Written and directed by Jean Cocteau in 1947, this is a beautiful film by a genius. Cocteau's lover, Jean Marais, is cast as the beast, the prince, and Avenant, and the lovely Josette Day is Beauty. No one else in the movie matters.
Cocteau hits the story on all points, and Marais is marvelous as the mournful beast who needs only to be loved for what he is. The fairy tale we all know is brought more to life than reality itself with human candelabra, self-lighting candles, and doors that open only to the one who should be admitted. Cocteau's visualization and execution of the fairy tale are brilliant. Working with the primitive equipment in France at the end of World War II, Cocteau's effects work just as well as today's computer-generated imagery. And because his effects are part of the fairy tale, they flow from the story and back into it in a seamless telling of the timeless tale. Nothing detracts from the growth of both Beauty and Beast in their loving respect for each other.
Marais and Day wring our hearts with their separate longings until their desires merge. At the end of course, Beauty loves the beast for who he is, Jean Marais is revealed in all his glory as a prince, and Cocteau has the two rise apparently into heaven.
The cinematographer is Henri Alekan, who was called back into service by Wim Wenders for "Wings of Desire," known in Germany as "Der Himmel uber Berlin." Alekan was brilliant in both films.
Back in 1976, Hallmark Hall of Fame had a TV version of Beauty and the Beast starring George C. Scott and his last wife Trish Van Devere. The major problem in that version is that when Belle loves the Beast he changes into George C. Scott. C'est la vie.
Cocteau hits the story on all points, and Marais is marvelous as the mournful beast who needs only to be loved for what he is. The fairy tale we all know is brought more to life than reality itself with human candelabra, self-lighting candles, and doors that open only to the one who should be admitted. Cocteau's visualization and execution of the fairy tale are brilliant. Working with the primitive equipment in France at the end of World War II, Cocteau's effects work just as well as today's computer-generated imagery. And because his effects are part of the fairy tale, they flow from the story and back into it in a seamless telling of the timeless tale. Nothing detracts from the growth of both Beauty and Beast in their loving respect for each other.
Marais and Day wring our hearts with their separate longings until their desires merge. At the end of course, Beauty loves the beast for who he is, Jean Marais is revealed in all his glory as a prince, and Cocteau has the two rise apparently into heaven.
The cinematographer is Henri Alekan, who was called back into service by Wim Wenders for "Wings of Desire," known in Germany as "Der Himmel uber Berlin." Alekan was brilliant in both films.
Back in 1976, Hallmark Hall of Fame had a TV version of Beauty and the Beast starring George C. Scott and his last wife Trish Van Devere. The major problem in that version is that when Belle loves the Beast he changes into George C. Scott. C'est la vie.