Search for Beauty (1934)
You won't mistake this for a great movie, but it's fast and just perky enough to be fun. And it has Ida Lupino in an early American role.
The premise is a diluted sex hook—dozens of great beauties, male and female, are gathered together for a contest and a weekend of health and exercise. So naturally there is, eventually, a lot of skin and buff bodies. Unlike most movies like this, however, it's pretty evenly split between men and women. There is even a massive dance number at the end rather like a Busby Berkeley number. (His first famous dance extravaganza was the previous year.)
If the plot is a bit canned, it isn't quite obvious so will keep you guessing. The dialog is so fast it's frantic, and you'll never hear so much word play so relentlessly spoken. It's fun and funny—you can tell they had a blast writing the screenplay.
The leading man opposite Lupino is Buster Crabbe, a hunk of a pretty man who just didn't have the acting ability to turn it into stardom. A former Olympic gold medal swimmer, he has a short swimming role here, which is fun. He stuck to athletic roles most of his life—like a serialized version of Tarzan—and is stretched a bit thin for this part.
Not that this is a demanding movie. The two sidekick males are both character actors who you'll either enjoy or find irritating (because they push their schtick in well worn ways). Lupino is the highlight overall, still with some of her British accent. As the backstabbing and conniving builds, and the big last third of the movie takes off at a resort camp for fitness and beauty, the scenes get wilder and more chaotic.
Love will have its final say, however, and its satisfying enough—more so than that silly last shot as "the end" appears, with a small amount of relief.
You won't mistake this for a great movie, but it's fast and just perky enough to be fun. And it has Ida Lupino in an early American role.
The premise is a diluted sex hook—dozens of great beauties, male and female, are gathered together for a contest and a weekend of health and exercise. So naturally there is, eventually, a lot of skin and buff bodies. Unlike most movies like this, however, it's pretty evenly split between men and women. There is even a massive dance number at the end rather like a Busby Berkeley number. (His first famous dance extravaganza was the previous year.)
If the plot is a bit canned, it isn't quite obvious so will keep you guessing. The dialog is so fast it's frantic, and you'll never hear so much word play so relentlessly spoken. It's fun and funny—you can tell they had a blast writing the screenplay.
The leading man opposite Lupino is Buster Crabbe, a hunk of a pretty man who just didn't have the acting ability to turn it into stardom. A former Olympic gold medal swimmer, he has a short swimming role here, which is fun. He stuck to athletic roles most of his life—like a serialized version of Tarzan—and is stretched a bit thin for this part.
Not that this is a demanding movie. The two sidekick males are both character actors who you'll either enjoy or find irritating (because they push their schtick in well worn ways). Lupino is the highlight overall, still with some of her British accent. As the backstabbing and conniving builds, and the big last third of the movie takes off at a resort camp for fitness and beauty, the scenes get wilder and more chaotic.
Love will have its final say, however, and its satisfying enough—more so than that silly last shot as "the end" appears, with a small amount of relief.