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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

BFI Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago

Video notes:

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

Overview

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.

Release details

TSPDT
2026: #332
2025: #324
2024: #322
2023: #323
2022: #323
Length
95 mins
Type
Movie

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

See more →

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

Director: Yasujirō Ozu

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2020 BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2005 Raro DVD

Director: Dennis Hopper

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

BFI Blu-ray renders grain structure better than Severin 4K Blu-ray’s disappointing encode, although Severin does feature an HDR grading with Dolby Vision. Furthermore, Severin’s soundtrack is worse due to the noise reduction applied.

Additional Info:

Severin 4K Blu-ray has very good extras that are more relevant to the film

Director: Jan Švankmajer

Best English-Friendly & Video:

BFI Blu-ray or Athanor The Films of Jan Svankmajer Blu-ray

Best Audio:

BFI Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

BFI Blu-ray for both original Czech and English dub audio in lossless format

Additional Info:

Athanor The Films of Jan Svankmajer Blu-ray has exclusive extras

More Drama on Blu-ray

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Japan Blu-ray 2021 reissue

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Japan Blu-ray has better encode than other BDs.

Additional Info:

US and UK Blu-rays have their framing slightly positioned higher and lower respectively caps. JP BD is closest to center frame.

Directors: Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · filmalert101.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

FiM encode and none of the low-pass filtering present on the Criterion 4K, resulting in more detail and better handling of highlights on Imprint
Review, comparisons

Best Audio:

ITV UK Blu-ray or Indigo DE Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

All HD and 4K sources use the same 2009 restoration. Criterion's master (also used by Imprint) is a bit more rolled off, though the difference is minor.

Director: Doug Liman

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

US Cut: Universal HD-DVD

International Cut: International Universal Blu-ray but slightly filtered and DNR'd

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: Stanley Kubrick

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

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the WB release without the filtering, 1.85 ratio restored

Best Audio:

Mono: Criterion 4K Blu-ray (restored for the box set)/1999 WB R1 DVD
5.1 remix: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Director: Michael Mann

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · thedigitalbits.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and is better than Criterion, see caps https://slow.pics/c/Z2RRQAAT

Criterion 4K Blu-ray vs Blu-ray: caps colors are more different and nuanced than anticipated even in the SDR-converted caps and the usual gain in highlight detail is also apparent. Encode looks excellent except for the brightest areas as usual.

Best Audio:

5.1/5.0 mix (essentially a 4-track mix in 5.1 and 5.0 containers respectively)-Arrow/Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Only imperceptible differences in bit-depth: 20 vs 24. 

2.0 mix- Arrow 4K Blu-ray (original stereo)

Additional Info:

Arrow and Criterion 4K Blu-rays have differing extras 

Criterion has FEL Dolby Vision, Arrow has MEL

Arrow Limited Edition includes the Theatrical Cut Blu-ray from an older HD master, most likely from a 2K scan of an interpositive.

Directors: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK StudioCanal UHD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

US Magnolia BD

Audio Notes:

UK Entertainment One release contains directors commentary track

Director: Simon Wells

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Dolby Stereo: THX Certified Laserdisc

Director: Samuel Fuller

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-Ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

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· last reviewed 1 year ago

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