Name: Search for Beauty
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1934-02-02
Rating: 7
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Ida Lupino, Toby Wing, James Gleason, Robert Armstrong

Audience Member

features a blond ida lurino (b4 she switched to WB and her regular brown hair color in this early pre-code talkie

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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1.5: It's rather amusing, but there were scenes that made me think of a cross between Busby Berkeley and Leni Riefenstahl. The glorification of the human form, and an Aryan appearing form at that, was certainly reminiscent of Riefenstahl's Olympia, while the formations could be compared to either her Triumph of the Will or a crappy Busby Berkeley knockoff. The search for the perfect youths and their subsequent gathering strikes one as reminiscent of the Nazi machine as well. However, I don't think this is why the film is a controversial pre-code picture: this would undoubtedly be the not-so-subtle embrace of sex. It is frequently alluded to and always present. The athletic uniforms and locker room scenes allow for more than a little skin and very little left to the imagination. It's less tongue-in-cheek and more tongue lolling out the side of one's mouth. Everything just oozes sex, both when it comes to the visuals and the dialogue. The actual plot is really pretty dumb.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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Audience Member

if this was made today there would be rape and murder, wonder if the men butts would still air???

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Not nearly as racy as many pre-codes this is an innocuous trifle starring a virtually unrecognizable Ida Lupino. New to Hollywood they were trying to make her over into an English Jean Harlow fortunately it didn't work and the ultra blonde thin eyebrowed look she is saddled with here disappeared within a short period. Still buried beneath all the gunk she gives a nicely flinty performance foreshadowing the tough broad persona to come. The same can not be said for Buster Crabbe, an extremely fit and handsome man but an actor of little ability. James Gleason is the only other actor to offer up any kind of distinctive work, he's not remarkable but does his standard hot tempered wiseguy part well. Ann Sheridan makes her screen debut here, unbilled and without lines, as the Texas winner of the Search for Beauty contest but unless you knew it was her the two tiny bits she is in sail right by. The story is paper thin and aside from a few references to drugs and a couple of bare male bottoms in a locker room scene nothing you wouldn't see after the code went into place. The big production number, to Sousa music yet!, is a clunky mess designed solely to show off the fine physical attributes of the winners. As such it works but it is eye rollingly awful in every other way.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Robert Armstrongwas there ever an actor born to play hucksters like he could? Less than a year after his performance as the legendary promotor, Carl Denham in KING KONG, Armstrong would yet again play a Carl Denham-type character in SEARCH FOR BEAUTY, a film released just prior to the institution of the Production Codes on June of 1934. SEARCH FOR BEAUTY just qualifies as a pre-code film so it got away with showing some hanky-panky that films released after July 1934 would be forbidden to show. Pre-code films have always been a draw for me because you'll never know what you are going to see. SEARCH FOR BEAUTY starts off interestingly enough - including moments not often shown in Hollywood films from the era - male nudity. One thing about SEARCH FOR BEAUTY is that it affords "equal opportunity" as far as ogling scantily-clad bodies go. There are a lot of healthy looking young women AND men on display here. No sooner has Larry Williams (Robert Armstrong) been released from prison (for some sort of oil deal gone bad) that he is already planning his next money-making scheme. His girlfriend, Jean (Gertrude Michaels) want no part of it. She too was just released from prison for the same rap and so refuses Larry's offer to pick her up at the prison gate. "No thank you, brother. You'll never take me for another ride." But Larry manages to wrangle some dough from a former partner, Dan (James Gleason). Before Dan can even put in a word edgewise, the fast-talking Larry has got him investing in a health and fitness magazine. OHit purports to be a legitimate sports magazine but in reality - it would just be an excuse to publish photos of scantily clad models (think SPORTS ILLUSTRATED swimsuit edition *wink wink*). Part of the plan too is the opening of a fitness and spa hotel. The draw being that the staff would consist of heathy young men and women. The hotel would turn a blind eye - if for instance the guests would want to engage in some hanky-panky with the staff (*tsk tsk tsk* and you wonder why the production codes were instituted *my my my*) Larry's scheme also involves hiring real athletes for his editorial staff - namely, Olympic swimmer Don Jackson (Buster Crabbe) and Olympic diver Barbara Hilton (Ida Lupino). This would lend the legitimacy needed for the magazine. But once on the staff, Don and Barbara prove to be so straight-laced that they see clearly through Larry's schemes - like the plan to sponsor a beauty search to find the women (and men) needed for their hotel staff. I wouldn't call SEARCH FOR BEAUTY a great movie. Not by a long shot. it's a rather silly film but the story idea seems so tawdry that it's certainly worth a watch. Buster Crabbe looks so young and handsome here in his pre-Flash Gordon days. Ida Lupino is almost unrecognizable with her bleach blond hair and pencil-thin eyebrows. James Gleason happens to be one of my favorite characters actors from this era. Featured too is the beautiful blonde bombshell Toby Wing, who has kind of a cult following these days. She has a short scene dancing on a tabletop clad in a negligee. Lupino has a turn atop the tabletop too... By the wayParamount did in fact hold a beauty search and the winners were featured in this film. One of the entrants was a young beauty from Texas named Clara Lou Sheridan. I missed her the first time I watched this and had to rewind to the point when she is onscreen (for a few seconds at best - look for the contestant from Texas). Clara Lou was later to change her name to AnnAnn Sheridan. 6

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Erle C. Kenton

Director

Buster Crabbe

Don Jackson

Ida Lupino

Barbara Hilton

Toby Wing

Sally

James Gleason

Dan Healey

Robert Armstrong

Larry Williams

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Anne Brodie

What She Said

I guess in 1932, women stretching and touching their toes was titillating, same with beefcake models. The owners launch a florid (even by modern standards) publicity campaign. Pre-Code films were loaded with sly, and outright sexual references and deeds,

Rated: 2/4

Apr 14, 2023

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

A mildly amusing snappy pre-Code con man Depression-era comedy.

Rated: B-

Jun 23, 2015

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Synopsis

Two beauty-contest winners (Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Ida Lupino) skip town after learning they were only going to be posing for the pinup trade.

Director: Erle C. Kenton
Screenwriter: Claude Binyon, David Boehm, Frank Butler, Schuyler E. Grey, Sam Hellman, Paul Milton, Maurine Dallas Watkins
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 2, 1934, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 31, 2018

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