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02/11/06
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
95
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:40
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: Visionary filmmaker and poet Jean Cocteau responded to the terrors and creative constraints of occupied France with this elaborately realized take on the classic fairy tale BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.... [More]
Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Marcel Andre, Mila Parely
Director: Jean Cocteau
Reviews for Beauty and the Beast
Top CriticIt is a credit to Cocteau's genius (and to that of his collaborators) that he has taken the unreal world of a fairy tale and made it as real as the world around us.
01/01/00
Top CriticNo review available.
05/12/05
Cocteau’s poetic aesthetic...the matter-of-fact extravagance...an otherworldly ambience...[combine to] strike an uncomplicated chord within us, directly connected to the wondrous nightmares of childhood.
12/16/02
The first known cinematic telling of the classic story... [still] seems years ahead of its time.
10/14/02
Jean Cocteau's frighteningly beautiful surrealist take on the classic story is a potent antidote if Disney's given you one swig too many of the sweet stuff.
01/01/00
No review available.
08/22/03
Lovely.
06/14/08
Littering his film with wonderfully evocative shots of steam rising off of the simmering Beast, Jean Cocteau accentuates his seething animal intensity.
03/03/04
Elegant and mesmerizing.
07/25/03
It sets the benchmark in elegance for such fantasy films.
11/24/06
No review available.
07/17/05
The film is invaluable as a piece of history, but it hasn't stood the test of time.
02/28/03
One of the greatest fairy tales ever made. Pure film magic in any language.
08/22/02
A rich and vivid telling of the classic story under the elegant direction of Jean Cocteau.
07/11/03
A work of magic that makes the Broadway adaptation look like overproduced swill.
07/29/02
No review available.
06/04/04
Amazing, enchanting, a masterpiece
01/12/03
A daring artist, working in a difficult time of shortages and old equipment, convened 'a little village of workmen' and packaged a dream for the ages.
11/14/02
Josette Day and Marais are perfect in their roles, making this one of Cocteau's best films.
11/26/02
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