Beauty and the Devil
1950 French film
- 16 March 1950 (1950-03-16) (France)
- 14 April 1950 (1950-04-14) (Italy)
Running time
Italy
La Beauté du diable (literally "the beauty of the devil"; originally released in the UK and USA as Beauty and the Devil) is a 1950 Franco-Italian fantasy film drama directed by René Clair. A tragicomedy set in the early 19th century, it is about an ageing alchemist, Henri Faust, who is given the chance to be eternally young by the devil Mephistopheles. It is loosely adapted from the classic early 19th-century verse play Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Cast
- Michel Simon as Mephistopheles / Old Professor Henri Faust
- Gérard Philipe as Young Henri Faust / Young-looking Mephistopheles
- Nicole Besnard as Marguerite, the gypsy girl
- Raymond Cordy as Antoine, the servant
- Simone Valère as La Princesse
- Carlo Ninchi as Le Prince
- Gaston Modot as Gypsy
- Tullio Carminati as Diplomat
- Paolo Stoppa as Official
Release and reception
In 2013, the Cohen Film Collection released the Beauty and the Devil on DVD and Blu-ray. Besides the film, which was reconstructed (with bad audio), the film offers a 2010 documentary on the film itself.[2] Ian Jane of the DVDTalk said in his closing comments regarding the Blu-ray release: "Beauty Of The Devil is slick, it's stylish and it's wonderfully shot meaning that not only is the creative way in which the story is told compelling and interesting but that it is as much a treat for the eyes as it is for the mind. The performances are good and Clair does some interesting things with his take on the story of Faust. This may be an atypical take on the classic tale, but it works incredibly well."[3]
Awards
The film was nominated for Best Film at the 1951 BAFTA Awards and won two awards at the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists with a Silver Ribbon Best Actor award going to Michel Simon and best Best Production Design to Aldo Tommasini and Léon Barsacq.
References
- ^ "Box Office Success of Gerard Philippe films". Box Office Story. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ Khan, Imran (18 November 2013). "'The Beauty and the Devil' and the Visual Feast". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ Jane, Ian (29 October 2013). "Beauty of the Devil". DVDTalk. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
External links
- Beauty and the Devil at IMDb
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Films directed by René Clair
- The Crazy Ray (1924)
- The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge (1925)
- The Imaginary Voyage (1926)
- The Prey of the Wind (1927)
- The Italian Straw Hat (1928)
- Two Timid Souls (1928)
- Under the Roofs of Paris (1930)
- Le Million (1931)
- À Nous la Liberté (1931)
- Bastille Day (1933)
- The Last Billionaire (1934)
- The Ghost Goes West (1935)
- Break the News (1938)
- The Flame of New Orleans (1941)
- I Married a Witch (1942)
- It Happened Tomorrow (1944)
- And Then There Were None (1945)
- Man About Town (1947)
- Beauty and the Devil (1950)
- Beauties of the Night (1952)
- The Grand Maneuver (1955)
- Gates of Paris (1957)
- All the Gold in the World (1961)
- The Lace Wars (1965)
Anthologies
- Entr'acte (1924)
- Forever and a Day (1943, segment "1897")
- Three Fables of Love (1962, segment "Les Deux Pigeons")
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