Prix de beauté (Miss Europe) (1930)

Director:

Augusto Genina

Writers:

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

Release Date:

1 August 1930 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Lucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for...

Plot Keywords:

Beauty Pageant | Film In Film

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:
Fanny Clair	...	(uncredited)
Hélène Regelly	...	Lucienne (voice) (uncredited)
Raymonde Sonny	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Augusto Genina		(as A. Genina)

Writing credits
René Clair		(idea and adaptation)
Georg Wilhelm Pabst		adaptation

Produced by
Romain Pinès	....	producer

Original Music by
René Sylviano

Cinematography by
Rudolph Maté		(as R. Maté)
Louis Née

Film Editing by
Edmond T. Gréville

Production Design by
Robert Gys

Production Management
Fernand Lefebvre	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edmond T. Gréville	....	assistant director (as Edmond Gréville)

Sound Department
E. Kratsch	....	sound editor
Hermann Storr	....	sound (as H. Storr)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jean Patou	....	dresses: Louise Brooks

Music Department
Francis Salabert	....	musical director
Horace Shepherd	....	musical adaptation and synchronization

Other crew
Fernand Lefebvre	....	stage manager

Production Companies

• Sofar-Film

Distributors

• Sofar-Film (1930) (France) (theatrical)
• Messtro-Orplid (1930) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Éditions René Chateau (1992) (France) (VHS)
• Nicole Jouve Interama (1983) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Kino Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Maison Alexandre  swimsuits

Also Known As:

"Beauty Prize" - International (English title)
"Miss Europe" - UK
"Prix de beauté" - France (poster title)
"Miss Europa" - Italy (imdb display title)
"Prémio de Beleza" - Portugal
"Preis der Schönheit" - West Germany (subtitle)

Runtime:

France:93 min | Germany:108 min (23 fps) (restored silent version) | USA:93 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Sofar-Film

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood: End of an Era (#1.6)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Je n'ai qu'un Amour, c'est toi

A stunning piece of work

Cult icon Louise Brooks was never better than she is in this early French talkie, which turned out to be her last staring role.

While Brooks' two German films, "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl" are far better known in the US, "Prix" is clearly just as good a film, in my view much better than the butchered "Diary."

"Prix" tells a simple story of a working class French girl who dreams of a better life and sets out to get it by entering a beauty pageant. Rising all the way to the position of "Miss Europe," she then gives it all up for the working class man she loves. But she finds that life as a housewife in a dreary walk up flat is killing her soul, as is her jealous husband, and eventually she walks out when she gets a chance at a film contract. But her husband won't let her go and the film builds to a tragic ending that is still considered one of the best climatic scenes in film history.

This film features strong direction, extremely exciting location photography by famed cinematographer (and later director) Rudolph Mate and an intelligent,Spartan script by Rene Clair.

But the wonder of the film is Brooks herself. Although her voice is dubbed by a French actress (Brooks didn't speak French) the film was initially planned as a silent and in large chunks of it, her character doesn't speak, anyway. But Brooks' fortune was her face and what she could do with it and there are few in film history who could do more. While there are some echos of silent film technique in her work, she was so far ahead of her time that most of her performance seems as fresh today as it did in 1929. Whether she is the unhappy girl being dragged by her boyfriend through a working class mob at a carnaval, or the depressed housewife staring into a canary's cage and feeling just as trapped, Brooks is a revelation.

But it is when she is happy in this film that Brooks simply leaps off the screen at you. In most of the still photos she shot over the years, Brooks doesn't smile, apparently because she'd promised herself not to ever wear one of those pasted on grins found on showgirls on stage. But when called upon in a film to express happiness, no one ever exceeded Brooks, who may be the most magnetic actress in film history.

While "Pandora's Box" will always be her signature film, "Prix de Beaute" ranks a close second in my mind as the best film work of her career.