Beauty and the Beast (1978 film)

Beauty and the Beast
Theatrical release poster
CzechPanna a netvor
Directed byJuraj Herz
Written byPavla Marková
Story byFrantišek Hrubín
Ota Hofman
Based onLa Belle et la Bête
by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
StarringZdena Studenková
Vlastimil Harapes
CinematographyViktor Růžička
Edited byJaromír Janáček
Music byPetr Hapka
Production
company
Distributed byÚstřední půjčovna filmů
Release date
  • March 1978 (1978-03)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryCzechoslovakia
LanguageCzech

Beauty and the Beast (Czech: Panna a netvor; literally translates to The Virgin and the Monster) is a 1978 Czechoslovak Gothic horror film directed by Juraj Herz from the script by Pavla Marková.[1][2] It is based on Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's 1756 fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.

For his direction, Herz received the Medalla Sitges en Oro de Ley at the Sitges Film Festival in 1979.[3]

Plot

A widowed and ruined merchant lives with his three daughters. Julie (Zdena Studenková), the youngest, asks him to bring her a rose. On the way to the village, he falls asleep on his horse while crossing an enchanted forest. He wakes up in front of a disturbing castle, populated by strange creatures and picks a white rose in the park where he meets a bloodthirsty being (Vlastimil Harapes), half-man, half-falcon, who sentences him to death. His only chance of survival would be for one of his daughters to sacrifice herself, who would have to agree to remain a prisoner of the Beast for eternity. But the merchant refuses and agrees to die. Julie is the only one of the three daughters that chooses to save her father's life. She goes to the Haunted Wood's Castle where she meets the Beast. He has no qualms about killing Julie, but her beauty prevents him from doing so. Although Julie is forbidden to look at the Beast, she starts to fall in love with him and the love rescues the Beast from his curse.

Cast

Reception

David Melville from Senses of Cinema wrote, "Panna a netvor has the capacity to horrify in the best and the worst of ways. Yet like any true fairy tale, it is unlikely ever to leave its audience bored or indifferent".[4]

Legacy

Beauty and the Beast inspired Lucile Hadžihalilović's 2025 fantasy drama film The Ice Tower. Hadžihalilović said: "There's something in the dark fairy-tale atmosphere, steeped in snow and dread. The framing, the lighting, the unsettling beauty—a blend of surreal and the real within a toxic atmosphere really captured my imagination."[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jack Zipes (27 January 2011). The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films. Routledge. p. 408. ISBN 978-1-135-85395-2.
  2. ^ Bartłomiej Paszylk (8 June 2009). The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey. McFarland. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-7864-5327-6.
  3. ^ Film a doba: měsíčník pro filmovou kulturu (in Czech). Vol. 26. Orbis. 1980. p. 125.
  4. ^ Melville, David (14 October 2019). "Beauty and the Beast (1978) • Juraj Herz • Senses of Cinema". SenseofCinema.com. Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Films that inspired Lucile Hadžihalilović's 'The Ice Tower'". Letterboxd. 2 October 2025.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(1978_film)