Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1991

The Contenders:

Beauty and the Beast
Bugsy
JFK
The Prince of Tides
The Silence of the Lambs (winner)

Be Our Guest

Film: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Format: DVD from Moline Public Library through interlibrary loan on laptop.

It’s fair to say that I missed a good portion of the Disney renaissance. For a lot of the classic Disney films, I was in my 20s and married and didn’t have kids, so I didn’t care that much about animated movies. Beauty and the Beast was one that I saw not because of my kids but because of a niece who loved it. So, I knew exactly what I was getting when I revisited it. It’s widely considered one of Disney’s best animated films, one that is frequently thought of as representative of this area, and for a good reason. It’s also the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture, which is a clear indication of just how good it is.

So look, this is a story that you already know. Belle (Paige O’Hara) is the beautiful but oddball daughter of Maurice (Rex Everhart), an inventor in a small French town. Belle doesn’t really care that people think she is odd, but she wants a great deal more out of her life. In fact, aside from her father, the only person in town who has any interest in her is Gaston (Richard White), the hunting-obsessed, most eligible bachelor in the area.

Tale as Old as Time

Film: La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast)
Format: DVD from NetFlix on Sue’s Mother’s Day gift.

Say “Beauty and the Beast” to someone, and you’ll almost certainly get a response that reflects the Disney film of that name. that’s only natural, since that’s the most relevant thing of that name in most people’s heads, and has been for the last 20 years or so (yes, 20 years). What I didn’t know until tonight was that a great deal of the look and feel of the Disney film comes from the earlier incarnation, Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast), a black-and-white fantasy that probably sticks a little closer to the original fairy tale and doesn’t involve a singing teapot.

In this version, Belle (Josette Day) does her best Cinderella impression as the maid and servant for her two sisters, Felicie (Mila Parely) and Adelaide (Nane Germon). She also has a brother named Ludovic (Michel Auclair) and a father (Marcel Andre). The family is going through difficult times because the father lost a shipment of goods on the high seas. Belle is forced to work for her sisters, who are hoping to land a rich husband. But good news comes in—another shipment has arrived safely, and the family is saved. He promises lavish gifts to the two mean daughters while Belle asks for a simple rose. Meanwhile, the wastrel Ludovic promises to pay off his debts to a moneylender (Raoul Marco), promising that worthy that if he doesn’t pay, he can take all of his father’s possessions.