AUTHOR'S NOTE #1:
Please note that this movie is NOT the Disney cartoon of the same name. While the Disney cartoon has also been adapted from the same Leprince de Beaumont story, Disney's rendition is a colorful cartoon in both format and emotional depth, which is to say that it is merely a cartoon.

Jean Cocteau's 1946 black and white movie, "La Belle et la Bete," is, on the other hand, a cinematic masterpiece, an allegorical tale rich in execution and absolutely masterful in the brilliance of its concept.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE #2:
My only hope is that my enthusiastic, even reverential, review will encourage you to rent or buy the same dvd that I now proudly own, as this is one of the best moves ever made.
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FILM NOTES:
Jean Cocteau's 1946 version of the wonderful fable, "Beauty and
the Beast," is perhaps one of the most magical films of all time. This movie is on virtually every serious movie critic's list as being one of the best movies ever made. I have loved this movie ever since first seeing it on PBS some 25 or 30 years ago.

I had a chance to see the restored version of this film shown as a brilliantly restored 35 mm print in a recent theatrical re-release. Suffice it to say that the joy of finally seeing this long loved film presented in its original large screen format is a joy beyond description. A beloved cinematic work of art finally seen in all its original glory with its renewed ability to convey its artistic message can be emotionally overwhelming when finally experienced in this new light.

I am more than grateful to have this opportunity to experience classic movies in the manner in which they were originally
presented, and it is my fervent wish that this trend will continue.
"La Belle et la Bete" is now in limited theatrical release and David
Lean's masterpiece, "Lawrence of Arabia," is once again being shown in its original 70 mm large screen format, as it has just opened this Friday on one screen in downtown Chicago.
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FILM CRITIQUE:
Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" is a re-working of the classic
Cinderella fable, but on a much deeper level.

The classic Cinderella fable is about life and love and happiness in THIS world. About being rescued from a life of drudgery through the intervention of a fairy godmother and being whisked off in glory to meet the prince of your dreams. This rather contrived, albeit romantic, event is followed successively by love and marriage and then living happily ever after in that order. For those of us who are older, wiser, and generally sadder about the realities of life, this story is nothing more than a fable, and a rather unrealistic one at that.

Cocteau's take on this fable is entirely different. While some of his
inspiration might have come from the different source of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's novel, there is no doubt in my own mind that much of this movie has come from Cocteau's own incredible artistic genius.

"La Belle et la Bete" might be much more understandable if you analyze this movie from the standpoint of what may happen in the NEXT world rather than being a fable about what may have happened in this world "Once upon a time..."

The Beast, while clearly a personage of noble bearing, has at some point in his past committed acts for which he has been condemned to wander without rest or comfort in a sort of magical purgatorial state, even as luxurious as its "creature" comforts may appear to be. After all, all the wealth in the world will provide little comfort if there is no one else to share the joy with you.

Whereas before the Beast's idealistic visage and goodness were
reflected by his outer garments and his sins hidden from view, he now finds himself with his goodness hidden from view and his sins exposed for all to see in his ghastly apparition as a half man, half beast.

Beauty's father, condemned by the world with all his possessions in forfeit to his creditors, has what might be called a "near death"
experience while traveling back home late at night through the dark woods. He stumbles, or rather, is lead, into the magical kingdom and the realm of the Beast. While a good man, he is also a flawed individual with the failings common to many of us. As such, he is not exempt from the magical powers of the Beast, who holds the power of life and death over him for such a little thing as picking a rose from his private garden.

However, when Beauty enters this magical kingdom she remains as unchanged and unsullied from the Beast's powers within as she had formerly been from the evil of the world without. Of all the characters in this film, she is the only one whose outside flawless beauty is equally matched by her similarly flawless inner beauty of character.

While their ensuing relationship is couched in the terms of romance with less than subtle erotic overtones, it is clear that the Beast, the former master, now becomes the servant to this incarnation of Goodness. He quickly recognizes that she alone has the power to save him from his purgatorial state.

The Beast gives her his cloak, his gold key to the Goddess Diana's temple of wealth, the magic mirror, and enough jewelry for a king's ransom. By these actions he as much admits that all his wealth and all his magical powers pale next to her true power as Beauty and Goodness incarnate.

When the Beast later very reluctantly allows Beauty to go home to
tend to her dying father, he himself also becomes sick unto death
without the balm of her company. Thus we all likewise become sick unto death without Truth, Beauty, and Love in our lives, as these are the qualities that make us all more than the shells of the bodies that we inhabit.

When Beauty has finally saved the Beast from his prison of purgatorial beastliness, it is curious to note that instead of walking
out of the castle, they fly off into the clouds together. It strikes me
that theirs are not the physical bodies of their earthly condition but
rather their unearthly spiritual bodies of the Afterlife, and that this
action on their part is a metaphor for their eventual entrance into
heaven together.

This is not the stuff of a simple Disney cartoon.

"La Belle et la Bete" is far more a parable than a simple fable... And also an admission once again that the love of a good woman is a refining influence on the beast within all us men.

Simple words alone cannot convey the rich imagery of the many visuals that John Cocteau has created for us. You should be reminded that this film was made in 1946, 56 years ago and many years before we had the special effects that we are so used to today.

The special effects today are symbolic of our technological prowess. The special effects in "La Belle et la Bette" are symbols of a rich spiritual and emotional prowess that shimmer and glow on the silver screen in all their glorious majesty.
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FILM SYNOPSIS:
The story is simple, the film is not.

A formerly wealthy merchant father (Marcel Andre) of three daughters and one son teeters on the edge of bankruptcy after his ships are lost at sea. Two of his daughters, Felicie (Mila Parely) and Adelaide (Nane Germon) are vain, selfish, avaricious, and obsessed with their own beauty and standing in French society. The one son, Ludovic (Michel Auclair), while a reasonable young fellow able to see his sisters for who they are, is also a ne'er do well who has amassed enough debts from his inveterate gambling so as to bring a usurer (Raoul Marco) over for the signing a promissory note with the furniture in the home to be used as collateral.

Ludovic and his friend, Avenant (Jean Marais), spend all day long
laying about drinking and sporting with their archery equipment
while the two sisters worry about which dress to wear to the latest
play at the chateau of the local duchess.

Left forgotten more or less by all is Beauty (Josette Day), who spends her days, like Cinderella, cleaning the floors and taking care of the household chores that her selfish sisters will not lift their delicate fingers for in help to their own sister. Her father adores her for her goodness, but will not lift a finger of admonishment to his other daughters in a request to lighten her workload.

Avenant also professes his love for Beauty, but he lacks the vision to see his own way in life and thinks only of shortcuts to achieve the wealth that he hopes will provide him with a life of idle leisure.

When one of their father's ships is finally heard to have made it into port, the father is relieved and his two selfish daughters fancy that now they will have the money to buy all the finery that they have recently been suffering without. He heads off for the seacoast, but is disappointed to find that his creditors have beaten him to his own ship. They have stripped it of all valuables to pay off his indebtedness with the result that he has once again been left with nothing. Still penniless, the innkeeper throws him out on the street without a bed to sleep in for the night and he has to ride home through the woods all by himself in the dark.

In the inky blackness of night the trees suddenly move apart and
new paths open up and all of a sudden the father finds himself inside the grounds of a very strange castle surrounded by spacious gardens. He calls out for others, but all is quiet.

Entering the castle's large doors, the father finds an unearthly scene of long hallways with arms coming out of holes in the walls, all holding candelabra and each lighting in turn as he passes.
Fireplace mantles have ghostly faces carved in them that come to
life and blow smoke out at the terrified visitor. A hand on the table
without a body underneath pours a drink to assuage his thirst.

It is all too much and he flees the dark, brooding castle for the
relative safety of the sunlit gardens. Passing a bed of roses, he is
reminded that he had promised Beauty a rose when he came home. He picks a blossom from the garden and a cry of anger is heard from nearby.

The Beast (also Jean Marais) finally reveals himself to the terrified father and condemns him to death for the one unpardonable sin that he could have committed in that magical kingdom, which was to have picked that rose from the Beast's private garden.

When the Beast hears that the rose is not for the father, but is
meant as a gift for his beloved daughter, he offers him a very
expensive proposition to extricate himself from his sentence: to
return home and find a daughter who loves him enough to offer
herself as a substitute for the father. The Beast also offers the
father the services of his white stallion, Magnifícque, to speed
him on his way.

Of course, it is obvious to all that neither Felicie nor Adelaide
would ever be this unselfish and it is equally obvious that Beauty
will offer herself without prompting to save the life of her beloved
father. She quickly sets off for the stables and leaps on Magnifícque. Whispering the command, "Va! Va! Va!" (Go! Go! Go!) in his ears, she is soon in the magical realm of the Beast.

The scenes of the Beast with the gorgeous Beauty in his castle are absolutely magnificent in their conception. She is in equal measure repulsed by his ugliness yet somehow also deeply attracted to the nobility and the sadness that seem to lurk not far beneath that hairy exterior. She is, after all, pure of heart, and can see these traits better than the rest of us.

In one scene she faints and the Beast carries her to her bedroom. On one side of the door she is wearing her simple peasant makeup, but on the other side she is transformed into a fabulously bejeweled princess. In another scene she walks through a door and then magically floats down a long corridor with tall windows open and flimsy mesh curtains wafting in the breeze.

This movie is truly magical!