Editorial Review:Description:This masterpiece by the poet of cinema, Jean Cocteau, has enchanted audiences for more than fifty years with its surreal beauty and magical visual effects. Josette Day and Jean Marais shine in the definitive filmed version of the classic romantic tale, which has come to supplant the original fable in the modern imagination. The source of the later television series, animated feature, and Broadway musical, it remains one of our greatest treasures.
Amazon.com:Beauty and the Beast is one of the all-time great movie fantasies, and one of the most gorgeous pictures ever made. It was the first feature film by French director Jean Cocteau, a writer, poet, and painter with ties to the surrealists. (In fact, his first film,
The Blood of a Poet, was delayed after the scandal caused by
L'Age D'Or, made by his fellow surrealists Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.) The haunting, surreal visuals (candelabra made of human hands, for example) and a sensitive performance by Jean Marais as the Beast imbue the film with an indelible, mythical power.
--Jim Emerson
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FAVORITE FOREIGN FILM
It's like a Fairy Tale come to life. One of the films I watch over and over.
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If they would let me, I'd give it ten stars!
I just watched my old VHS copy and ordered this immediately. I was amazed at how touched and emotional I became when watching this film which I have seen dozens of times. It works on so many levels and deepens with each viewing.
The photography is so beautiful that each frame could be literally framed and hung on a wall. My favorite scenes are Belle's tears turning to diamonds; her necklace turning into rope when she gives it to her sister, the disembodied candelabras and her turning into a princess as Le Bete carries her over the threshold of her room. The list is endless.
If you haven't seen this film, just buy it on the recommends. As someone wrote before me, if you don't love this film, check to see if you have a pulse.
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Undiscovered treasure
This item arrived quickly and in good condition. I saw a few minutes of this movie on television and I had to order a copy. I usually don't like sub titles, but this movie is almost magical. I don't know why I haven't heard more about this movie.
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C'era una volta......
Jean Cocteau was one of France's greatest poets, but he also made some magnficent films. He only helmed 5 films (maybe 6) as director, but everyone bore his unmistakeable stamp. This is one of his greatest films.
It simply retells a fairy tale that we are all familiar with. We know how it ends, we know how it begins, yet, everytime you see this film, it feels fresh, beautiful, and awe inspiring. It's shot in simple black and white film (stunningly so by Henri Alekan, who also shot the original Wings of Desire years later), has no overbearing songs, no cutesy "comic relief" elements, yet Cocteau manages to make this fairy tale seem like it was written yesterday. It is the work of a remarkable man/artist that can take something so well known and make it feel alive again. Cocteau does that here.
One of my favorite scenes is the ending. We all know how the film ends, but when the Beast turns into the man, Cocteau uses his simple camera trick of running the film backward, making it look like Jean Marais leaps up (when the reality is he fell down and Cocteau just reversed the projection). You know it's not realistic, yet it's so beautiful and feels more real than reality. Is that art? I believe it to be so.
This was one of Criterion's first DVD's, and they recently reissued it with a better restoration (thought the first DVD was quite good), and also included is Philip Glass's opera based on this film. I have the first DVD edition, and Glass's score as well. I would recommend all of Cocteau's films. They're all so beautiful.
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A cartoon comes to life
Don't laugh my bros. I'm still the same guy who loves my blood and gore flicks. But sometimes you gotta shake things up a bit. This adult fairy tale glides with an enchanting splendor and overwhelming grace. No seriously.
The horrors of the real world can corrupt us. As adults we try to push away the spirit of our childhood and repress all the indelible figments of our imagination. Any rekindling of our past fantasies is deemed a weakness, which is sad.
You probably know this story, Beauty is held captive by The Beast. She recognizes a warm tenderness hidden beneath the monstrosity. The story progresses with a magical elegance and soothing vitality. Plus the camera work is phenomenal. The inanimate is given life--castle walls, statues, the forest. Quite a passionate tale.
This truly is a landmark feat in cinematic fantasy. Recommended for anyone willing to let there guard down.