Plus Belle

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2014)

By chance I happened to see Coctaeau's La Belle et Le Bete about a year ago and now, having seen the animated version I was struck by how closely Disney followed Cocteau (who was himself, of course, following Perrault), especially in the opening sequences, albeit in Cocteau Belle was something of a Cinderella figure with a couple of siblings. But the father getting lost and stumbling on the castle of the Beast and Belle following him and trading places was all there in Cocteau. What wasn't in Cocteau of course was the score and that in itself was a throwback to the pre-1960 Popular Song when melodic melodies and literate lyrics were the norm before what Social Scientists would describe as de-skilling entered the equation and the new generation of songwriters not only could not produce quality songs but didn't WANT to. Thankfully we are now, so to speak, back on song, and better for it with titles like Be Our Guest, Gaston, and Human Again, actually fun to listen to. One of Disney's best.