, one is in prison, one has dedicated herself to the Salvation Army, one is a wealthy alcoholic, and a few others have retained some semblance of their musical background.
Dench and Holm can make anything watchable, and they're in particularly good form in this nicely-written, nostalgic offering. It helps when you have a supporting cast of real calibre too – and with the likes of Olympia Dukakis, June Whitfield, Joan Sims, Billie Whitelaw and Leslie Caron filling the roles of the other band-members, one could hardly hope for greater calibre than that. Towards the end, the story becomes a little schmaltzy and predictable (these films about mismatched, everyday people getting together for a hare-brained event always seem to stick to a well-worn formula). However, for the first two-thirds of its duration, The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells is very touchingly handled indeed, with many beautifully acted moments and some lovely wistful dialogue. The manner in which the narrative hops back and forth in time from the present to the war years is expertly judged, and never really becomes jarring or episodic as can so often be the case in films of this kind. Overall, The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells might be lightweight and inconsequential but it's enjoyable stuff while it lasts.