Search for Beauty

1934 film by Erle C. Kenton

Search for Beauty

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Erle C. Kenton
Screenplay by| Claude Binyon
David Boehm
Frank Butler
Sam Hellman
Maurine Dallas Watkins
Produced by| E. Lloyd Sheldon
Starring| Buster Crabbe
Ida Lupino
Robert Armstrong
James Gleason
Toby Wing
Gertrude Michael
Cinematography| Harry Fischbeck
Edited by| James Smith
Music by| John Leipold

Production
company

Paramount Pictures

Distributed by| Paramount Pictures

Release date

* February 2, 1934 (1934-02-02)

Running time

| 78 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Search for Beauty is a 1934 American pre-Code dramedy film, with some musical Busby Berkeley-esque athletic sequences, directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino (the film was released shortly before Lupino's 16th birthday).

## Plot[edit]

Jackson and Hilton are a pair of lovers and aquatic champion Olympians (he a swimmer, she a diver) who become the face of a health magazine, which over their objections is turned into a "skin" rag.[1] A pair of ex-cons with have a 'scheme' (and both have designs to break up the loving couple for themselves), and Healy is their cohort.

## Cast[edit]

Buster Crabbe in a publicity still for the film.

* Buster Crabbe as Don Jackson
* Ida Lupino as Barbara Hilton
* Robert Armstrong as Larry Williams
* James Gleason as Dan Healy, the 'publisher'
* Toby Wing as Sally Palmer, Barbara's cousin
* Gertrude Michael as Jean Strange
* Bradley Page as Joe Garrett
* Frank McGlynn, Sr. as Rev. Rankin
* Nora Cecil as Miss Pettigrew
* Virginia Hammond as Mrs. Archibald Henderson-James
* Eddie Gribbon as Adolph Knockler
* James B. 'Pop' Kenton as Caretaker
* Lynn Bari as Beauty Contest Entrant (uncredited)
* Maurice Costello as Health Acres Guest (uncredited)
* Joyzelle Joyner as Beauty Contest Entrant (uncredited)
* Ann Sheridan as Texas Beauty Winner (uncredited)

## Production[edit]

To promote the film, and to find some of the cast, Paramount sponsored a worldwide beauty contest. One of the winners, who made her first appearance in the film, was Ann Sheridan.[2]

## Reception[edit]

The film was widely panned. New York Times critic "A.D.S." wrote, "Search for Beauty is the film that Paramount manufactured as the climax of an international exploitation stunt in which thirty young men and women from various parts of the world received a free trip to Hollywood and an opportunity to get into one picture. The result is a tribute to the studio's ingenuity but a less than thrilling tidbit for the man in the street."[3] Writing in Variety, critic "Bige" agreed: "Story is just so much applesauce ... Miss Lupino, to save her kid cousin from the clutches of a roomful of evil-minded stews, does a snakehips atop a table. She didn't learn that in England."[4]

## Notes[edit]

The magazine publishing company shown in the film has been interpreted as a parody of the publishing enterprises owned by Bernarr Macfadden at the time.[5]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Search for Beauty, tcm.com, accessed October 12, 2010.
2. ^ Jarvis, Douglas (1985). Encyclopedia of Film Stars. Gallery Books. p. 94\. ISBN 9780831727956.
3. ^ "Those Contest Winners". The New York Times. February 10, 1934. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
4. ^ "Search for Beauty". Variety. February 13, 1934. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
5. ^ Erickson, Hal (2017). Any Resemblance to Actual Persons: The Real People Behind 400+ Fictional Movie Characters. McFarland. p. 276\. ISBN 9781476629308.

## Sources[edit]

* Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934. New York: Columbia University Press 1999. ISBN 0-231-11094-4

## External links[edit]

* Search for Beauty at the TCM Movie Database
* Search for Beauty at IMDb

* v
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Films directed by Erle C. Kenton

* Salome vs. Shenandoah (1919)
* Down on the Farm (1920)
* Love, Honor and Behave (1920)
* A Small Town Idol (1921)
* A Fool and His Money (1925)
* Red Hot Tires (1925)
* The Love Toy (1926)
* Other Women's Husbands (1926)
* The Sap (1926)
* The Palm Beach Girl (1926)
* The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary (1927)
* The Girl in the Pullman (1927)
* Bare Knees (1928)
* Name the Woman (1928)
* Nothing to Wear (1928)
* Companionate Marriage (1928)
* Golf Widows (1928)
* The Street of Illusion (1928)
* The Sideshow (1928)
* The Sporting Age (1928)
* Trial Marriage (1929)
* Father and Son (1929)
* Song of Love (1929)
* Mexicali Rose (1929)
* A Royal Romance (1930)
* X Marks the Spot (1931)
* Left Over Ladies (1931)
* The Last Parade (1931)
* Guilty as Hell (1932)
* Island of Lost Souls (1932)
* From Hell to Heaven (1933)
* Disgraced! (1933)
* Big Executive (1933)
* Search for Beauty (1934)
* You're Telling Me! (1934)
* Party Wire (1935)
* The Best Man Wins (1935)
* The Public Menace (1935)
* Devil's Squadron (1936)
* Counterfeit (1936)
* She Asked for It (1937)
* The Devil's Playground (1937)
* Little Tough Guys in Society (1938)
* The Lady Objects (1938)
* Everything's on Ice (1939)
* Escape to Paradise (1939)
* Remedy for Riches (1940)
* Petticoat Politics (1941)
* Melody for Three (1941)
* Naval Academy (1941)
* They Meet Again (1941)
* Flying Cadets (1941)
* North to the Klondike (1942)
* The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
* Frisco Lil (1942)
* Pardon My Sarong (1942)
* Who Done It? (1942)
* It Ain't Hay (1943)
* House of Frankenstein (1944)
* She Gets Her Man (1945)
* House of Dracula (1945)
* The Cat Creeps (1946)
* Little Miss Big (1946)
* Bob and Sally (1948)
* One Too Many (1951)
* Secrets of Beauty (1951)

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