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.

La Beauté du diable
Beauty and the Devil
original movie poster
Directed byRené Clair
Written byRené Clair
Armand Salacrou
Produced bySalvo D'Angelo
StarringMichel Simon
Gérard Philipe
CinematographyMichel Kelber
Edited byJames Cuenet
Music byRoman Vlad
Distributed byLes Films Corona (France)
ENIC (Italy)
Release dates
  • 16 March 1950 (1950-03-16) (France)
  • 14 April 1950 (1950-04-14) (Italy)
Running time
96 minutes
CountriesFrance
Italy
LanguageFrench
Box office2,538,884 admissions (France)[1]

Cast

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Release and reception

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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

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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

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  1. ^ "Box Office Success of Gerard Philippe films". Box Office Story. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  2. ^ Khan, Imran (18 November 2013). "'The Beauty and the Devil' and the Visual Feast". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  3. ^ Jane, Ian (29 October 2013). "Beauty of the Devil". DVDTalk. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
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