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Movies / On DVD / Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast

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Beauty and the Beast (1946)

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Reviews Counted:42

Fresh:40

Rotten:2

Average Rating:8.6/10

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

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.... 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]

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

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

Director: Jean Cocteau

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

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 9, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Jean Cocteau reinvented the fairy tale for the cinema with this enchanting, exquisitely realized version of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont's fantasy romance. With all manner of unparalleled visual effects and photographic tricks, Cocteau makes the spellbinding tale of transformative love both ethereal and tangible, and his indelible images still haunt the cinema like no other.
  • Source: Image Entertainment Inc.
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    Reviews for Beauty and the Beast

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    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 Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
    06/17/08
    Tim Brayton
    Tim Brayton
    Antagony & Ecstasy

    Lovely.

    comment Comment
    06/14/08
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

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

    Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
    06/08/07
    Sean Means
    Sean Means
    Salt Lake Tribune

    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 Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
    06/07/07
    Jeff Vice
    Jeff Vice
    Deseret News, Salt Lake City

    It sets the benchmark in elegance for such fantasy films.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    11/24/06
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    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 Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
    04/05/06
    Mark Bourne
    Mark Bourne
    DVDJournal.com
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/11/06
    Time Out
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/17/05
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

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

    Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com | comment Comment
    05/24/05
    Staci Layne Wilson
    Staci Layne Wilson
    StaciWilson.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    05/12/05
    Andy Klein
    Andy Klein
    Los Angeles CityBeat

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    06/04/04
    Jake Euker
    Jake Euker
    F5 (Wichita, KS)

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

    Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
    03/03/04
    Dan Jardine
    Dan Jardine
    Apollo Guide

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    08/22/03
    Carol Cling
    Carol Cling
    Las Vegas Review-Journal

    Elegant and mesmerizing.

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

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

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

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    05/20/03
    Bosley Crowther
    Bosley Crowther
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

    Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
    02/28/03
    Forrest Hartman
    Forrest Hartman
    Reno Gazette-Journal

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    02/27/03
    Matt Langdon
    Matt Langdon
    Filmcritic.com

    This version of the familiar fairy tale has long been revered for its dreamlike state, which continues to mesmerize even in this age of $100 million computer-generated effects.

    Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
    02/19/03
    Matt Brunson
    Matt Brunson
    Creative Loafing

    As Cocteau properly retains in his diary of the film’s making, Beauty and the Beast has the structure of a poem, its inherent ambiguity, moral narrative, and visual emphasis.

    Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
    02/11/03
    Rumsey Taylor
    Rumsey Taylor
    Not Coming to a Theater Near You
     
     
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