Search for Beauty [Blu-ray]

Director: Erle C. Kenton Erle C. Kenton

Overview

Back in the 1930s, the "Search for Beauty" contests were designed to scout the hinterlands of America and England for beautiful girls and handsome men who might qualify as movie contractees -- though most the winners were drawn from the ranks of Hollywood residents. These contests, coupled with a play by Schuyler E. Gray and Paul R. Milton, formed the basis for this 1934 comedy. Real-life "Search for Beauty" winners Larry "Buster" Crabbe and Ida Lupino (both of whom had already appeared in a few films) head the cast in this story of a contest staged by a two-bit "physical culture" magazine. When the winners, Don Jackson (Crabbe) and Barbara Hilton (Lupino), realize that they've been hired exclusively to pose in bathing suits for the pin-up trade, they leave for the greener pastures of a legitimate health farm. The magazine's crooked publishers try to extort money from Don and Barbara, but they're foiled by a local justice of the peace (Frank McGlynn Sr.) who turns out to be an agent of the U.S. Department of Justice!

Product Details

Release Date:	03/28/2023
UPC:	0738329262198
Original Release:	1934
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:18:00
Sales rank:	36,694

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ida Lupino	Barbara Hilton
Robert Armstrong	Larry Williams
Larry "Buster" Crabbe	Don Jackson
James Gleason	Dan Healy
Toby Wing	Sally
Gertrude Michael	Jean Strange
Roscoe Karns	Newspaper Reporter
Verna Hillie	Susie
James B. 'Pop' Kenton	Caretaker
Frank McGlynn Sr.	Rev. Rankin
Ann Sheridan	Beauty Contestant
Nora Cecil	Miss Pettigrew
Virginia Hammond	Mrs. Archibald Henderson
Eddie Gribbon	Adolph Knockler
Phil Dunham	Heinie
Bradley Page	Joe Garrett
Dell Henderson	Mac
Tammany Young	Formation Director

Technical Credits

Claude Binyon

Sam Hellman

Erle C. Kenton	Director
E. Lloyd Sheldon	Producer
Claude Binyon	Screenwriter
Sam Hellman	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The saying that "cheap thrills are better than no thrills" certainly applies to Search for Beauty, a truly dreadful pre-Code exploitation film that is notable for its obsession with the male and female body. Beauty is a smarmy little picture, one which revels in exploiting physical appearance and in making the viewer a voyeur while all the while presenting a story that claims to condemn voyeurism and champion a "healthy" view of physicality. While the flesh on view is nothing compared to what can be found in many more contemporary films, it is shocking for a film from 1934 and includes a few male derrieres in a shower scene and plenty of scantily clad men and women throughout. Beauty also likes to fetishize body parts, zeroing in lovingly and lingeringly on various parts, including a sequence in which one woman uses binoculars to observe Buster Crabbe's crotch. Still, as low as all this is, it's the only entertainment that Beauty provides, for the screenplay is simply lousy and the direction, when not working hard to frame this person's thigh and that person's foot, is boring. Crabbe looks great but turns in a dull performance. Ida Lupino, bleached beyond recognition, is similarly easy on the eyes but displays little of the immense talent that she would fortunately develop in later pictures. James Gleason (unforgettable, for all the wrong reasons, in gym shorts), Robert Armstrong and Gertrude Michael are solid, at least, and there is a significant amount of "What were they thinking?" camp moments, especially in the production numbers. But as drama, there's nothing to Beauty.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler