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Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Beauty and the Beast (1946) poster

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

La Belle et la Bête

Drama, Fantasy, Romance • 1h 35m

Director: Jean Cocteau

Cast: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Marcel André, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, Raoul Marco, Jean Cocteau, Noël Blin, Christian Marquand, Gilles Watteaux

Best English-friendly & video release

Video notes:

BFI new 4k resto > Criterion, significant improvement https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=14201&d2=14200&c=5506

Updated 1 year ago


About the film

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

TSPDT
2026: #332
2025: #324
2024: #322
2023: #323
2022: #323

More from Jean Cocteau

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Director: Jean Cocteau

Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal UK/French Blu-ray

Director: Jean Cocteau

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

BFI

Video Notes:

BFI > Criterion

More from BFI

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Director: Jacques Tati

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion for 1949 and 1964, BFI for 1964 English Variant and 1994/5

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Best Video:

Jour Germany fete (1949) - Criterion only, HD Jour Germany fete (1964) - Criterion only, HDThe Village Fair (1964, English variant) - BFI only, HDJour Germany fete (1994/5) - Criterion SD, BFI HD

Director: Jacques Tati

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)

Video Notes:

> Criterion/StudioCanal. New restoration unreleased.

Director: Claire Denis

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

2027 Criterion Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode; BFI shows noticeable macroblocking

Best Audio:

MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

No dip around 10 kHz, wider dynamic range, more natural EQ; BFI & Carlotta BDs are identically worse; HMAX Streaming is similar to the BDs but has worse dynamics

Director: Akira Kurosawa

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2015 Star Media Blu-ray/2019 BFI Player WEB-DL

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2022 BFI Boxset Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Tartan DVD, Criterion DVD

Director: Martin Rosen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2002 R2 WB DVD

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray/BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Criterion and BFI very similar

Best Audio:

Fox Lorber DVD

Director: F. W. Murnau

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score

Additional Info:

Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2006 Criterion DVD

Director: Edward D. Wood Jr.

Video format: 4K Streaming

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Ben Stiller

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Comparisons

Audio Notes:

Spectrograms

Director: Gary Ross

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film

Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison

Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's an older master.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

US Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> UK MoC 4K Blu-ray > Australia Imprint > US Kino Lorber better encoding

The MoC, Criterion and Imprint UHDs were encoded by FiM making all 3 very close. The higher bitrate helped in deciding and some luck; however Criterion is the most consistent one of all 3. Imprint has some scenes with more splotchy grain while MoC is quite close to Criterion but has some more blocking in dark scenes (e.g.: comp #27). With Criterion’s superior audio, it ensures complete consistency.

Audio Notes:

From cbc: "I'm personally quite fond of the restored track on Eureka's 4K Blu-ray. It does have spots with objectively worse fidelity, but for the most part, it sounds a lot more natural and less shrill, particularly dialogue. It seems to be a new mixdown of stems. Technically a remix, so not everyone's cup of tea, but it's not revisionist like most new movie mixes tend to be"

Additional Info:

Both Imprint (included in their set) and Capelight (on its own/individually) offer remastered BDs. All other BDs, including the one included in The Complete Kubrick, are sourced from the same older master from around 2010.

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray also includes exclusive "Reborn Cut"

TV series

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best Video:

Germany Nameless Blu-ray

For uncut Dream Cruise: Germany Splendid Film standalone Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

Germany Nameless collection is uncut except Dream Cruise

Director: Masaaki Yuasa

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US GKIDS Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Japan Aniplex Blu-ray is severely lowpassed, which is not an issue on the US release

Director: Doug Liman

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Cut: US Universal HD-DVD

International Cut: International Universal HD-DVD

Video Notes:

The Universal Blu-ray is slightly filtered and DNR'd compared to the HD-DVD, and the Universal 4K Blu-ray, on top of being upscaled, adds additional DNR and is softer than both previous HD releases.

Best Audio:

Universal Blu-ray DTS-HD 5.1

Additional Info:

Versions:
- The International version contains a short additional scene (part of the "Farmhouse" extended scene from the special features). See additional detail below.
- The US version does not contain this scene during the film. Director Doug Liman confirms in his audio commentary that the scene was cut from the original US theatrical release "for time".
- "The Explosive Extended Edition" found on some DVD releases is not an alternate cut of the film, simply an access mode that plays "The Bookend Scenes" features via non-seamless branching.

Deck the Halls scene:
The U.S. release is 118:17 while the European/Australian/Japanese releases are 118:36. There is no difference between the two running times from the start, but at 81:21, the U.S. version cuts from a kitchen scene of Marie and Eamon washing dishes, to a scene of Eamon bringing blankets to Jason and Marie. On the European/Australian releases, at the same point, there is a scene of Jason, Marie, Eamon and his children eating dinner while "Deck the Halls" plays in the background. There is no dialogue, the characters just each exchange uncomfortable glances. The scene goes to 81:40, then picks up the same scene of Eamon bringing blankets. This scene is included as an extra ("Farmhouse" extended scene) albeit sans the holiday themed music. Many thanks to Rewind user Mark Bowen for comparing these releases and letting us know the difference.

Director: David Lean

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

caps

Director: John Boorman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

2027 Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1984 WB LaserDisc

Director: Bong Joon Ho

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

UK Artificial Eye 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027

Best Video:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)

Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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