Prix de Beaute / Subtitled

Prix de Beaute / Subtitled
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
Customer Review: Movie Making at it's Best
A lot of people including my self by-pass silent films because of no sound. But if you want to see some really good early films you cannot go wrong with this film. A little on the long side it's star American Louise Brooks, as she did in Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, is great and these movies show how great movies and acting these early works are. It's odd that German Cinema took a movie actress (Louise Brooks)from Hollywood and turned her into a star and Hollywood took this star and turned her into B film actress because of personal prejudice a great lost.
Customer Review: The Beauty Prize
I do own a VHS edition of this movie (© 1989 Interama Video Classics) which also seems sped up, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, but is listed as 93 min. on the case and listed as 94:38 on the tape itself (lead-in/out?). IMDB also lists this as a 93 min. movie. This release is 88 min. So is this missing 5 minutes or being run at a faster fps? I'm also hearing rumours of a 108 or 109 min. restored silent version. I'm thrilled to see more Louise Brooks on DVD, but wondering if this is a release worthy of the Screen Goddess.