The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf November 6, 2016

The penultimate feature for the master filmmaker Preston Sturges (“Sullivan’s Travels,” “Hail the Conquering Hero”), 1949’s “The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend” is a curious trifle from the helmer. Toying with western traditions and musical enhancements, Sturges (who also scripts) tries to make a farce out of gunslinger antics and concealed identities, embracing longstanding career interests. However, size tends to get in the production’s way, with Sturges juggling a wild tonality that moves the picture from broad slapstick to more intimate concerns. “Bashful Bend” has the saving grace of being short (76 minutes in length), which helps to digest its intermittent oddity and lack of focus.

Betty Grable stars as Freddie, a trained shooter and popular saloon performer who finds herself in a heap of trouble when jealousy gets the best of her, accidentally putting a bullet in the hindquarters of a local judge. Hightailing it out of town, Freddie finds herself with a new identity as a schoolteacher in a small town, trying to lay low and keep up the ruse while boyfriend Blackie (Cesar Romero) searches for her. It’s a plot ripe for troublemaking, and Sturges finds ways to complicate Freddie’s life, reinforcing her lifetime comfort with guns as she attempts to stifle her natural energy to portray a demure educator. Strange encounters ensue, including Freddie’s time with two local dim-wits exposed to her sharpshooting skill in the classroom, and there’s a romantic entanglement with the local owner of a gold mine, complicating a simple mission of invisibility.

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.37:1 aspect ratio) presentation struggles with brightness levels, which are cranked up, immediately on display in milky black bars on the sides of the screen. Delineation also takes a hit with troubled black levels, losing costuming particulars on period suits, and evening sequences don't bring out the finest in depth, keeping the image flat. Posturization is also periodically detected. With a film so brightly lit and colorful, it's impossible to completely smother the natural vibrancy of the effort, and detail does remain with faces and locations. Hues enjoy a Technicolor boost, coming alive with costuming, which offers bold golds, sharp purples, and deep reds. Few elements of damage are detected.

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix supplies a comfortable listening experience with only mild hiss, leading with musical numbers and soundtrack selections that retain fullness, preserving vocal eccentricity and heavier instrumentation. Dialogue exchanges keep their speed and snap, securing comedic gifts, while group activity is preserved. Sound effects are sharp, offering crisp gunshots and crackly glass.

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this disc.

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Bashful Bend" is amusing, keeping to the Sturges Way of snappy and saucy banter, always remaining on its feet with talented actors who know how to sling lines around. The movie gets a little too caught up in silly business, with the judge's rear wound turning the film into cartoon. Still, the picture remains cheery and eventful, even if it lacks the depth and consistency of the helmer's better efforts.