Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
The Beauty Prize Synopsis
Connie Du Bois, a young and beautiful Manhattan manicurist, is asked by one of her wealthy customers to watch over her mansion on Fifth Avenue while she is in Europe. Connie is then persuaded by a smooth-talking salesman friend, Eddie Schwartz, to enter the annual beauty contest in Atlantic City, and Eddie leads the newspapers to believe that she is a society debutante. Connie wins the contest but refuses the prize money and the title, disclosing her lowly station in life. One of the judges later discovers Connie in her hometown and persuades her to broadcast her experiences on the radio. During the transmission, Connie tells of her mistakes and tearfully cries out the name of her former sweetheart, George Brady, who hears the broadcast and returns to her. Connie and George are reconciled and make plans to be married.
Nina, the Flower Girl Synopsis
Nina, a blind girl, lives with her grandmother, who has taught her to make artificial flowers, which she sells at a flower-stand. Nina, and Jimmie, a crippled newsboy who sells papers on the same corner, are sweethearts. Nina's grandmother dies, and she turns to Jimmie. One day Jimmie has a fight with another newsboy, whom he thinks is hanging about Nina's stand too much, and the other boy is soon begging for mercy. Miss Fifi Chandler, an artist, happens to be passing, and becoming interested, she accompanies Nina and Jimmie to their rooms, and is surprised to find that Jimmie is an artist, having made a beautiful plaster cast of Nina. Fifi brings Jimmie and his protégé to the notice of her fellow artist, Fred Townsend, who falls in love with Nina. Fred has a great specialist examine Nina's eyes, and assured that an operation would restore her sight, takes her to his mother's home. Townsend tells the boy that the operation will be a success, and is amazed when Jimmie bursts forth in a torrent of words against his fate. Nina will know he is a cripple and not the straight, handsome youth she has pictured. He hurries from the house, and during the ensuing days, when Nina must stay in a darkened room, Jimmie cannot be found. The day comes when the bandages are removed and the operation is a success! That night, in the general hospital, the physician's attention is called to a crippled boy, who had tried to end his life by jumping in the river, but had been rescued. He recognizes Jimmie, hears his story, and a few days later an operation is performed and it becomes evident that he will go forth as straight as Nina's fancy had pictured him. Meantime Nina wonders why Jimmie does not come to see her, as she had not been told about the operation. At last he is brought to her, and Fred Townsend has his reward in watching the happiness of the two youthful lovers.
"The Beauty Prize" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "Nina, the Flower Girl" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
The Beauty Prize