BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

 "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" --- (1946) ---

FUN FACTS & TRIVIA:

• The effect of the candles lighting themselves as the merchant passes them was achieved by blowing them out and then running the film in reverse as he walked backward past them. The entire sequence was done in one long take and reversed - a quick glimpse of the fireplace shows the flames appearing to move downward.
• The first screening took place before the staff of the studio at Joinville. Jean Cocteau was so nervous, he invited his friend Marlene Dietrich, whose hand he held tightly as the film unwound. The response, however, was enthusiastic.
• The look and decor of the film was influenced by the work of nineteenth-century artist and engraver Gustave Doré, most famous for illustrating a nineteenth century French edition of "Don Quixote". Doré's illustrations for that novel are so famous that they continue to be reprinted today.
• During the shooting of the film, Jean Cocteau became very ill because of a bad skin disease and eventually had to be hospitalized. While he was recovering, René Clément served as the director.
• Jean Cocteau used several different kinds of film stock because of the difficulty of getting stock immediately after the war. He claimed that the different visual textures added to the poetic effect of the film.
• Jean Marais' face, hands, and other body parts not hidden by his costume were covered in animal hair. Once his fangs were in, he could not remove them, so he could eat nothing except mush while filming.
• The studio and locations were so cold that the cast huddled around the lights between shots to keep warm.
• The Beast's castle exteriors were shot at an actual existing location: the Château de la Roche Courbon, a French historic site.
• Walt Disney was interested in adapting the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated feature, but when this film released he felt discouraged and believed it wouldn't be as good as what Jean Cocteau did. Eventually, Walt Disney Pictures would adapt the fairy tale as Beauty and the Beast (1991), to great acclaim; however that feature is greatly influenced by this film.
• Philip Glass composed an opera perfectly synchronized to the film. The original soundtrack was eliminated, and he composed the opera to be performed along with the film projected behind the orchestra and voice talent. The compact disc recording of Glass' "La Belle et la Bête" can be played alongside the film with a very similar effect.
• For the film's U.S. release, conventional credits replaced the original ones, in which the credits were written in chalk and erased by Jean Cocteau's hand. This also eliminated the film clapboard seen between the opening credits and the written prologue.
• Initially, Jean Cocteau and Henri Alekan clashed over the filming style. Alekan wanted to use soft focus to create his version of what a fairy tale would look like. Cocteau, however, insisted a more hard-edged style would make even the most fantastic scenes seem grounded in reality. After the first few days of shooting, Alekan declared the rushes laughably bad. As Cocteau persisted in pursuing his personal vision of the film, the cinematographer gradually came around.
• Klaus Kinski was a big fan of this movie and later played the Beast in Beauty and the Beast (1984), where the costumes and make-up were inspired by this film.
• The popular song "Beauty and the Beast" by Stevie Nicks was inspired by this film. In 2007, she got the rights for the movie, and it plays behind her as she sings the song. It is the last song in her set list.
• The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.
• The Usurer was played by a Russian actor who had the perfect look, but he didn't know how to move or speak properly. Jean Cocteau himself dubbed his voice.
• Beauty and the Beast (1946) won the Prix Louis-Delluc, one of France's major cinema awards, voted on by a jury of 20 film critics and cultural leaders.