BD 42 Beauty and the Beast

[What A Disgrace]

Juraj Herz's adaptation of the story has been confirmed in the latest newsletter.

[Big Ben]

This is a really interesting take on this story with a particularly unorthodox version of the beast at least by Western standards. Don't miss this one folks!

[ianthemovie]

I'm intrigued by this, as I love most adult retellings of fairy tales and have never heard of this one before. I'd be curious to know how it compares to something like The Company of Wolves or Catherine Breillat's fairy tale films.

[Calvin]

REMASTERED PRESENTATION OF THE UNCUT VERSION OF THE FILM by the Czech National Film Archive
A newly-recorded Projection Booth audio commentary with Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger.
František Hrubín (1964): a short film on the Czech writer and poet, and co-screenwriter of Beauty and the Beast
20-page booklet with new writing on the film by author Jonathan Owen
New and improved English subtitle translation
REGION-FREE

[black&huge]

Region free? Well alright!

[DeprongMori]

REMASTERED PRESENTATION OF THE UNCUT VERSION OF THE FILM by the Czech National Film Archive
A newly-recorded Projection Booth audio commentary with Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger.
František Hrubín (1964): a short film on the Czech writer and poet, and co-screenwriter of Beauty and the Beast
20-page booklet with new writing on the film by author Jonathan Owen
New and improved English subtitle translation
REGION-FREE

Pretty excited for this. I’ve got a barebones import DVD (unrestored) in a cardboard sleeve that at least has English subtitles. A welcome upgrade.

[Bikey]

Amazon UK pre-order now live

Arrow Store pre-order

[Calvin]

I pre-ordered this one straight away. I'm hoping that Second Run and the Czech National Film Archive give us The Night Overtakes Me and The Ninth Heart next.

[Bikey]

Full details now at our website

[Bikey]

Beaver

[Bikey]

"Finally providing the first really accessible opportunity for many of us to enjoy Herz's film in all its sinister glory...
Stunningly filmed and reeking of that grungy, potent atmosphere found in a few other dark fairy tale adaptations, Herz's film is one of the most distinctive and haunting versions of the famous story. [...] the Second Run edition is a welcome treat as well as a fine way to be introduced to one of the best Czech fantasy films around."
Mondo Digital

[swo17]

František Hrubín (1964): a short film on the Czech writer and poet, and co-screenwriter of Beauty and the Beast

This throwaway film is a creepy delight, and further evidence that I would gladly watch someone read the phone book if it was filmed in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s.

Also, for those unaware, there is a reversible sleeve that presents the English title as The Virgin and the Monster

[Bikey]

In the latest Cineaste 'Staff Recommendations'

[j99]

I picked this up a couple of weeks ago, and while I feel it’s a fairly straightforward telling of the story, although closer to Cocteau than Disney naturally, I was still very impressed with the treatment. Cocteau will always be my go to version, but this isn’t that far behind.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Very randomly, this is on BFI Player (streaming sub) but without any subtitles (Czech audio language only).

[Bikey]

BFI Player have checked and confirmed this IS playing with English subs.
https://admin.player.bfi.org.uk/subscri ... 978-online

[thirtyframesasecond]

Thanks Bikey, I swear blind there were no English subs the other day (I'm watching via Amazon Prime) but all good now, thanks!

[yoloswegmaster]

I saw a 35mm print provided by Národní filmový archiv in Toronto last month, and I can confirm that the colours on the blu were very similar to what was on the print. Interestingly, the archive requested the film be screened under the title "Virgin and the Monster", as that was supposedly the original title for the film.

[Peacock]

It’s still the title of the film, and is on the cover of the Second Run Blu if you reverse it.

[MichaelB]

I discuss this in my commentary (on the Severin edition, sorry!) about three minutes in (i.e. over the main credits)

Now, in Czech, the original French fairytale and its many, many adaptations including a 1975 rock opera by the Czech singer Petr Novák, tend to be called Kráska a zvíře, which, like Beauty and the Beast, is a direct translation of the original French, La Belle et la Bête. However, this film is called Panna a netvor, which is similar, but also subtly different. “Panna” is standing in for “Beauty”, but actually means “maiden, damsel or virgin” – the Czech for “The Blessed Virgin” is “Blahoslavená Panna”, and in fact the Czech for mermaid, rather delightfully, is “mořská panna”, or “sea maiden”. And “netvor” is “monster”, so the title is effectively The Maiden and the Monster or The Virgin and the Monster. And I think that’s an important distinction on both counts – turning Beauty into a humble maiden serves to emphasise her social status rather than her looks, and the film has quite a bit to say about that aspect, and turning the Beast into a Monster transforms him from something reasonably familiar, essentially a larger and hairier version of a stereotypical alpha male, into something truly ugly and misshapen, authentically monstrous both inside and out, and desperately self-loathing with it.