Beauty and the Beast (1946)
95 %
Reviews Counted: 43 Fresh: 41 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 8.6/10
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... [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
Screenwriter: Jean Cocteau
Story: Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Producer: André Paulvé
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
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.
Comment
06/17/08
It doesn't make much sense, and it's not supposed to: the picture is surrealist in its truest sense, governed by dream logic.
06/21/07
Cocteau didn't just interpret a fairy tale with this black-and-white wonder, but re-created a fairy-tale world.
06/08/07
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.
06/07/07
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.
04/05/06
Click to read the article
02/11/06
Top Critic
French director Jean Cocteau's enchanting, heartbreakingly beautiful surrealist version [is the best of all].
05/24/05
Littering his film with wonderfully evocative shots of steam rising off of the simmering Beast, Jean Cocteau accentuates his seething animal intensity.
03/03/04
A rich and vivid telling of the classic story under the elegant direction of Jean Cocteau.
07/11/03
Click to read the article
05/20/03
Top Critic
The film is invaluable as a piece of history, but it hasn't stood the test of time.
02/28/03
Related Forums
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
(1946)-Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets a new print & screening @ the NY FILM FEST
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/30/06
Test thread
by: Big Daddy Beast 3/14/05
by: Big Daddy Beast 3/14/05
News
Ebert & Roeper: "V For Vendetta" Dark, Thoughtful, And That's Good
posted by RT Staff March 13, 2006
On their weekly syndicated show "Ebert & Roeper," Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave early reviews of...
posted by RT Staff March 13, 2006
On their weekly syndicated show "Ebert & Roeper," Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave early reviews of...
Around the Network
• Beauty and the Beast at Rotten Tomatoes
IGN RSS Feeds