Movie: Beauty And The Beast 1946
Language: French
Director: Jean Cocteau
Run Time: 96 minutes
Awards: Prix Louis Delluc (1946)
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Beauty and the Beast was filmed in black and white and at times was extremely dark and difficult to see the action. Certain shots at night are meant to be dark and mysterious on purpose to build up suspense for the audience but it might have been over done. The audience never gets a to see the color of the roses or the attire the beast wears. The girls room was always bright though and gave a sense that everything was okay and she was home. Unlike other parts of the castle which seems just scary at times. Random arms coming out of the walls. That's just wrong.
Roger Ebert had some choice words about the feel of the castle as well. "The Beast's dwelling is one of the strangest ever put on film--Xanadu crossed with Dali. Its entrance hall is lined with candelabra held by living human arms that extend from the walls. The statues are alive, and their eyes follow the progress of the characters." The castle was definitely one out of imagination and as a 1946 film they did a pretty good job to make it look pretty real at times.
Another article talks more about the cinematic effects used, "Cocteau was attempting to approximate the spirit of the tale by conjuring cinematic tricks. But he wasn't interested in special effects that you add in the editing room. He wanted to use tricks that could be caught on camera through superimposition, slow motion, and running the film backwards for dreamlike effect" In today's films everything is special effects and backgrounds are typically green screen. It is nice to see that they tried to make it look real as it could with minimal technology at the time. That is impressive considering what they had to work with back then.
In my opinion the movie was awesome consider it's from 1946 and spoken in French. The film quality was pretty poor and difficult to see at the times. Also the story line while a classic, was a little odd at times. Not just the arms sticking out of the wall by statues that stares and arms that pour you drinks. While original I just didn't expect it and I don't understand what the point of the castle was. Is the castle alive or does the beast command everything? That was left unclear and it's like having a piece of the story missing.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/19991226/REVIEWS08/912260301/1023
http://www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1946/beauty-and-the-beast/
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