La Belle et le Bete (Beauty and the Beast) directed by Jean Cocteau in 1946 is, as described by Ewan and Christine

Brown an unforgettable tale of love triumphing over greed (Brown, Anon). Set in a mysterious castle surrounded by stone hounds acting as watch-dogs, lives an aggressive Prince who was cursed and turned into a beast. Ashamed of his own hideousness and actions he banished himself from the world and the outsiders from his grounds. When a father of three daughters discovers this magical castle he becomes overly curious and is threatened by the Beast to bring one of his daughters in place for his freedom.

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The mise-en-scene in this film is truly enchanting, with the personified candelabra, moving faces in the carvings of structures and the brilliant blend of dcor (Druker, 2012) really entices the viewer to think fairytale. Even with the mesmerising set design (designed by Christian Berard) and the 18th century-inspired costumes there is still a subtle line of the idealistic beauty. For example, we see Belle (played by Josette Day) in the flesh as a slim, white woman with blonde locks, we have seen this before, where a Beast is smitten with a woman in King Kong (directed by Merian C Cooper 1933) where the leading lady, Ann Darrow (played by Fay Wray), is also a slim, white woman with golden hair, this could suggest the idea of beauty the film world had at that time. Another example is where Belle mentions her sisters hands are too white, too beautiful to help out with household errands. In the 16th century up to the early 20th century it was fashionable, regal and seen as beautiful to be pale instead of being tanned like commoners who worked in the fields.

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With Cocteaus and Berards artistic collaboration they had created a special thing: a beautiful hallucination (Brayton, 2008) and set the bar for any filmmaker who wanted to have an attempt at the fairytale. The Disney classics version of Beauty and the Beast directed by Gary Trousdale, 1991 clearly took inspiration from Cocteaus interpretation. With the character Lumiere (voiced by Jerry Orbach) showing similarities to the personified candelabras and the gargoyle-like statues that surround the castle seem to be taken from the endless stone hounds that guard the castle.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Brayton. T, 2008 http://antagonie.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/tspdt-190-la-belle-et-la-bte.html (Accessed on 3/11/13) Brown. C/E, Anon http://www.eif.co.uk/labelle (Accessed on 3/11/13) Druker. D, 2012 http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/beauty-and-the-beast/Film?oid=1050821 (Accessed on 3/11/13)

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig 1 Belle and Beast on balcony, 1946, La Belle et la Bete, Jean Cocteau, Film Still, France, Chateau de la Roche Courbon, http://doctormagiot.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/la-belle-et-la-bete.jpg (Accessed on 3/11/13) Fig 2 La Belle et la Bete poster, 1946, La Belle et la Bete, Jean Cocteau, Poster, France, Chateau de la Roche Courbon http://4.bp.blogspot.com/7P9E7gf3vrk/TjOTO0FNKeI/AAAAAAAADa4/trlRrpN4kjQ/s1600/la-belleet-la-bete-original.jpg (Accessed on 3/11/13) Fig 3 The candelabras, 1946, La Belle et la Bete, Jean Cocteau, Film Still, France, Chateau de la Roche Courbon http://johnguycollick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/candelabra.png (Accessed on 3/11/13) Fig 4 Close up shot of Belle and Beast, 1946, La Belle et la Bete, Jean Cocteau, Film Still, France, Chateau de la Roche Courbon http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/15_columns/public/image/belle-et-la-bete-1946002-josette-day-jean-marais-faces-sideways.jpg?itok=2VDE_ZjC (Accessed on 3/11/13) Fig 5 Belle and Beast feeding birds, 1991, Beauty and the Beast, Gary Trousdale, Film Still, United States, Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Feature animation http://basementrejects.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/01/beauty-and-the-beast-winter.jpg (Accessed 3/11/13)