Beauty and the Beast

Loosely based on the classic fairy tale, this version of Beauty and The Beast sees handsome Duke Eduardo (Mark Damon) suffering under a curse brought about by his tyrant father: when the sun sets, the young man is transformed into a beast, who looks remarkably like Universal's The Wolf Man (this film's 'monster' also created by that film's legendary make-up artist Jack P. Pierce). By night, Eduardo searches for the hidden tomb of Scarlotti, the alchemist who placed the curse, hoping to find some way to put an end to his torment. Joyce Taylor plays Althea, betrothed to Eduardo, who discovers her beloved's secret but remains devoted, and Michael Pate stars as villainous Uncle Bruno, who wants to overthrow his nephew and become ruler in his place.

This is a fairly routine fantasy with gentle gothic horror undertones that plays out with few surprises - it's a handsomely mounted production but predictably scripted and, for the most part, flatly directed by Edward L. Cahn, who delivers little energy or excitement, at least until the final act, when some genuine peril is introduced for Eduardo and Althea as Bruno incites hatred and leads an angry mob to the castle to try and kill the beast. In time-honoured fashion, true love saves the day as Althea's willingness to die alongside Eduardo breaks the curse in the nick of time. Damon and Taylor make for good-looking protagonists, but Pate steals the show with another one of his brilliant boo-hiss bad-guy performances.

Little-seen American-made rewrite of the classic fable is an awesomely awful 'family film' set in Italy. The beautiful daughter of the Count of Sardi is all set to marry a vacuous Prince Charming, but he has inherited an ancient curse which turns him into a werewolf every nightfall. Bad films can be a lot of fun, but this one is just sad. Paltry production values, pitiful make-up effects, amateurish cast including Joyce Taylor, Mark Damon and Edward Franz, terrible script and direction. Stick with the 1946 French version by Jean Cocteau. Heck, even Disney's animated bombast is preferable to this! NO STARS from ****

Talyor the Beauty and Damon the Beast in this terrible ripoff. It would be better off if this film was not filmed at all, or if it was flushed down the can. Mark Damon's acting was horrible, and the soundtrack sounded like a chainsaw. But I'll give it 1(half)out of 10, because I feel sorry for it.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was the last movie by experienced Hollywood director Edward L.Cahn who died in 1963. He was a real workhorse and directed some 100 films in 30 years, among them such B-Picture classics as THE CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN, ZOMBIES OF MORA-TAU, INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, IT!-THE TERROR FROM BRYOND SPACE and THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is an unimportant and pretty boring period picture with well done art direction, but that is all it has to offer. The naive story moves along at a snail's pace without any highpoint and there is no action at all. Although Mark Damon looks like a werewolf after he turns into the beast, this is not a horror film, because Damon is a very tame "werewolf", who does no harm to anyone. Anyway, with or without make-up: Damons acting ability is not very impressive and it was a wise move by him, to give up acting and become a movie producer a few years later.

I remember seeing this movie as a child. Even then, I was expecting the story that I grew up with, but I didn't find it here. The entirely new adaptation, suggested by the classic fairy tale has Lady Althea (Joyce Taylor) journeying with her father, (Dayton Lummis) to the land of the prince to whom she is betrothed. What she does not know, is that Prince Eduardo (Mark Taylor) suffers from a curse which transforms him into a beast every night. Meanwhile, his evil cousin, Prince Bruno (Michael Pate) and his wife, Princess Sybil (Merry Anders) are waiting for a chance to seize the throne, with the help of a spy, Grimaldi (Walter Burke). Although Althea eventually discovers Eduardo's horrifying secret, she remains loyal to him. Both Taylor and Damon are a handsome heroine and hero, and play their parts with feeling.The rest of the cast follows suit. The film looks very attractive for a B-picture (it was the last movie from prolific director Edward Cahn) and the moral from the original story has been retained. If you don't expect the classic fairy tale, it can be enjoyed on it's own terms.