Jean Cocteau's classic fairy tale remains one ofthe cinema's most enchanting and sensuous excursions into the realm of poeticfantasy. It is the story of Belle (Josette Day), who, in order to save herfather, agrees to live with the hideous Beast (Jean Marais) in his castle in agreat forest. Slowly, she grows to feel some emotion for him, and her lovetransforms him into a handsome prince. With its superb cinematography by HenriAlekan, splendid makeup creations and fantastic sets, Beauty and the Beast standsout as one of Cocteau's great successes-visually, it is a feast for thefairy-tale faithful. But Cocteau reverses the happy ending of his fairy-taleworld by making the Beast's transformation a cause for regret. "Myaim," he has said "would be to make the Beast so human, so sympathetic,so superior to men, that his transformation into Prince Charming would come as aterrible blow to Beauty, condemning her to a humdrum marriage and a future thatis summed up in that last sentence of all fairy tales: 'And they had manychildren.'"