Beauty And The Beast

This 1989 Cine Golden Eagle Award winning video is hauntingly narrated by Mia Farrow, and beautifully animated by Mordicai Gerstein. Based on the enduring fairy tale by Mme. Leprince du Beaumont, Gerstein's imaginative retelling offers young viewers one of the greatest love stories of all time. When a merchant plucks a rose outside a seemingly deserted castle, he is sentenced to die by a huge, ugly Beast. Upon returning home, his youngest daughter, Beauty, decides to go in his stead. But far from wanting to kill her, the Beast nightly asks for Beauty's hand in marriage. Farrow's hoarse, strangled, sorrowful rendition of the Beast's request is incredibly moving. Your heart starts to literally pound, and before you know it, tears are rolling down your cheeks. Beyond the basic story, Gerstein's masterful dream sequences in which Beauty follows the nightingale stand out, as does Ernest Troost's excellent musical score. An exquisite piece of filmmaking, this crowning achievement in the initial four volumes of Joshua Greene's "Stories to Remember" series will be remembered indeed for a long, long time. Highly recommended. (Available from most distributors.)