BFI: 4K Restoration of Beauty and the Beast Detailed for Blu-ray
Posted July 13, 2018 09:40 PM by Webmaster
The British Film Institute has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Jean Cocteau's classic film Beauty and the Beast (1946), starring Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, and Michel Auclair. The release will be available for purchase on August 6.
Synopsis: Beauty and the Beast is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death. The BFI proudly presents the original film version of this fairy-tale masterpiece in High Definition for the first time in the UK.
Josette Day is luminous yet feisty as Beauty and Jean Marais gives one of his best performances as the Beast, at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust.
Henri Alekan's cinematography combines with Christian Bérard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema: a children's tale refashioned as a stylised, highly sophisticated dream.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM, completed by SNC and the Cinémathèque française
Feature commentary by cultural historian Sir Christopher Frayling
Des Réves de Cocteau en numerérique, l'aventure de la Belle et la bête (2013, 51 mins)
Christian Bérard et Jean Cocteau, deux magiciens du spectacle (2013, 24 mins)
Deleted scenes (6 mins): film and audio clips from scenes that were not included in the final film
Barbe Bleue (René Bertrand, 1938, 13 mins): an animated version of Perrault's Bluebeard
Original theatrical trailer
BFI trailer (2013)
Stills gallery
Illustrated booklet with essays by Dr Deborah Allison, Marina Warner and George E Turner, and full film credits