BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1955, LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE) – Episode 210 – Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

“May the devil himself splatter you with dung.” Okay. Is it his dung? Or dung from something else? It might make a difference. Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Doc Rotten, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr – as they eagerly enter the world of Beauty and the Beast (1946, La Belle et la Bête), Jean Cocteau’s classic fantasy.

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
Episode 210 – Beauty and the Beast (1946)

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ANNOUNCEMENT
Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL
Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era!
Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website.
Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.
https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

Synopsis: A beautiful young woman takes her father’s place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.

• Directors: Jean Cocteau, René Clément (uncredited)
• Writers: Jean Cocteau (screenplay); Jean Cocteau (story), Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (story)
• Composer: Georges Auric
• Cinematographer: Henri Alekan 
• Editor: Claude Ibéria
• Production Designer & Set Decorator: Christian Bérard; Lucien Carré (credited as Carré)
• Makeup Department: Hagop Arakelian (as Arakelian)
• Costume Department: House of Lanvin; Pierre Cardin (costume maker) (uncredited)
• Costume Design: Antonio Castillo, Marcel Escoffier, Christian Bérard (costume designer) (uncredited)
• Selected Cast:
  • Jean Marais as La Bête/Le Prince/Avenant
  • Josette Day as Belle
  • Mila Parély as Félicie
  • Nane Germon as Adélaïde
  • Michel Auclair as Ludovic (credited as Marfa d’Hervilly)
  • Marcel André as Belle’s Father
  • Noël Blin as Footman (uncredited)
  • Jean Cocteau as Voice of Magic (voice) (uncredited)
  • Christian Marquand as Footman (uncredited)
  • Gilles Watteaux as Footman (uncredited)

Beauty and the Beast (1946, La Belle et la Bête), Jean Cocteau’s brilliant fantasy, is the Classic Era Grue-Crew’s topic for this episode, and they are all infatuated with this wonderful film. The cinematography, the script, the makeup effects, the visual effects, the music, the production design, and the acting all combine to create that wondrous occasion where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Even though filming began just after the end of World War II in Europe, Cocteau and crew were able to overcome the challenges created by filming in a France that had been decimated during the war. Join the Grue-Crew as they marvel at the filmmakers’ miraculous achievement during that unlikeliest of times.

At the time of this writing, Beauty and the Beast (1946) is available to stream from Hoopla, the Criterion Channel, HBO Max, and multiple PPV options. The film is also available on physical media as a standard Blu-ray formatted disc from Criterion.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Next in their very flexible schedule – this one chosen by Jeff – is Hangover Square (1945), directed by John Brahm, starring Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Faye Marlowe, and Alan Napier, featuring Bernard Herrmann’s score.

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To each of you from each of them, “Thank you so much for watching and listening!”