Miss Europe (1930)
"Prix de beauté (Miss Europe)" (original title)

Lucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently ... See full summary »

Director:

Augusto Genina

Writers:

René Clair (idea and adaptation), Georg Wilhelm Pabst (adaptation)

Stars:

Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, Augusto Bandini

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Louise Brooks	...	Lucienne Garnier
Georges Charlia	...	André
Augusto Bandini	...	Antonin (as H. Bandini)
André Nicolle	...	Le secrétaire du journal (as A. Nicolle)
Marc Ziboulsky	...	Le manager (as M. Ziboulsky)
Yves Glad	...	Le maharajah
Alex Bernard	...	Le photographe
Gaston Jacquet	...	Le Duc
Jean Bradin	...	Prince de Grabovsky
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Henri Crémieux

Storyline

Lucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently disapproves of such events and tries to withdraw, but it's too late; she's even then being named Miss France. The night Andre planned to propose to her, she's being whisked off to the Miss Europe finals in Spain, where admirers swarm around her. Win or lose, what will the harvest be?

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Plot Keywords:

beauty pageant | film in film

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

1 August 1930 (France)

Also Known As:

Beauty Prize

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sofar-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 108 min (restored silent)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood: End of an Era (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Je n'ai qu'un Amour, c'est toi"
Music by Wolfgang Zeller
Lyrics by Jean Boyer & René Sylviano
Performed by Hélène Regelly dubbing for Louise Brooks

User Reviews

Nice Camera-work Enhances Silly Beauty Contest Story

With lots of sunshine, gauzy light and shadow filtering through windows and into rooms, tracking shots moving through crowds with hand-held camera, quick-paced editing and extreme close-ups here and there, the photography is the thing in this interesting, artistically done film.

The plot of this film starts out as a bit of fluff about a beauty contest. The film begins on a warm Sunday at the local swimming pool, where we meet the lovely Lucienne aka Lulu (played by Louise Brooks) - a bit of a show-off in front of the gawking men by poolside, she soon decides to enter herself to represent France in the Miss Europe beauty contest, much to the chagrin of her very jealous, stick-in-the-mud fiancé (a pretty annoying fellow, really). Strutting down the runway the ten contestants display themselves in swimsuits, while the winner is chosen as the contestant who receives the longest applause (I was wondering, couldn't the girls just walk slower to prolong their length of time - and thus applause - on the catwalk?!). Lulu is soon being chased by a Prince and a Maharaja, but her hot-headed beau doesn't like the attentions paid to her by other men or her adoring public, for that matter (I guess he just wants her in his house, cooking his meals, and staying out of sight, eh?!).

Louise Brooks is beautiful and charming, her presence helps enhance this film, but it's really the way it is photographed that held my interest the most. A bit distracting is the odd dubbed sound, which is a bit off. The print on this version looked very clear and full of nice contrast though. Watching this I just tried to overlook the sound problems and watch the film visually, and I found the movie to be excellent, well worth seeing.