Danish postcard by Paletti / Euromic, Copenhagen, no. 821522. Image: Disney. Scene from Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991).
Danish postcard by Paletti / Euromic, Copenhagen, no. 821520. Image: Disney. Scene from Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991).
Danish postcard by Paletti / Euromic, Copenhagen, no. 821530. Image: Disney. Scene from Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991).
A cursed prince
In Beauty and the Beast, a young and handsome but very arrogant prince is cursed for his heartlessness after he refuses to allow a sorceress to enter his castle. The prince must continue to live as a hideous beast. The curse can only be broken if he falls in love with someone, and that love is mutual.
If all these conditions are not met before his 21st birthday, the day the last petal falls from the sorceress's magic rose, he will have to live the rest of his life as the Beast. The curse also affects the prince's entire staff; they are transformed into household objects, but retain all their human abilities and characteristics, including the ability to speak.
Belle and her father, the inventor Maurice, live in a small village in the French countryside. Belle is the prettiest girl in the village and loves to spend her time reading. However, both are considered oddballs by the villagers, Belle because she reads so much, and Maurice because of his strange inventions.
Gaston, the strongest and most handsome man in the village, has a crush on Belle, but she is not interested in him. Maurice takes one of his inventions to a trade fair, but gets lost on the way. By chance, he ends up at the Beast's castle.
The enchanted servants welcome him warmly, but the Beast himself wants nothing to do with the intruder. Maurice is locked up in the tower. When her father does not return, Belle goes looking for him and also ends up in the castle. There, she makes a deal with the Beast: she will voluntarily stay with him for the rest of her life if he lets her father go. The Beast agrees.
Danish postcard by Paletti / Euromic, Copenhagen, no. 821531. Image: Disney. Scene from Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991).
American postcard by Chronicle Books from The Disney Animation Postcard Box, 2023. Image: Disney. Scene from Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991). Caption: Gaston with LeFou.
British postcard by The Art Group Ltd, no. 8835. Image: Disney. Still for Beauty and the Beast (1991). Caption: Belle and the Beast befriend the birds.
Drawings of stained glass windows depicting the story
'Beauty and the Beast' was one of the fairy tales chosen by Walt Disney for a possible film adaptation after the success of his very first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, a.o., 1937). Attempts to turn the story into a film had already been made in the 1930s and 1940s, but were ultimately abandoned because it would be too difficult with the resources available at the time. Moreover, Disney was discouraged from making the film after Jean Cocteau released a film adaptation of this story, La Belle et la Bête (Jean Cocteau, René Clément, 1946), starring Josette Day and Jean Marais.
After the success of The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1989), The Walt Disney Company revived its plans for Beauty and the Beast. The original screenplay that had already been written was rejected because the producers felt that the story would not be successful. Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, and Don Hahn were now put on the project. Hahn invited directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale to direct the film.
Ashman and Menken worked closely with the writers to create a ‘Broadway-style’ film. Because there were only two main characters in the original story, a lot of new characters were added, such as the Beast's staff and Gaston. The opening scene of the film, which tells the backstory of how the prince was enchanted, consists of drawings of stained glass windows depicting the story, a technique that is unusual in Disney films. This was done to preserve the traditional atmosphere of Disney films based on fairy tales without having to draw a book, which had been done so often in the past. In the final script, some of the original scenes were omitted. For example, Belle's stay in the Beast's library was initially much longer, and she would have met even more new characters, such as castle residents transformed into objects, in that scene.
According to Alan Menken, the opening song 'Belle' was the first song he and Ashman wrote for the film. The song ‘Be Our Guest’ was originally intended for the scene in which Maurice enters the castle and is welcomed by the staff. However, Bruce Woodside felt the song was more suitable for Belle, as she is one of the central characters in the story. ‘Human Again’, a song that did not make it into the original version of the film, was added to the film for the 2002 special edition. All the songs in the film were among the last complete works for a film by Howard Ashman, who had also written the lyrics for The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1989) and several for Aladdin (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1992). Ashman died six months before Beauty and the Beast was released. A tribute to him is included at the end of the film.
Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991) was a huge success and received positive reviews from almost all quarters. When it was originally released in 1991, Disney's film grossed $145 million in the United States and $403 million worldwide. This made it the third most successful film of 1991, after Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991) and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Kevin Reynolds, 1991).
American postcard by Disney MGM Studios in The Art of Disney Animation series, no. ST-8. Image: Disney. Artist working on Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991). Caption: Guests take a guided tour through an active animation studio where artists are working on the next animated film. Sent by mail in 2002.
French postcard by MD. Image: Disney. Still for Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, 1991). The French title is La Belle et la Bête.
American postcard by Disney Materials, 2006. Image: Disney. Still for Beauty and the Beast (1991). Caption: This is the evening the Beast has awaited, but can he tell Belle his love? He knows his heart, but does she yet know her own? These lovers are as uncertain as they are hopeful - emotions and a tale "as old as time".
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.
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