Kelly WandLa Belle et la Bęte
September 19th 2006 00:58
If all this excitement wasn’t enough for my pre-pubescent mind, this woman demanded that we – the viewing public – should leave our windows open so she could fly in and give us a little kiss. I lived in hope. She didn’t come. I blamed living in Wollongong. It was a long way to fly but – if she’d made the effort – I would have let her sleep over. Oh, ghoul girl… When will you be mine? I know you were just a cheap way of fulfilling the obligatory Australian content rules but you have warped my fragile little mind.
There is a rule in television whereby anything any good will some day get the chop. The quality of flicks dropped off and Vampire girl vanished. “Creature Feature” lost its night time slot and found itself running head to head against Channel Nine’s “World Championship Wrestling” on Saturday at noon. Initially, it was a tough call to make but the choice became easier as time went along. There are only just so many times you can see “Attack of the Mushroom People” and continue hoping it will get better next time you see it. (Even today, I wonder, if I could see it in its original Japanese language form, would it be better. It couldn’t be any worse than I remember it.) Across the dial, Haystacks Calhoun and Killer Carl Cox were calling and most of the time I was listening.
One afternoon, the weirdest thing happened. Some programming genius decided to include Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bęte” in the schedule. Of course, it was badly dubbed and called “Beauty and the Beast” but it was still a bizarre occurrence. Was it an act of wild subversion or merely the lazy stupidity of a programmer who just through it out there with the other trash? Can a thing be subversive by accident?
It certainly changed me. I was your typical boy child. I wasn’t into girly things like fairy tales but this movie had the power to hypnotise. Besides, the story touches something very primal. Maybe it is just me but don’t all men feel an ugliness inside that can only be tempered by beauty’s touch?
I’m not going to waste your time by going over the film’s plot. Instead, let me tell you that every frame of “La Belle et la Bęte” is magical. The effects may be crude but they have a surreal quality as close to dreaming and poetry as any film ever made. When Disney made their version they plundered from this film’s imagery but forgot to tackle its essential core. Whilst this is a fairy tale, it is very grown up.
Listen, if it impressed a snot nosed kid enough for him to skip the wrestling, it must have something going for it. Hunt it down with a vengeance especially if you have ever considered picking up a camera yourself. It would take a very cold heart indeed not to love it.
By the way, I think there was something subversive going on at Channel Seven. After several more weeks of men in poorly fitting rubber suits, the 1935 version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” also made the listings. It’s a funny old world.
And, finally, who was that Ghoul Girl?
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Good job
Comment by Jas
Stories: Put Them in Your Brain
Food, Wine and Coffee
One Planet
Comment by Bob Short
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
I remember thinking it interesting, though, that the Cocteau equivalent of scrolling text was to hold a piece of paper in front of the camera and gradually move it upwards.
Comment by Bob Short