|
Beauty and The Beast - Criterion CollectionRating:
Release Date: 02 June, 1998 Retail Price: $39.95 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: |
Beauty and The Beast - Criterion Collection Reviews
Beauty and The Beast-Criterion Collection, Restored
This restored version is magnificent. I was
amazed at the difference between this and my
old vhs unrestored version. Cocteau's film
remains one of the most visually mesmerizing ever made.
I do however agree with Greta Garbo's comment
regarding the true to the original story ending,
"Give me back my Beast."
The Keeper of the Unwanted Rose as Monster
One of the great masterpieces of cinema and one of my all time favorite films. Jean Cocteau's version of Beauty and the Beast is by far the ultimate version of this classic fairy tale fable, bar none. Rarely is pure enchantment captured on celluloid magnificently; Wizard of Oz, The Red Shoes, Snow White and Babe are among enduring examples of great cinematic enchantment, but Cocteau's version rules supreme above all others.
Where to start? The magical castle filled with living statues, object d'art and magic mirrors that watch over Beauty? (The famous arms as candlabra protruding from the entrance hall walls is a famous image repeated as recently as in the musical version of Phantom of the Opera, itself of course another version of Beauty and the Beast.) Or the impossibly handsome and charming Jean Marais in triplet as Beauty's suitor, the Prince, and the Beast? Perhaps the shimmering, gorgeous black and white photography, blessedly rescued, finally, in this restored DVD version? (For years Cocteau's film was only available via videos and rare televison viewings with wretched prints.) Or the addition of Philip Glass' new score? All of these things add up to make Beauty and the Beast one of the best films ever, but at the center of course is the master of the enchanted castle, the Beast himself. Looking like a cross between a bear and a cat, draped in elaborate costuming over the Beast outfit, still Marais manages to move with grace and lithe movements, balletic even, and is able to convey the Beast's tortured emotions and inner conflicts with his eyes, voice and gestures. Brilliantly conceived by Cocteau, modeled (as was the look of the entire film) after the great 19th century French illustrator Gustave Dore's rendering of the fable, Jean Marais is pure poetry as the Beast, who is one of the great romantic, tragic figures in art, a rose bearing, tortured, Byronesque being, conflicted between his impossible love for Beauty and his own innate savagery ("I am a monster--yet my heart is good," he laments to Beauty, a heartbreaking line delivered in a way that stops you in your tracks).
With this DVD restored version, one of the miracles among movies has been brought back to gorgeous life for new generations to treasure. Beauty and the Beast finally are united when the dying Beast turns into the handsome Prince. Upon seeing the film Greta Garbo is supposedly said to have cried "I want my Beast back!"
Indeed--as would we all.
More Customer Reviews (30 total)
You like Beauty and The Beast - Criterion Collection?
|
© 2004, 2005, 2006 DVD Booty | Don't Plunder Our Cache of Booty, Matey!
Hosting made possible by donations from Visa Credit Cards, Payday Loan Train, and debt relief
