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MOVIES / ON DVD / BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Beauty and the Beast

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Beauty and the Beast (1946)

95%
80%
91%
N/A
N/A
N/A
95 %
Reviews Counted: 43 Fresh: 41  Rotten:2 Average Rating: 8.6/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Synopsis: Visionary filmmaker and poet Jean Cocteau responded to the terrors and creative constraints of occupied France with this elaborately realized take on the classic fairy tale BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Suggested by his longtime collaborator and muse, French actor Jean Marais, the cinematic... Visionary filmmaker and poet Jean Cocteau responded to the terrors and creative constraints of occupied France with this elaborately realized take on the classic fairy tale BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Suggested by his longtime collaborator and muse, French actor Jean Marais, the cinematic version of the fable first penned by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont became Cocteau's most celebrated film. Cocteau renders the story of a gentlehearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl in the style of the luminous paintings of Dutch master Vermeer. From the quaint and humorous scenes of Beauty's happy home to the ominous surreal spectacle of the Beast's enchanted estate, Cocteau transforms the simple tale of tragic love into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty. Marais is chilling as the lonely and tormented beast, projecting a wounded love for the glacial yet endearing Beauty (Josette Day), whose simple request for a rose from her father brings tragedy crashing down on her whole family. Cocteau expands upon the cinematic inventiveness first seen in his masterpiece BLOOD OF A POET with mirrors made of water, living statues, and candelabras fashioned from living arms, transforming a children's fable into a complex and radiant cinematic classic. [More]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Marcel Andre, Mila Parely, Michel Auclair

Director: Jean Cocteau
Screenwriter: Jean Cocteau
Story: Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Producer: André Paulvé

DVD Info

Release:

Feb 11, 2003

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Arthur Knight - Film Historian
  • 2. Christopher Frayling - Cultural Historian
  • Interview - 1. Henri Alekan - Cinematographer
  • Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
  • 2. 1995 Restoration Trailer
  • Featurette - 1. Film Restoration Demonstration

Text/Galleries:

  • Fable - 1. English Translation of Original Leprinsce de Beaumont Fable
  • Production Notes
  • Stills/Photos

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image
10/10

It's true that a bit of the film's impact has been diluted by its significant influence both within its genre and without; but the original is still a special thing, a beautiful hallucination.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/17/08
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
Ratings Image
4/5

Lovely.

comment Comment
06/14/08
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image
N/A

It doesn't make much sense, and it's not supposed to: the picture is surrealist in its truest sense, governed by dream logic.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/21/07
Kevin Koehler
Pretentious Musings
Ratings Image
4/4

Cocteau didn't just interpret a fairy tale with this black-and-white wonder, but re-created a fairy-tale world.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/08/07
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
Ratings Image
N/A

Has lost none of its power to amaze and enthrall. And this magical adaptation of the much-filmed Jean-Marie Leprince de Beaumont tale clearly inspired much of the imagery for the Disney version.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/07/07
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Ratings Image
A-

It sets the benchmark in elegance for such fantasy films.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/24/06
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
N/A

By conjuring up ... fairy-tale trappings, then aiming it all at adults, Beauty and the Beast reminds us that motion pictures can tap into our childlike fears and pleasures without becoming childish in the process.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/05/06
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/11/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
07/18/05
John Larsen
Light Views
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
07/17/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
N/A

French director Jean Cocteau's enchanting, heartbreakingly beautiful surrealist version [is the best of all].

Full Review | comment Comment
05/24/05
Staci Layne Wilson
StaciWilson.com
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
05/12/05
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/04/04
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Ratings Image
89/100

Littering his film with wonderfully evocative shots of steam rising off of the simmering Beast, Jean Cocteau accentuates his seething animal intensity.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/03/04
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ratings Image
4/5

Elegant and mesmerizing.

comment Comment
07/25/03
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews
Ratings Image
5/5

A rich and vivid telling of the classic story under the elegant direction of Jean Cocteau.

comment Comment
07/11/03
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/20/03
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
B-

The film is invaluable as a piece of history, but it hasn't stood the test of time.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/28/03
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal
Ratings Image
5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/27/03
Matt Langdon
Filmcritic.com
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Related Forums

REEL_REVIEWER
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
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REEL_REVIEWER
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06


REEL_REVIEWER
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06


REEL_REVIEWER
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06


Big Daddy Beast
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by: Big Daddy Beast 3/14/05
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