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It is often only after years pass that we can look back and see those stars who are truly stars. As that French film critic, whose name escapes me, said: "There is no Garbo. There is no Dietrich. There is only Louise Brooks"; and there is, thank heavens! Louise Brooks! This is the third of her European masterpieces. But it is also an exceptional film for being one, if not the, first French talkie, for following a script written by famed René Clair, for reportedly being finished (the direction, that is) by Georg Pabst, and for incorporating the voice of Edith Piaf before she was well known! So much talent working on and in a film, how couldn't it turn out to be a masterpiece?! And that's what this film is. It's a shame Louise Brooks was blackballed by Hollywood when she came back to the States--so much talent cast so arrogantly by the wayside! In the film, in addition to getting to watch Louise Brooks in action, it's great to see pictures of Paris ca. 1930 and to hear Piaf's young voice. I never get tired of this film!

Artisticly shot, actors portray exactly their role. You get a real feeling watching Lucienne ascend from poverty to the most beautiful girl around. A sense of tragedy to triumph to tragedy again. All in all I have seen this film at least 10 times. And can VERY well say that Prix De Beute' (the Beauty Prize, Miss Europe) is a MAJOR favorite in my silent film collection. The expressiveness of Louise Brooks is perfect and I recommend this film to ANYONE who appreciates artistic beauty coupled with a tragic story line.

"Prix de Beauté (Miss Europe)" (aka "Beauty Prize") (1930) is an outstanding example of where the participants - the actors and actresses, the director, and especially the cinematographer and editor - outdo the material by a very large margin. This French film was released as both a silent and a sound film; had a scene or two goat-glanded, and also was overdubbed (in the original language!) disgustingly! My version is in an okay print, but the version is a sound version with dubbing that I turned down low enough so that what I saw was a silent with minuscule jingles of sound and intrusive (but needed) sub-titles which were not "sub" but thrown up largely in the middle of the picture! I had a difficult time getting into the show for the first few minutes, and they're the few minutes that really should be the ones that WOW someone into watching. Louise Brooks peels off her outer clothes to a bathing suit, and she goes into the water. She's certainly not difficult to watch! What was surprising to me was the fact that this film was written by René Clair.

This was the third in the trilogy of films Louise Brooks made in Europe before returning to fail in a career that had been rocketing - at least it appears that way looking backwards. She'd appeared in "Pandora's Box" (1929) in Germany, then went to Poland to appear in "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) for a German company, then appeared in this film for director Augusto Genina in France.

Also in this film are Georges Charlia as André, the fiancé of Brooks' character, Lucienne Garnier; Augusto Bandini; Jean Bradin; Yves Glad; Gaston Jacquet; and many others. The film begins by showing the relationship between Lucienne and André. They are typical working class Parisian lovers, with André a linotype setter for a newspaper and Lucienne a typist. André is rather naïve, and figures that with marriage he can control - and that's the operative word - Lucienne and be a very dominant husband. Lucienne, on the other hand, also quite naïve, but wanting to explore the world on a much grander scale, thinks she loves André, but may have needs he can't supply. She enters a beauty contest, becomes Miss France, and then goes on to become Miss Europe. The entire complexion of the story and the relationship between the two changes. I could give away the rest of the story, but that would be spoiling the climax. Suffice it to say, that for Americans who've plodded through enough episodes of "The Closer" or "Law and Order" on television, the ending is, well...that hint should suffice...

The photography was actually manipulative. It made the eye follow every movement of the camera, and then there'd be close-ups that made the brain think, then made the viewer feel. It was quite spectacular for 1931, almost documentary style following characters in a diary-like fashion. The direction was impeccable. But, what makes this film tick is the precision editing. The cut-tos and the change of plot point to another are as professional and perfect as I've ever seen. It's the story that just cuts this from 10/10 to 7/10 or 8/10. Too bad.

Don't be disappointed, though. If you can find a silent print of this in great condition, it will be a joy to watch. Brooks is such a superlative actress and the camera absolutely loves her like a bride. She's radiant!

A wonderful surprise! I've always heard that Louise Brooks' follow-up to her two star-making hits with G.W. Pabst was a pleasant but inconsequential swan song. I thought it was very good, with an absolutely brilliant performance by Brooks. Co-written by Pabst and Rene Clair, this is basically a silent movie with overdubbed sound. Thus, the director is able to avoid the stodginess that comes with early sound filmmaking. He uses a very intimate, fluid style with the camera drifting through crowds to discover the beautiful Ms. Brooks' face. The one big problem the film has is that Brooks' love interest (Georges Charlia) is so totally unworthy of Brooks from the start that you can never come close to sympathizing with him. But that's not that important, really. Brooks plays Charlia's fiancée. He forbids her from entering the Miss France contest, but she's already done so. When she wins the opportunity to compete for Miss Europe, she chooses to disobey him. When she wins the competition, the fame and male attention drives her back to Charlia. But poor, married life soon seems much worse to her. The film is extremely worthwhile just for the expressions of Brooks' face alone. Though she has words, as dubbed in by a French actress, she doesn't need them. Her smiles seem created by a filmmaking Leonardo, and her pains are ours. Lulu could never have survived in the talkies (and I've seen the proof, a short film she made with Roscoe Arbuckle shortly after this one), and perhaps the loss of Brooks is the greatest of the talking picture era.

Louise Brooks gives a wonderful performance in this well-made French melodrama. She plays a typist named Lucienne who, despite being in love with a man named Andre, dreams of rising above her position in life. She sees opportunity in a beauty contest for Miss Europe, but Andre is furious when he discovers that she's entered, then demands that she withdraw. She tries to take back her entry only to discover that she's already been chosen as Miss France and will now go on to the main pageant.

This is a story of love, loss and decision played out to its passionate end. The movie is very energetically filmed by director Augusto Genina and cinema tographers Rudolf Mate and Louis Nee. The filming style is more like modern movies than the Hollywood flicks of the '30s, and shows the different style employed by Europeans. There are many fast cuts and traveling shots, mostly done with great skill and verve. The high energy of the movie's first third dwindles a bit in the middle but picks up again in the last 15 minutes.

The performances were very good by all the principals, but that of Louise Brooks is especially memorable. Louise leans heavily on her silent screen skills even though this is a talkie, but because her silent style had a surprisingly contemporary, understated feel, she makes the transition to talkies very well. The long early scene at the fair was especially poignant as Louise used her remarkably expressive eyes to convey her growing sense of misery and alienation, of being trapped in a life she no longer wants. I doubt it's ever been done better.

The film builds to a superb finale, artfully shot, powerful and stylish. This is really some of the best stuff of the early days of film. And the tragic storyline only underscores the greater tragedy that this is the final starring role for Louise Brooks. She wasn't just a great beauty who looked fantastic in a swimsuit, she really was a major acting talent who basically threw it all away. We are all the poorer for that.

This movie is less well known than her German films with G.W. Pabst, but I think it's a better one. I think this crew is just better at storytelling than Pabst, and while Prix de Beaute may lack the deep moral complexity of the Pabst films, it's much easier to follow and is overall a more streamlined, focused piece of work. And it doesn't hurt that Louise's singing parts are done by Edith Piaf, either.

Bottom line, this is a classic Louise Brooks film well worth looking for.