Prix De Beaute (1930) - Region 1 DVD

Foreign & Foreign Silents [thru 1969] (57 items)
list by pele_incognita

Louise Brooks is now rightfully considered one of THE great early film actresses for her work on two German silent films directed by D.W. Pabst, "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl," but in her own time she was a Hollywood reject due to her reputation for being "difficult" to work with while the critics panned her acting as being too inexpressive. After returning to America she spent a few ... read more

Description: Louise Brooks is stunning as ever in her final starring role in the early sound melodrama Prix de Beauté, also known by its alternate title, Miss Europe. After becoming a European sensation in her classic silent films for German director G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl), Brooks' career began a tragic decline as alcoholism took its toll, but she's still in fine form here as Lucienne, a lively Parisian typist who enters an international beauty contest against the wishes of her disapproving fiancé André (Georges Charlia), only to find herself swept up in a whirlwind of fame and publicity when she unexpected w
Louise Brooks is stunning as ever in her final starring role in the early sound melodrama Prix de Beauté, also known by its alternate title, Miss Europe. After becoming a European sensation in her classic silent films for German director G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl), Brooks' career began a tragic decline as alcoholism took its toll, but she's still in fine form here as Lucienne, a lively Parisian typist who enters an international beauty contest against the wishes of her disapproving fiancé André (Georges Charlia), only to find herself swept up in a whirlwind of fame and publicity when she unexpected wins the contest. Among the high-styled elite, the newly christened "Miss Europe" thrives on the affectionate attentions of several potential paramours, but when she returns to her daily routine with André, she soon realizes that she wants glitz and glamour more than André's conventional notion of domestic bliss. André is driven to jealous insanity, and once again, "Lulu" (as Brooks was famously nicknamed) falls victim to her own narcissism and the men who've played so recklessly with her charms. One of France's earliest sound features, Prix de Beauté was originally filmed in a silent version and quickly dubbed when sound films grew popular, and although Brook's voice is dubbed (along with her singing, which was dubbed by the legendary vocalist Edith Piaf), the film's technical crudeness doesn't detract from Brooks's astonishing beauty, which far surpasses a performance that was, according to director Augusto Genina, seriously compromised by Brookss off-screen drinking. Based on a story by René Clair (who was originally slated to direct), Prix de Beauté offers fascinating glimpses of vintage fashion shows and Parisian high society, but it's the divine Miss Brooks who makes it all worthwhile. --Jeff Shannon

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