Film Music Central

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

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Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

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From the moment Gaston saw the Beast in the magic mirror, it became clear that a conflict between the two was inevitable. And Gaston couldn’t ask for a more complacent target: ever since he let Belle go rescue her father, the Beast has been sunk in a deep depression, he doesn’t think Belle is ever coming back and so he doesn’t care if he lives or dies. Thus, when Gaston appears in the West Wing with an arrow cocked at him, the Beast doesn’t even twitch (that alone should’ve told Gaston that this was no ordinary “Beast” but we already know that he’s not one to think anything through), that is until he gets an arrow in the back.

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

Gaston is being deliberately cruel: clearly an an expert hunter, he’s deliberately taunting the Beast (as opposed to a swift kill) because (in his mind) “how dare this ugly thing claim Belle as his own in any way?” He’s so blinded by hate that he can’t see that the Beast is clearly heartbroken. But Gaston’s taken way too long; Belle comes riding up and when Beast sees that Belle has come back, the entire game changes (and not in Gaston’s favor).

While Belle races to the West Wing, Gaston and Beast play cat and mouse on the roof tops of the castle. I mentioned in the post for “Tale as Old as Time” that this scene very nearly became the CGI scene (in which case the roof of the castle would’ve been computer generated), but the test images weren’t nearly realistic enough, so the idea was scrapped and animated traditionally.

Musically, this scene is a blending of several themes, most noticeably there are several lines from “Something there” but in an entirely different key (you can hear “for he’s no prince Charming” when Belle is seen running up the stairs, and “something there I didn’t see” when Gaston smashes the head of a statue by mistake).

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (Soundtrack version) (1991)

Gaston is delusional at this point, going so far as to say “Were you in love with her Beast? Did you honestly think she would want you? When she had someone like me??” It’s a total lie and the Beast knows it (if Belle had been attached to anyone in the village in that way, she would’ve surely said something to him), and he sneaks up for the attack. But Gaston believes he has him cornered until he goes one step to far and shouts “Belle is mine!!” This is too much for the Beast who, in two swift movements, knocks Gaston’s club away and leaves him dangling off the rooftop with one hand around his neck. What happens next is very, very important. Gaston (true to his character) is now a sniveling coward, pleading for his life. He’ll do anything, ANYTHING, just don’t kill/hurt him. I always knew that when the Beast did NOT kill Gaston, that he had learned mercy, embracing his inner humanity, but it only struck me last week that there was something more as well.

Remember in the prologue when, just before his initial transformation, the Beast tried to apologize to the Enchantress? It occurred to me, just then, that the Prince must have begged for mercy in the exact same way that Gaston begged for his life. And the Beast paused (with a magical theme echoing in his ears no less), not just because he was choosing mercy, but because he can see the person he was (a spoiled young man) in Gaston. And so, he’s granting Gaston the mercy that the Enchantress did not show him (the Prince) in the hopes that he will learn something from it, merely telling him to “Get out!”

Just at that moment, Belle appears on the balcony, and the Beast only has eyes for her. Gaston watched him climb towards Belle, but neither of them care; the Beast is awestruck that Belle really did come back and there’s a beautiful moment as the two grab hands, and you can tell they’re both happy to be together again. But just as the moment is building to a romantic climax…Gaston intrudes for the last time. Not content to run away with his life, Gaston has fully embraced the “if I can’t have her, no one can” mindset, snuck up from behind and STABBED the Beast in the back! Anyone who’s seen the movie knows what comes next, but would you believe me if I said the ending used to be a whole lot darker?

Don’t get me wrong, Gaston was always going to die, but it was the how of his death that was changed. In the original script, after stabbing the Beast, Gaston was going to shout something cruel to Belle and then throw himself laughing off the balcony down to his own death. And I can hear people saying Disney wanted to do this?? While it is incredibly shocking and dark, bear in mind that this is the same studio that originally planned for Bambi to come back and find his death mother in a pool of blood (Disney himself vetoed that idea once he got wind of it). Thankfully for all concerned, the animators and writers felt that this really was too dark and Gaston’s death was re-animated to the version we know today: the Beast thrusts Gaston aside and he falls screaming to his death. But you can actually see a few frames of the original ending (because the animators were running out of time and money): look at Gaston’s face and body posture just before he gets knocked off and begins to flail. See that insane grin? You can tell he’s positioned to jump, but in the very next shot, he’s in a slightly different spot.

No one dies like Gaston (I couldn’t resist)

And there we have the end of Gaston, and also the end of the Beast as Belle knows him. Next time, the final entry for Beauty and the Beast: “The Transformation”

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*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs and films, check out the main page here: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

The Great Mouse Detective “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” (1986)

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It pains me to see that The Great Mouse Detective (1986) often falls under the radar of Disney fans. The film is really quite important to the history of animated film: after the debacle of The Black Cauldron (1985), Disney’s animation department was at serious risk of being eliminated. But the great success of The Great Mouse Detective the next year proved to the powers-that-be that Disney could still find success in animation and because of this, a little film called The Little Mermaid was given the green light (paving the way for the Disney Renaissance).

Based on a series of children’s books entitled Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, the film follows the adventures of the titular “great mouse detective” Basil, who lives in a tiny home at 221B Baker Street (sharing his residence with Sherlock Holmes and Watson). When Basil’s eccentric life is interrupted by Dr. Dawson and a little girl named Olivia whose father was kidnapped, Basil finds himself thrust into the greatest case of his career: stopping that master of crime, Professor Ratigan!!

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Ratigan might just be one of the greatest animated Disney villains, as he was brought to life by the master of horror himself, Vincent Price. Price had always wanted to be a Disney villain, and in an interview he gave, he called his performance as Rattigan as one of his favorites. In fact, Price’s acting influenced how the character was animated. Originally, Rattigan was going to be this rather weak-looking and snivelling character, but Price’s unforgettable voice changed all of that.

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Ratigan, as his name implies, is a very large rat; but in a world where mice make up the majority of the population, he has taken great pains to pass himself off as a mouse, and won’t stand to be referred to as a rat. “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” serves as Ratigan’s introduction to the audience, as well as highlighting how evil and devious he is.

The Great Mouse Detective “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” (1986)

The song begins with a spoken prologue, where Ratigan informs his gang that the time has come for his greatest plan to be put into motion, “the crime to top all crimes.” All we know for now is that it will take place on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and that it will be “a night she will never forget” and that he will be “the supreme ruler of all Mousedom!!” This declaration begins the song proper, as Ratigan brags about all the crimes he’s done before: robbing the Crown jewels, drowning widows and orphans and robbing many other places based on the amount of treasure laying around.

From the brain that brought you the Big Ben Caper
The head that made headlines in every newspaper
And wonderous things like the Tower Bridge Job
That cunning display that made London a sob

Now comes the real Tour de Force
Tricky and wicked of course
My earlier crimes were fine for their times
But now that I’m at it again
An even grimmer plot has been simmering
In my great criminal brain

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During this part of the song, one detail that sticks out right away is Bartholomew, the really, really drunk gang member who is more interested in lapping up the champagne instead of listening to Ratigan’s plan and song.

Even meaner? You mean it?
Worse than the widows and orphans you drowned?
You’re the best of the worst around
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
The rest fall behind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world’s greatest criminal mind!

Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You’re tops and that’s that
To Ratigan
To Ratigan

In fact, he gets so drunk, that as the gang is preparing to toast Ratigan mid-song, Bartholomew pipes up “To Ratigan the world’s greatest rat!!”

Of course Ratigan is not amused. And as the rat in mouse’s clothing tells his drunken lackey “…I’m afraid you’ve gone and upset me. You know what happens when someone upsets me…” he pulls out a bell and gives it a ring, and as this very action causes the rest of the gang to squeak in terror, you know something bad is coming.

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As it turns out, Ratigan has a rather fat cat at his beck and call. As the overfed kitty stalks up for her next meal, the oblivious Bartholomew launches into a spine-chilling refrain of “Oh Ratigan, Oh Ratigan, you’re the tops and that’s that…” This use of the song is what we musicologists call “musical irony”, in that the lyrics praising Ratigan are contrasted with the increasingly sinister sounds that are building to the mouse’s death by cat. To further add to the suspense, you don’t actually see the moment happen: all the audience see’s is the shadowy profile of Bartholomew suspended above the cat’s mouth and then….*GULP* Now thoroughly cowed, the gang hysterically launches into the final verse (lest Rattigan summon the kitty again) and the status quo in Ratigan’s lair is re-established.

Even louder
We’ll shout it!
No one can doubt what we know you can do
You’re more evil that even you
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You’re one of a kind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world’s greates criminal mind!!!

Seeing how casually Rattigan can dispose of anyone who “upsets” him (though we don’t really get to see him upset until the climax), this one sequence has made it clear that Rattigan is very, very dangerous (a lot more dangerous than even Basil is aware of). And also because of this scene, Ratigan remains one of my favorite Disney villains.

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*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Beauty and the Beast “The West Wing” (1991)

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From the moment Beast informed Belle that she could go anywhere in the castle except the West Wing (with no other explanation than “It’s forbidden!”), it was a foregone conclusion that Belle would go to the West Wing and that she would get caught. This is a long-standing trope in film that when something is explicitly forbidden, the character will go anyway and get caught by somebody at some point (case in point: Ariel was forbidden to have anything to do with humans, but she kept a grotto full of human things, and we all know how that turned out; Simba was forbidden to go to the elephant graveyard, Quasimodo couldn’t leave the bell tower, etc.)

I absolutely love the music for this scene. Purely orchestral, it highlights the danger of what Belle is doing (because we have no way of knowing where the Beast is right now), and also the growing curiosity to see what IS in the West Wing. As Belle walks down the hallway, she passes by a lot of broken statues that all resemble different beasts. Actually, that’s by design: practically every “beast” statue you see in the castle comes from a concept drawing when the animators were designing the look of the beast. My personal favorite is a statue of a giant snake (when Belle is looking in horror at all of the ugly statues in the hallway, just before she bursts into tears, look to the right and you’ll see it in an alcove).

Finally, Belle comes to a large door and for a moment there’s a breath of tension, as if the Beast might appear at any second, but Belle’s curiosity wins and she pulls the door open to reveal the forbidden West Wing. It’s in a shambles, but Belle presses forward anyway (as a child, my heart would always stop when she knocked the table over). And it’s here that she discovers two things: a heavily ripped portrait of a handsome man, with very familiar blue eyes (in reality a portrait of what the Beast really looks like), but just as Belle seems to make the connection, she notices something else, it’s the magic rose!!

The shot of Belle walking up to the bell jar is just beautiful, and for a moment, it almost looks like the rose is rotating to “look” at her (and maybe it is, it IS a magic rose after all). Of course, Belle then does the worst possible thing she could do, which is to remove the jar and try to touch the rose itself, and that’s when everything goes wrong in a hurry.

When I was young, I didn’t quite understand the magnitude of what Belle almost did. I knew that Beast was angry because she’s gone where she wasn’t supposed to, but something was going over my head. It was only when I was older that I realized that the reason Beast kept the rose in a jar was to protect it from any outside force inadvertently knocking off the petals more quickly and thus shorten the time he has left to break the spell. If Belle had touched the rose, she might have done just that, and that is what really infuriates Beast, who as expected, appears just as Belle is reaching out, and he is beyond angry!

Now, while Belle is in trouble and Beast does have a right to some anger (since she did disobey him), it’s also true that Beast never told Belle why she couldn’t go into the West Wing, so Beast’s roar of “Do you realize what you could have done??” can never be answered because no, Belle doesn’t realize what could have happened because Beast didn’t tell her! All of this is too much for Belle to take and she runs from the castle (literally), swearing “Promise or no promise, I can’t stay here another minute!”

I’m sure there will be a counterpart to this scene in the live-action version of the film (and I can’t wait to see how it plays out!)

Become a Patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

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*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs and films, check out the main page here: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

The Sword in the Stone “Mad, Madam Mim” (1963)

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You know how a lot of Disney movies have been adapted into Broadway plays? Like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc. ? Well, one film that I wish would be turned into a Broadway show is The Sword in the Stone (1963), a Disney animated feature that was released after Disney’s Golden Age and long before the Disney Renaissance at the end of the 1980s. This film generally slips under the radar but it still contains some amusing and memorable moments.

Based on T.H. White’s book The Once and Future King (1958), The Sword in the Stone tells the story of a young page named Wart (real name Arthur, voiced by Rickie Sorensen, and Richard and Robert Reitherman) who meets a strange wizard named Merlin (Karl Swenson) and a talking owl named Archimedes (Junius Matthews). Merlin is convinced that Wart has a big future in front of him, but it won’t come to pass unless he gets a proper education (that Merlin will provide).

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The Sword in the Stone “Mad Madam Mim” (1963)

Wart’s “education” can be divided into several segments based on the animal he is turned into (and the appropriate lesson he learns): a fish (brains are better than brawn); a squirrel (Love is the greatest force on Earth); a bird (knowledge and wisdom are real power). It’s this last segment, where Wart become a bird that really wants me to see this story as a stage show because THIS is where we meet Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth), a slightly-deranged witch who is as evil as Merlin is good. Wart (still in bird form) ends up falling down her chimney by mistake while fleeing a hawk and quickly comes to the witch’s attention. Hearing that the Wart is acquainted with Merlin (“the world’s most powerful bungler” as she puts it), Mim decides to prove to Wart that SHE is the most powerful, and not Merlin, by performing a song that I would dearly love to see rendered on the stage.

Mim

With only a touch, I have the power
Zim zaba rim bim, To wither a flower
I find delight in the gruesome and grim
(Oh, that’s terrible.)
(Thank you, my boy. But that’s nothing, nothing for me!)
‘Cause I’m the magnificent, marvelous, mad Madam Mim

(You know what? I can even change size.)

I can be huge; Fill the whole house
I can be teeny, small as a mouse
Black sorcery is my dish of tea
It comes easy to me,
‘Cause I’m the magnificent, marvelous, mad Madam Mim!

Mim demonstrates various abilities: she can change size (from giant to very tiny), make herself even uglier than she already is (by her own admission) and also change herself into someone beautiful as well. I’m not sure how a live show would accommodate all of these changes exactly, but I’m sure it could be done somehow.

(Hahahaha! Marvelous, boy! Marvelous! Hahohoho! Hey, lad. Did you know I can make m’self uglier yet?)
(That would be some trick, er… I mean, uh…)
(Wanta’ bet? BOO! You see? I win, I win! Aren’t I hideous, boy? Perfectly revolting?)
(N- Yes, m’am.)
(But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Watch this.)

I can be beautiful, lovely and fair
Silvery voice, long purple hair
La la la la, la la la la la
La la la la la, la la la la la la la
But it’s only skin deep, for Zim zaberim ZIM
I’m an ugly old creep; the magnificent, marvelous, mad, mad, mad, mad Madam Mim!

After her song, Mim demands to know which one is better, but Wart still believes that Merlin is the best because his magic is for good (Mim doesn’t like this at all). Recognizing that Merlin sees something “good” in the boy, Mim declares that for her that’s “bad” and therefore she’ll have to destroy him. Moving in for the kill, Mim demonstrates one more ability, she can change into animals just like Merlin can, and what animal do you use to catch a bird? A CAT!!!

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Fortunately for Wart, Merlin steps in shortly afterward…

I absolutely love this song, it’s pure Disney madness from beginning to end. If “Mad Madam Mim” were performed on a Broadway stage today, who do you think could pull it off the best? I’m not sure myself, but I’d love to hear your thoughts about it 🙂

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

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Beauty and the Beast “Human Again” (1991)

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“Human Again” is a musical number created by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman that originally occupied the position that “Something There” now does. Written in the tempo of a fast waltz, the song features a number of enchanted objects (led by Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and the Wardrobe with her own verse) singing about how they could be human again now that Belle and Beast are growing closer together.

This song was ultimately cut from the original version of the film because of pacing issues and length (the entire sequence was approximately 11 minutes long!!). It also presented an issue because the number implies that a very long passage of time is occurring, which doesn’t make sense since it’s already been established that Maurice is out in the woods looking for Belle (and it wouldn’t make sense for him to be out there alone for months). So the decision was made to cut “Human Again” and replace it with the shorter and to-the-point “Something There.”

The number was first restored for the Beauty and the Beast Broadway production in 1994 and ultimately was restored to the film for the 2002 Special Edition DVD release (it is placed between “Something There” and the ballroom scene).

For the restoration, all the original cast members from the film were reunited to record the song and careful work was done on the animation to ensure it merged in seamlessly with the rest of the film. I’m glad they did this when they did, as Jerry Orbach (the voice of Lumiere) sadly passed away two years later.

I like “Human Again,” it’s a fun musical number and features some great shots of different areas of the castle being cleaned up. In fact, re-inserting this sequence does help to explain why the West Wing is suddenly much tidier when Beast takes Belle to see the magic mirror after their dance (because various servants are shown cleaning the room up). There’s also a hysterical moment when the footstool-dog comes across a pillow-cat and gives chase, tracking dirt into the newly cleaned ballroom!

Run pillow-kitty, run!!!

Believe it or not, we’ve actually made our way through all the songs of Beauty and the Beast, but I’m not done with this film just yet. There’s a few musical moments that I still want to explore: “The West Wing”, “Battle on the Tower”, and especially “The Transformation.”

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Battle on the Tower” (1991)

Beauty and the Beast “Transformation” (1991)

For more great Disney songs check out the main page here: Disney A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Beauty and the Beast “Something There” (1991)

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“Something There” is a fun, if brief, interlude for our main characters before the romance of the ballroom scene and the drama that follows afterward. Before the song proper commences, there’s a funny scene where Belle and Beast are meeting for breakfast and Belle discovers that Beast is…slightly out of practice using silverware, let’s just put it that way. However, Belle finds a compromise and we next shift to the pair taking a walk through the snow covered garden while Belle feeds the birds.

Neither Belle nor Beast sing aloud, this song is really an expression of their thoughts regarding each other. Belle is finding that Beast is really sweet and is just on the cusp of recognizing that she feels love for him as well, even though he’s “no Prince Charming.”

There’s something sweet
And almost kind
But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined
And now he’s dear, and so unsure
I wonder why I didn’t see it there before

She glanced this way
I thought I saw
And when we touched she didn’t shudder at my paw
No it can’t be, I’ll just ignore
But then she’s never looked at me that way before

New and a bit alarming
Who’d have ever thought that this could be
True that he’s no Prince Charming?
But there’s something in him that I simply didn’t see

Beast, at the same time, is delighted that Belle isn’t scared of him anymore, though he still doubts that romance could develop between them. At the same time, he does admit that Belle is looking at him somewhat differently, so maybe there is hope after all.

Then Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts get into the act and they sing a verse of their own as they observe the pair in a rather one-sided snowball fight (Belle wins), with their own hope growing that soon the enchantment will be broken.

Well, who’d have thought?
Well, bless my soul
Well, who’d have known?
Well, who indeed?
And who’d have guessed they’d come together on their own?
It’s so peculiar. We’ll wait and see, a few days more
There may be something there that wasn’t there before

Poor little Chip though can’t figure out why everyone is so excited and Mrs. Potts shushes him with “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

It really is an adorable moment, you can tell that something is building between the pair, and it might just be love, but neither will say as much yet.

I really like the moment where Belle sings “New, and a bit alarming!” Just the way she emphasizes that last word shows how unsure she still is about this (which is understandable, Beast doesn’t fit the traditional mold of a sweetheart). And I absolutely LOVE the moment when Belle looks back and discovers that Beast is covered in birds!!!

For next time, I’ll look at a song that initially didn’t make the final cut, but thanks to the special edition, we have it now! Get ready for “Human Again” !

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

Become a patron of the blog at: patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

For more Beauty and the Beast, see:

Beauty and the Beast “Beauty and the Beast/Tale as Old as Time” (1991)