Jean Marais, a young, obscure, strikingly handsome actor, became Jean Cocteau’s protégé and lover in 1937, and it was Marais who persuaded the opium-addicted poet to detox and take up the cinema again after a 15-year hiatus. In this imaginative and eternally popular version of the fairy tale, Marais is an uncommonly appealing Beast (Greta Garbo reportedly said after seeing the film, "Give me back my Beast!"), and Josette Day a suitably enchanting Beauty. Henri Alekan’s lustrous cinematography fulfills Cocteau’s directive to give the film "the soft gleam of hand-polished old silver." In French with English subtitles. Newly restored 35mm print. (MR)
