This film must rank among the most overrated films on IMDb with an amazingly inflated score of 7.6 as of this date. To top it off, I even noticed some reviews that gave this film a 10!! So, if these folks are to be trusted, it would seem to say that this film is on par with CASABLANCA, THE GODFATHER and GONE WITH THE WIND!!! It is not, I repeat, is NOT a good movie. No matter the hype, this is a very poor B-film. The only reason anyone might want to watch it is to marvel at the Pre-Code sensibilities--including a lot of sexual innuendo and a scene in the men's locker room where bare butts abound! Even for a Pre-Code film, SEARCH FOR BEAUTY is a shocker.
As for the rest of the film, it's really quite terrible. Part of the problem is that young Buster Crabbe is fresh from the Olympics and really isn't much of an actor yet. The same can be said for a barely recognizable Ida Lupino. I say barely recognizable because she later had one of the biggest makeovers in Hollywood history--and if you didn't know better, you'd swear that it wasn't Ida! Unfortunately, she, too, can't act yet. Given more experience and time, she would become a heck of a talented lady, but here she is pretty flat.
The rest of the problem with the film is that the plot, while appearing very sleazy and sexually charged, is amazingly dull and impossible to believe. Now following the naked butts which abounded at the beginning of the film, you'd think that the rest of the film would be that adult. However, the plot involving a con man (Robert Armstrong) who wants to publish a skin magazine SOUNDS pretty hot, but he photos and sin-sational articles are so tame by modern standards that you really can't get particularly excited or interested in the film. The most salacious thing about the last 3/4 of the film are that some of the costumes worn by the athletes late in the film are rather transparent--surprisingly so. So I guess pervs could watch just the beginning (at the Olypmics) and the end (when the health resort is opened) and skip the rest!!
Overall, despite some cheap thrills in a film that, believe it or not, claims to be anti-pornography in its message, it is just not all that interesting or believable. In fact, after a while it's a real chore to keep watching it.
As for the rest of the film, it's really quite terrible. Part of the problem is that young Buster Crabbe is fresh from the Olympics and really isn't much of an actor yet. The same can be said for a barely recognizable Ida Lupino. I say barely recognizable because she later had one of the biggest makeovers in Hollywood history--and if you didn't know better, you'd swear that it wasn't Ida! Unfortunately, she, too, can't act yet. Given more experience and time, she would become a heck of a talented lady, but here she is pretty flat.
The rest of the problem with the film is that the plot, while appearing very sleazy and sexually charged, is amazingly dull and impossible to believe. Now following the naked butts which abounded at the beginning of the film, you'd think that the rest of the film would be that adult. However, the plot involving a con man (Robert Armstrong) who wants to publish a skin magazine SOUNDS pretty hot, but he photos and sin-sational articles are so tame by modern standards that you really can't get particularly excited or interested in the film. The most salacious thing about the last 3/4 of the film are that some of the costumes worn by the athletes late in the film are rather transparent--surprisingly so. So I guess pervs could watch just the beginning (at the Olypmics) and the end (when the health resort is opened) and skip the rest!!
Overall, despite some cheap thrills in a film that, believe it or not, claims to be anti-pornography in its message, it is just not all that interesting or believable. In fact, after a while it's a real chore to keep watching it.