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La Belle et la Bte

The achievement of telling a familiar fairy-tale with


untainted imagery and charm through the medium of film has been almost flawlessly realized by the
French director and poet-playwright, Jean Cocteau, in his stunningly measured French production of
the old fable, "Beauty and the Beast."
The fact that they have accomplished this on a mature and adult felling film which can be appreciated
for its visually stunning scenes and it intelligent story telling means it can be appreciated by adults and
children alike
this timeless fairy tale is clearly the work of the poet/director Jean Cocteau. With interiors that owe
much to the paintings of Dor and Vermeer, this visual feast is enhanced by the magical realism of
Henri Alekan's (David Parkinson)
For the director Cocteau has taken the classic story of a beautiful country girl who goes to live as a
hostage for her poor father in the palace of a frightening beast, there to be treated with such kindheartedness that she falls in love with the unfortunate beast, he has managed to blend this using this
pattern for giving us this subtle imagery that only a poet could know with his metaphors
of undulating movements and rhythmic pace, of hypnotic sounds and music, of casually congealing
ideas Freudian or metaphysician. (By BOSLEY CROWTHER)
Which give the viewer the ability to take from it what they want from the film. The concepts are so
cunning that they're possibly the best fitting to any reasoning and portray the magic in the film with
such beauty.
Beauty And The Beast fable with a reasonable enough request: I ask of you a little childlike
simplicity. If that seems unnecessary to modern viewers long-familiar with Burton, Gilliam or indeed
Disneys smarter output (including its own version of the story, which owes much to this),( empire)

That Disney could not help but to adopt them and adapt them. From the long corridor of candleholders,
held out from the walls by living arms, through which the beauty enters visitor enters the palace of the
Beast, to the gleaming shrine of Diana, where the mystery of the Beast is exposed, the filmic
progression of the fable into a dream like world casts its unpredictable spell.

With the simple story largely told in pantomime, and the music of Georges Auric complements the
dream like moods. The settings are similarly dramatic, many of the exteriors having been filmed for
unusual architectural vignettes at Raray, which is one of the most beautiful palaces and parks in all of
France. And the outfits made by Christian Berard and Escoffier, are beautiful doings, dazzling and
inspired, missing only the glow of colour.

As the beast and the young prince the heroine jean Marias has
much stage presence and move with easy and has a great male voice all though the makeup takes on
lion like similarity and close to some of the Hollywood mask of the time he wears it very well and pulls
the character off with as much depth as possible

. And as Beauty, Josette Day is truly lovely, youthful and delicate, a convincingly innocent maiden and
student to the mysteries of life. Mila Parley is despicably vain and greedy as one of Beauty's bad sisters
and Marcel Andre is nicely theatrical as her doting, ineffectual papa.( By BOSLEY CROWTHER)
This film should be watched just for its philosophy and its fascinating cinematography and preproduction which help make this a classic and a true work of

Bibliography
La Belle et la Bete (1946)THE SCREEN IN REVIEWBy BOSLEY CROWTHERPublished: December
24, 1947http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?
res=9B03EFD71E3EEE3BBC4C51DFB467838C659EDE

La Belle et la Bte By David Parkinson 3 Jan 2014 http://www.radiotimes.com/film/nbcjr/la-belle-etla-bte


http://www.empireonline.com/500/40.asp

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