YMMV / Beauty and the Beast (1946)

• Fandom Rivalry: This sometime overlaps with Friendly Fandoms, fans of Cocteau's movie and Disney's take can have heated debate which version is better. As mentioned below, Cocteau fans prefer this movie for its poeticism and greater influence in cinematic history (as mentioned below) and sees the Disney version as being too commercial and saccharine. Disney fans, on the other hand, while some respects the older version for what its merits, thought the Cocteau version to be worn-out, boring, and pretentious. This rivalry could be (half-jokingly) summed up in this bit of skit in Brows Held High's three-part review of Cocteau's movie.
• Fridge Horror: The Beast's transformed human form looks exactly like Avenant, Belle's suitor who was handsome in appearance but wicked of heart and was ready to kill the Beast and steal his treasure behind Belle's back. What guarantee does Belle - who has clear mixed feelings about the prince resembling Avenant - have that the prince won't treat her like Avenant did now that he no longer feels compelled to be obedient and humble towards her? The prince even remarks that Belle is a "strange girl" in a manner that sounds rather condescending after Belle admits that she loved both Avenant and the Beast. Cocteau's own statement that the Beast's transformation into a bland prince was "condemning [Belle] to a humdrum marriage and a future that I summed up in that last sentence of all fairy tales: 'And they had many children.'" implies that he himself was aware of this fridge horror.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: A watchful eye might notice all the stag imagery present throughout the movie. While this was mostly an intentional reference to celtic mythology, one could also say that Beast uses antlers in all of his decorating!
• Older Than They Think: Many people will be surprised to hear that much of the elements found in Disney's version originally came from this. The animated furniture, the fact that Beauty's name is Belle, the magic mirror etc. Hell, the character of Gaston was heavily based on a character in this movie who pretty much served the same purpose.
• Take That, Scrappy!: One of Belle's sisters dares Avenant to slap her. He does so and - while a Kick the Dog moment for him - the sister is so horrible that it's very satisfying.
• Tear Jerker: As part of a plan to make her stay away from her wealthy life with the Beast, Adelaide and Felicity trick their sister Belle into staying by pretending to cry, which in turn makes her cry out of guilt in her room. When she does stay, the sisters change their tune and guilt-trip and verbally abuse her for thinking she's "suddenly too good to serve them". This makes Belle run outside to have another good cry, no doubt torn by their emotional manipulation and gaslighting. It's bound to hit hard for some audience members who may struggle with toxic family members like her.
• Unnecessary Makeover: Many viewers were disappointed with the fascinating Beast's transformation into a generic prince, with Greta Garbo famously saying "Give me back my Beast!" as she left the theater. According to Jean Cocteau, this was intentional.
• Values Dissonance: The opening titles tell the audience to suspend their disbelief like children, much like how The Wizard of Oz was All Just a Dream because they felt audiences were too sophisticated to accept a genuine fantasy story.

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