FAERIE TALE THEATRE: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (TV)
Summary
One is this series of whimsical fairy tales hosted and produced by Shelley Duvall. In this version of the classic tale, a dashing young man, Jaques, greets two sisters, Georgette and Marguerite, but they are dismayed when he asks to see their quiet, humble younger sister, Beauty. He asks Beauty for her hand yet again, but she refuses him, saying she must remain at home to care for her father. Her sisters are thrilled to learn that their father will soon return home with a fortune, but elsewhere, their father becomes lost in a forest and stumbles upon a magic castle. He enters but finds no one, and dines on a grand meal served by unseen hands. In the morning, in the garden surrounding the castle, he notices a patch of white roses and picks one for Beauty. Suddenly, a hideous Beast appears, demanding that the man pay for the flower with his life. He pleads with the Beast and tells him of his daughter for whom he had picked the rose. The Beast gives the man seven days to decide whether he will forfeit his own life or give up one of his daughters to live with him, and sends the father back home on his horse, Magic. When the sisters learn of their father’s dilemma, Georgette and Marguerite declare that he should break his word and not return, but Beauty decides that she will take his place and rides off to the castle on Magic. She swoons upon seeing the Beast, but he treats her kindly, saying that she shall have her every whim and requesting that they share dinner every night at seven. At their first meal, he states that he has a soul despite his frightening appearance, and asks her to be his wife. Scared, she refuses, and he says that he will ask her every night.
At night, Beauty is alarmed by the Beast’s strange behavior, and she sees him using a magic mirror to spy on her. He attempts to present her with a gift, and though she sends him away, she seems to reconsider her impression of him. However, she begins to miss her father greatly, but the Beast says he will die without her. One night, she finds him covered in blood, apparently from hunting, and, ashamed, he begs her not to look at him. She soon sees her father in the magic mirror, seemingly ill and dying, and she begs the Beast to let her visit him. The Beast allows her go home provided that she return within seven days. After that time, he claims, he will have died of a broken heart. By placing a magic ring on her hand, Beauty is suddenly transported home and reunited with her father. Her sisters are less pleased to see her, however, believing she was dead and growing jealous of her fine things. Back at the castle, the Beast’s suffering at Beauty’s absence increases. Beauty tells her father that she intends to keep her promise and return to the Beast after a week, saying that she has seen goodness in him and feels a connection between them, but her father refuses to let her go. She soon finds that the magic ring is gone and panics, believing her selfish sisters took it for themselves. Her father, however, has stolen it, and gives it to Jaques to sell. When Beauty asks what happened, her father admits what he did, and Beauty pursues Jaques and reclaims the ring, immediately returning to the castle, where she discovers that the Beast is dying. He tells her that he has no reason to live, but she tells him that she loves him and he immediately transforms back into a man, telling her that a spell was placed upon him that could only be broken by a woman’s love. He proposes to her yet again and this time she accepts, and they journey off to his faraway kingdom together. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: Showtime
- DATE: August 13, 1984 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:06810
- GENRE: Children's programs
- SUBJECT HEADING: Children 's programs; Fairy tales
- SERIES RUN: Showtime - TV series, 1982-1987
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Shelley Duvall … Executive Producer
- Bridget Terry … Producer
- Fredric S. Fuchs … Producer
- Sandra Pearson … Associate Producer
- Robert C. Jones … Writer
- Roger Vadim … Director
- Stephen Barber … Music by
- Rob Meurer … Music by
- Shelley Duvall … Host
- Klaus Kinski … Cast, Beast
- Susan Sarandon … Cast, Beauty
- Stephen Elliott … Cast, Father
- Anjelica Huston … Cast, Marguerite
- Nancy Lenehan … Cast, Georgette
- Stanley Wilson … Cast, Jaques