The American Venus (filmography page)

  The American Venus is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss America contest in Atlantic City. The film is the second in which Louise Brooks appeared, though the first for which she received screen credit. Brooks made something of a splash, and it was this film and her next, A Social Celebrity — in which she was featured alongside leading man Adolphe Menjou, which proved to be her “break-out” roles.

Notably, The American Venus was among the earlier films to feature Technicolor. Reportedly, there are three scenes in the film which utilize the process. One is of the boardwalk parade of beauty contestants at the Atlantic City beauty pageant, the second is of a series of artistic tableaux, and the last is a fashion revue.

The American Venus proved popular upon release, and continued to be shown around the United States for an unusually long two years. Though largely eye-candy, many fans and at least a few critics responded to the scantily clad bathing beauties, an elaborate tableaux and fashion show, and the film’s pioneering use of Technicolor. The critic for the Boston Herald wrote, “The scenes made at Atlantic City and during the prologue are artistically done in Technicolor. Comedy relief in abundance is furnished by a wild automobile chase replete with giggles and thrills. The picture on the whole is entertaining.”

However, not all were pleased with this otherwise frothy comedy. Harrison’s Reports, an industry trade journal, echoed the comments found in other publications: “The only striking feature about it is the technicolor scenes; they are extremely beautiful. But some of them will, no doubt, prove offensive to church going people, particularly in the small communities, because of the fact that women’s legs, backs, sides and abdomens as low as below the navel, are shown aplenty. Women in tights have been shown in his pictures by Mack Sennett, but he has never been so ‘raw’; at least he had the girls wear brassieres, whereas Jesse Lasky has his girls wear nothing under the bathing suits, with the result that the women’s outlines of their breasts are clearly seen. In places there isn’t even the thin cloth of the bathing suit to cover the flesh.” The Washington Herald likewise noted, “Many of the tinted scenes of the fashion review were very daring in their exposure of the Atlantic City bathing girls. Once scene especially drew forth gasps from the audience; whether from shock or admiration, we cannot say.”

The stars of the film, which was called a “shape show” by some publications, were Esther Ralston, a renown beauty, and Fay Lanphier, the reigning Miss America. Ford Sterling, one of the original Keystone Kops, and Lawrence Gray, were in support. Louise Brooks, who had a smaller role and was billed fifth, made a splash. Brooks was featured on a lobby card and film poster, as well as in advertisements. She was also mentioned in many reviews and singled out by a handful of critics. The female critic for the New York Evening Journal noted Brooks’ “distinct screen personality”, while the male critic for the New York World stated Brooks was “better looking than any of the other brunettes now acting in films”.

The American Venus even drew the notice of the future Pulitzer prize winning poet, Carl Sandburg, who was then reviewing films for the Chicago Daily News. Sandburg wrote, “The tricks of the magician, who produces an amazing array of gowns worn by picked mannequins, employs the motion picture technique at what it can do most skillfully. Esther Ralston and Fay Lanphier are the feminine talent, also Edna Oliver and Louise Brooks.”

The American Venus proved popular, and continued to play in the United States — often as part of a double-bill or in second run houses — into the spring and summer of 1928.

STORY SYNOPSIS:
“Mary Gray, whose father manufactures cold cream, is engaged to sappy Horace Niles, the son of Hugo Niles, the elder Gray’s most competitive rival in the cosmetics business. Chip Armstrong, a hot-shot public relations man, quits the employ of Hugo Niles and goes to work for Gray, persuading Mary to enter the Miss America contest at Atlantic City, with the intention of using her to endorse her father’s cold cream should she win. Mary breaks her engagement with Horace. When it appears that she will win the contest, Hugo lures her home on the pretext that her father is ill, and she misses tile contest. Chip and Mary return to Atlantic City, discovering that the new Miss America has told the world that she owes all her success to Gray’s cold cream. On this note, Chip and Mary decide to get married.”

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DATABASE LINKS:

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
• AFI catalog
• All Movie Guide
• BFI website (uk)
• Catalogo de Cine (es)
• CSFD (cz)
• Filmweb (pl)
• IMDb
• Letterboxd
• Lost-Films (eu)
• MUBI
• San Francisco Film Preserve
• SilentEra.com
• TCM.com
• TMDB
• Wikipedia

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PRODUCTION HISTORY:
Production took place in the fall of 1925, beginning around August 24 and ending around November 10. The film was shot in part in early September at the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and later at Paramount’s Astoria Studios on Long Island (located at 3412 36th Street in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens), as well as on the Coney Island boardwalk, in Greenwich, Connecticut (in the vicinity of Round Hill and Banksville), and “near a swimming hole” in Ocala, Florida.

ALTERNATE TITLES:
Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada*, China, Dutch Guiana (Surinam), India **, Ireland, Jamaica, Korea, New Zealand, Panama, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was presented under the title La Venus Americana (Spanish-language press) and A Venus Americana (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, The American Venus was shown under the title Vénus moderne (Algeria); Die Amerikanische Venus (Austria); A Venus Americana and La Venus Americana (Brazil); La Venus Americana (Chile); La Venus Americana (Cuba); Americká Venuše (Czechoslovakia) and Die amerikanische Venus (Czechoslovakia, German language); Den amerikanske venus (Denmark); La Venus Americana (Dominican Republic); De Moderne Venus (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Vénus moderne (Egypt); The Modern Venus (England); Miehen ihanne (Finland); Vénus moderne and Vénus américaine (France); Die Schönste Frau der Staaten (Germany); Az amerikai Vénusz (Hungary); Il trionfo di Venere and Trionfo di Venere (Italy); 美女競艶 or Bijo dai Kei tsuya  (Japan); Venus Moderne–Die Modern Venus (Luxembourg); La Venus americana (Mexico); De Moderne Venus (Netherlands);  Amerykan’ska Wenus and Venus Pokutujaca (Poland); A Vénus American (Portugal); Miss Amerika (Slovenia); Американская Венера (Soviet Union); La Venus americana and La Venus Moderna (Spain); Mannens ideal and Mannens ideal–Venus på amerikanska (Sweden ***); and La Venus moderne (Switzerland).

* The film was banned in the province of Quebec (Canada) due to “nudities.”
** Bengali censorship records from 1927 called for the elimination of close-ups of women in the film’s tableaux, noting “The figures are too naked for public exhibition.”
*** In Sweden, the film was restricted to those over 15 years old

STATUS:
The film is lost, though a few minutes of material was found in Australia in the late 1990’s. The surviving material includes fragments, variously in black and white, tinted and in Technicolor, from two theatrical trailers, as well as fragments from the film itself. Cumulatively, this surviving material — some of which repeats — runs less than 8 minutes. The footage from the film includes a brief scene depicting Louise Brooks standing on a float in a passing parade, interior scenes involving Brooks and Ford Sterling and another woman, an outdoor chase scene involving an automobile, and a technicolor sequence of a fashion show. These surviving trailers, each about 180 feet in length, are housed at Library of Congress and at the Pacific Film Archive. The two trailers were screened at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2002, and can be found on the DVD box set, More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894 – 1931. In 2018, the BFI announced they had found a three second piece of Technicolor stock from the film which depicts Louise Brooks. Most all of this material was restored in 2025.

RELATED DOCUMENTS, PROGRAM NOTES, etc…:
— Press Sheet (Paramount, 1926)
— Thematic music cue sheet (Paramount, 1926)
— Blog post by J.B. Kaufman (Movie of the Month, June 2016)