La Belle et la Bête (1946)

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Caligula
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La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#1 Post by Caligula » Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:50 am

La Belle et la Bête (Blu-ray)
Directed by Jean Cocteau

La Belle et la bête is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death that have never been equalled.

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 subtle black and white cinematography combine with Christian Bérard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema, a children's fairy tale refashioned into a stylised and highly sophisticated dream.

The BFI is proud to present this world cinema classic in High Definition for the first time in the UK.

Special features
Presented in High Definition
Audio commentary with cultural historian Sir Christopher Frayling
Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film, and full film credits
Other extras TBC
1946 | black & white | 94 minutes | 1 x BD50 / Region B | Cert PG

Release date 26 March 2018, according to Amazon

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TMDaines
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Re: La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau)

#2 Post by TMDaines » Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:34 am

Thought this was a safe Criterion import. At least the Criterion is stacked.

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L.A.
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Re: La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau)

#3 Post by L.A. » Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:38 am

Was expecting BFI will put a Blu-ray out eventually. I’m confident the extras won’t disappoint when they are announced, hopefully something from both Criterion and Gaumont’s discs are included.

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tenia
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Re: La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau)

#4 Post by tenia » Thu Oct 26, 2017 12:13 pm

The Criterion disc is based on their older restoration. M6 / SND had it restored in 4K in 2013. I suppose the BFI will use the newer restoration (even if it's not specified).

Costa
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#5 Post by Costa » Thu Oct 26, 2017 5:00 pm

I really wanted to love this (Disney's Beauty and the beast is my favourite animation film of all time), but I didn't.
Maybe i'll watch it again to re-evaulate.
From caps-a-holic comparisons though I've seen this new restoration is too dark.

Orlac
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#6 Post by Orlac » Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:06 am

Out of pendantry, the Criterion BD transfer lacks an authentic "FIN" end title card, instead using a new one crediting the restorers. Did other home video versions have an original end title card, or did the film fade to black?

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Finch
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Re: La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau)

#7 Post by Finch » Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:23 am

TMDaines wrote:Thought this was a safe Criterion import. At least the Criterion is stacked.
The press release says Other extras TBC

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Aunt Peg
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#8 Post by Aunt Peg » Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:43 am

Delayed until 23 July 2018....

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MichaelB
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#9 Post by MichaelB » Wed May 16, 2018 11:21 am

Confirmed as a Blu-ray release on July 23rd:
La Belle et la Bête
Directed by Jean Cocteau


La Belle et la bête is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death that have never been equalled.

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 subtle black and white cinematography combine with Christian Bérard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema, a children's fairy tale refashioned into a stylised and highly sophisticated dream.

The BFI is proud to present this world cinema classic in High Definition for the first time in the UK.

Special features
• High Definition transfer from the 4K restoration of the film which was premiered at Cannes
• Audio commentary with cultural historian Sir Christopher Frayling
Dreams of Cocteau: The adventure of Beauty and the Beast (2013, 49 mins): documentary featuring interviews with author Dominique Marny, Prof. David Gullentops, Serge Toubiana, and Ellen Schafer
• Deleted scene and alternate audio clips (7 mins)
• Christian Bernard and Jean Cocteau, two magicians (2013, 27 mins): documentary film focusing on the production history of La Belle et la Bête
• Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film, and full film credits

1946 | black & white | 94 minutes | 1 x BD50 / Region B | Cert PG

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L.A.
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Re: La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau)

#10 Post by L.A. » Wed May 16, 2018 11:29 am

L.A. wrote:I’m confident the extras won’t disappoint when they are announced, hopefully something from both Criterion and Gaumont’s discs are included.
This seems to be the case for the upcoming July release. Will be getting this of course.

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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#11 Post by MichaelB » Fri Jul 13, 2018 5:50 am

Full specs announced:
La Belle et la bête
Written and directed by Jean Cocteau

Blu-ray release on 6 August 2018


See the trailer here

La Belle et la bête 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, released on Blu-ray on 6 August 2018.

Special features include a commentary by Sir Christopher Frayling, an animated short, documentaries, trailers and deleted scenes, along with an illustrated booklet.

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
• Newly presented in High Definition from the French 4K restoration (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

Product details
RRP: £19.99/ Cat. no. BFIB1308 / Cert PG
France / 1946 / black and white / 90 mins / French language, with optional English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 / BD50: 1080p, 24fps, PCM 2.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit)

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#12 Post by Lowry_Sam » Fri Jul 13, 2018 12:52 pm

No Philip Glass alternate soundtrack? Guess I'll be keeping my Criterion.

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rapta
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#13 Post by rapta » Wed Jul 18, 2018 7:08 pm

I also noticed they're touring Orphée theatrically in October, so perhaps they'll upgrade that soon as well...

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rapta
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#14 Post by rapta » Fri Jul 27, 2018 3:56 am

According to our very own peerpee (on Twitter), the film/disc suffers from a bad encode - so despite this boasting a brand new restoration, there is heavy macroblocking afoot.

What a disappointment...I've been forced to cancel my pre-order. May pick it up at a later date but that'll happen sooner if they fix the encode and issue replacement discs (unlikely).

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Finch
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#15 Post by Finch » Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:04 am

Fuck sake BFI. Emailed HMV to get this part of mty order cancelled, Black Peter and After the Storm had already been shipped.

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tenia
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#16 Post by tenia » Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:37 am

All these delays to deliver this. That's really unfortunate.
I suppose though that the issues are made visible because of the poor black levels of the restoration itself.

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Caligula
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#17 Post by Caligula » Fri Jul 27, 2018 6:36 am

rapta wrote:
Fri Jul 27, 2018 3:56 am
According to our very own peerpee (on Twitter), the film/disc suffers from a bad encode - so despite this boasting a brand new restoration, there is heavy macroblocking afoot.

What a disappointment...I've been forced to cancel my pre-order. May pick it up at a later date but that'll happen sooner if they fix the encode and issue replacement discs (unlikely).
Just saw this. Managed to cancel my pre-order. A pity, hope they decide to rectify (I seem to recall them doing that with one of the Ozu-discs which was overly compressed)

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Drucker
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#18 Post by Drucker » Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:12 am


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perkizitore
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#19 Post by perkizitore » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:21 am

I really need to stop selling my Criterions before seeing a review first, this is Belle De Jour all over again...

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rapta
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#20 Post by rapta » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:42 am

perkizitore wrote:
Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:21 am
I really need to stop selling my Criterions before seeing a review first, this is Belle De Jour all over again...
I've been wary about selling older StudioCanal discs before (I was lucky and still have their digibook edition of Belle de jour) but will now have to watch out for BFI as well! I sold my DVD copy of La Belle et la Bête to make way for this 4K restored Blu-ray...oh dear.

I guess if there's enough of a fuss they might consider correcting it and doing a disc replacement programme (like that Ozu disc before).

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Drucker
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#21 Post by Drucker » Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:38 am

I believe Zedz called out that this restorations was definitely all wrong years ago. The elevated black levels definitely look weird, and given how much of a mess so many restorations coming out of France seem to be I wasn't planning on getting this at all. Also, the old Criterion may be a little dated but I think it looks right.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#22 Post by EddieLarkin » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:31 pm

But the blacks are deeper on this restoration, as seen here.

If macroblocking is visible then the BFI must have really messed up the encode, rather than it having anything to do with blacks being elevated.

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tenia
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#23 Post by tenia » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:32 pm

The issues arent so much about the French restorations but the fact that most of them are performed through Eclair and Ritrovata, while others are able to rely on Deluxe, MPI or other labs whose results are often less debated.

Eddie, IIRC, the newer restoration can have more contrasted shots but in many cases, blacks aren't 0 0 0 but are elevated. However, I cant say if the BFI disc is even worse or just the same.

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Drucker
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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#24 Post by Drucker » Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:37 pm

EddieLarkin wrote:
Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:31 pm
But the blacks are deeper on this restoration, as seen here.

If macroblocking is visible then the BFI must have really messed up the encode, rather than it having anything to do with blacks being elevated.
But couldn't that be...wrong?

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Re: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

#25 Post by jsteffe » Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:16 pm

EddieLarkin wrote:
Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:31 pm
But the blacks are deeper on this restoration, as seen here.

If macroblocking is visible then the BFI must have really messed up the encode, rather than it having anything to do with blacks being elevated.
And yet on the French Blu-ray it looks as if they didn't properly blank out the black side bars when they rendered the output. Those blacks look elevated compared to the black bars on the Criterion disc, which looks correct. Still, the French disc does have more contrast overall and perhaps better reflects the gleaming black-and-white image that I recall seeing on projected prints.

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