BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
WALT DISNEY, 1991 | COLOR (TECHNICOLOR), 84 MINUTES
DIRECTORS: GARY TROUSDALE AND KIRK WISE PRODUCER: DON HAHN SCREENPLAY: LINDA WOOLVERTON, BASED ON THE STORY BY JEANNE-MARIE LEPRINCE DE BEAUMONT SONGS: ALAN MENKEN (MUSIC) AND HOWARD ASHMAN (LYRICS) CAST VOICES: PAIGE O’HARA (BELLE), ROBBY BENSON (BEAST), ANGELA LANSBURY (MRS. POTTS), JERRY ORBACH (LUMIÈRE), DAVID OGDEN STIERS (COGSWORTH), RICHARD WHITE (GASTON), JO ANNE WORLEY (WARDROBE), REX EVERHART (MAURICE), JESSE CORTI (LEFOU), BRADLEY MICHAEL PIERCE (CHIP)
A bookish girl unselfishly takes her father’s place as prisoner in the castle of a fearsome beast.
Disney happily goes back to its Snow White roots in what is likely the finest full-fledged original, non-adapted musical seen on the screen since Mary Poppins.
The success of The Little Mermaid, in 1989, made several things clear to both the Disney organization and, pretty much, the rest of the world. One was that the studio could still make animated fairy tales the public would love. Another was that the dearth of movie musicals in the 1980s and ’90s need not extend to animated films. A third was that Howard Ashman and Alan Menken were hugely talented songwriters and a perfect match for the Disney style. Beauty and the Beast, then, was something of an inevitable follow-up, and had been under consideration by the studio for decades. It differed from previous animated features in having a full-fledged screenplay, not a series of storyboard sequences, as well as an early use of digital technology. By Disney standards, it was a troubled project, with much of the initial animation work being scrapped and the original director resigning. Most tragically, lyricist Ashman died from AIDS-related causes while production was underway. When finally completed, it scored a degree of acclaim nearly equal to that of its greatest animated predecessors, including the first Academy Award nomination for Best Picture given an animated feature. There were also astronomical grosses, a live-action Broadway version that ran for thirteen years, and eventually a hugely expensive and extremely profitable remake that blended live action with digital animation.
From its very opening, it’s clear that Beauty and the Beast is, proudly and overtly, as much a musical as The King and I or Fiddler on the Roof. No wonder it moved so easily to the stage—it follows a through-line from the opening scene–setting introduction (“Belle”) through the uproarious character exposition of “Gaston,” the plot-advancing “Something There” and “The Mob Song,” and the showstopping “Be Our Guest.” The title song, originally conceived as an up-tempo piece with a rock vibe, was eventually slowed down to a dreamy ballad, then given a definitive rendition (on the first take) by a member of the Broadway musical elite, Angela Lansbury.
As with The Little Mermaid, with its happy ending not in the original tale, there are a number of embellishments and changes, some of them not unlike those in Jean Cocteau’s classic live-action version, released in 1946. The artwork has considerable richness and detail, the voice characterizations are first-rate, and the musical presentation is as good as any Disney has ever done. There is also, in the characterization of Belle, a subtly feminist updating that makes her one of the most winning of Disney protagonists. Most particularly, there are those Ashman-Menken songs, as integral to the success of the enterprise as well-executed animation and the special assurance of the Disney brand. Surely one measure of its triumph is the fact that even some of the more effusive reviews of the 2017 Disney version made a point of noting that with an original this good, a remake had not been absolutely necessary.
“Beauty and the Beast”
With both its quality and success, it’s small wonder that Beauty has paved the way for so many more tales to follow. Many of those, especially The Lion King and Frozen, have continued along a musical path, but for depth and overall accomplishment, the tale of Belle and her Beast—in this, their original drawn-and-painted incarnations—remains a crowning achievement.
“Be Our Guest”
“The Mob Song”
David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, and Jerry Orbach in the recording studio
WHAT’S MORE
Ever resourceful and creative, Disney found a way to turn Beauty’s production delays into a well-publicized advantage. The film’s first public screening, at the New York Film Festival in September 1991, was designated that of a “work in progress,” with 30 percent of the film still incomplete. Certain sequences were entirely in pencil outline, while others went back and forth between pencil and full animation. The response was hugely positive, and the unique nature of the project ensured possibly even more attention than it might have gotten as a conventionally finished work.
The credits of Beauty and the Beast include the following, quite appropriate, acknowledgment: “To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman (1950–1991).”
MUSICALLY SPEAKING
“Be Our Guest” was always intended as a central knock-’em-dead showpiece, serving pretty much the same purpose that “Under the Sea” had in The Little Mermaid. Originally, the number was to be performed for Maurice, Belle’s father, but after it had been animated the filmmakers realized that Belle would make a more suitable one-person audience. Besides the catchy song itself, it contains a barrage of cinematic references: Maurice Chevalier (expertly channeled by Jerry Orbach), many Warner Bros. and Disney cartoons where objects in a store or kitchen come to life after hours, and especially a great deal of Busby Berkeley. With abstract geometry out of Dames, diving beauties from Footlight Parade and Million Dollar Mermaid, and Berkeley’s trademark overhead-camera compositions, this is an overt, breathlessly effective homage. (And would be so again in the 2017 version.) As has been proven again and again, a movie musical can sometimes be most effective when it knows and acknowledges its forebears. Imitation can be flattering, and heartfelt tribute is another, superior, matter entirely.
“Belle”