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The Only One You
Need
Beauty & the Beast
dir. Jean Cocteau
(DVD Version, click here)
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There hasn't been a better filmed version of "Beauty & the Beast"
either before or since this film. ((I know Disney did a film with the same
title, but it wasn't the real story.))
Most people ought to know the story -- the well-to-do merchant who loses
everything, his one last chance to recoup that falls through, the journey
through the spooky forest that leads to the magic castle, the rose the merchant
picks for his daughter, the angry Beast who demands the merchant's life,
Beauty's return to the Beast's castle in her father's place, ... and so on.
But you really don't KNOW the story till you see this film and let Cocteau
make it clear for you.
Done on an obviously shoe-string budget, brilliantly applied, with camera-work
and incredibly simple but effective "special effects" that truly enhance
the story without calling undo attention to their own cleverness, with beautiful
costume and makeup designs adding even more, this film is simply a visual
treat. (An example of the simple-but-effective effects is Beauty's return
to her father's home -- the actress stepped backward through a paper "wall"...
and they ran the film backward.)
[This film is/was good enough that when the cable "Faerie Tale Theatre" series
did "B&B", they basically did a 60-minute remake in color of this film,
including most of the visual touches, especially the Beast's makeup.]
Beautiful, dreamlike and entrancing. |
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