La Belle et la Bête (1946) (1 Viewer)

[LaurenceGarvey]

Our weekly Friday night movie was kind of a change of pace this week (I'll say, as last week we watched THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE): Jean Cocteau's magical 1946 fairy tale, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

I was a little worried, wondering if the kids would sit still for it. They've seen many silent films, so I knew the sub-titles wouldn't be a problem. And I knew that they knew the basic story, from watching the Disney version. I guess I just was fearful that the wouldn't love it as much as I do.

Well, I needn't have feared. Rapt attention all the way through. And they shared my (and everybody's) disappointment at the ending, when Belle gets stuck with Pretty Boy rather than the magnificent beast.

We began the festivities by watching another famous tale, both the 1931 and 1939 Silly Symphony versions of UGLY DUCKLING. Besides the former being in B&W and the latter being in color, they have different plots, too, surprisingly.

Turned out to be a great evening.

 

[andrew markworthy]

The original tale by Hans Christian Andersen is supposedly about coming to terms with being gay (I swear I'm not making that up).

I agree about Belle et la Bete - an absolutely wonderful film and one of my all-time favourites. Criterion did an excellent job with their first release of it on DVD, but the second is even better (and you get the complete Philip Glass opera as an extra - though whether you think this is a good or a bad thing does rather depend on whether you like Philip Glass's music).

 

[Claire Panke]

La Belle et la Bete has to be one of the most ravishingly beautiful films of all time.

Can't say as I care much for Philip Glass as a composer, although he's marginally less offensive scoring for the flickers. I almost liked his score for Kundun. If we must have minimalism, give me John Adams.