MovieChat Forums > All That Money Can Buy (1941) Discussion > Belle? Hottest Woman Ever BORN

Belle? Hottest Woman Ever BORN


I just watched this movie on the fantastic criterion DVD. Holy Smoke Simone Simon, the actress that plays Belle in the movie is an inferno of hotness. if I could travel back in time and enter the world of motion pictures i would sell it all for...well, I don't want to jinx myself. Let's just say I can completely understand Jabez's dilema. Simone Simon is a powderkeg of explosive sultry dynamite and every frame she appears in melts with her firey hotness. plus she's real sexy and i'd enjoy a make out session with her. that's all for now.

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I agree! let me further add that Simone Simon conveys more sultry sex appeal then 50 scantily clad 21st century bimbo's on parade. naked.

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Paul -

Simone Simon has an almost magnetic presence on screen. Like Garbo, She has an almost ethereal quality to her performances. I would also recommened the Cat People (1942) & Le Bette Humaine (1938) to see more of Simone in her awesome glory. Girls Dormitory (1936) is also worth checking out since you get to see her in a swimsuit. She did live a long life and passed away in Paris in Feb 2005 at age 94. There are few actual photos of her in existence after she retired from the screen in 1956 - all the better. We all will choose to remember her as the Tender Savage (her nickname) she was back in the 1930's-40's.

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Legend has it she gave a key to her apartment to whatever man she fancied.

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I saw a color picture of her in her 80s and she looked unbelievably good for her age.

Sadly, she was blind in her last years, bur from an interview with her in her 90s that I read, she remained charming, intelligent, and sharp right up to the end.

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Nice, i was oblivious of her roles outside the two Cat People films and this one. Gonna have to seek out her other stuff now.

"Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating."

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I try not to sound just old when I say stuff like this but what baffles is me why no one ever tries. The scene where she first meets Jabez Stone and gets to within inches of his face and then doesn't move is absolutely electric. Conventional wisdom says you can't possibly maintain that sexual tension with that physical proximity. But she's so confident, so willing, so knowing that you stay right there on the precipice with Jabez. Who is the actress -- is there an actress -- who could pull that feat off now? I don't know. Possibly. But Simone Simon is electrifying in this movie. I didn't even know she was in it and was pleasantly surprised but holy smokes.

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Well, she's no Eva Gardner, but she's pretty damn hot.

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Ava Gardner and Simone Simon are two kinds of sexiness. Ava's earthy and independent, while Simone has an elegant and naughty Gallic charm. Both are sexy enough to tempt Satan himself.

“I do write music for people, not for computers.” — Dr. Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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I agree that she is one of the sexiest actresses in the history of film. Hse's great in Cat People, Curse of the Cat People, La Ronde, The Devil and Daniel Webster and even the lesser known Lewton film Mademoiselle Fifi. I still need to see La Bete Humaine, Le Plaisir and the other film mentioned here.

I think that perhaps I'd be a fan of Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" if she had accepted the role instead of actress Nora Gregor, who I have trouble imagining men fighting over/going crazy for.

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"It's such a sadness that you think you've seen a film on your *beep* ing telephone. Get real."

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Yes, her French films are definitely were seeing.

"Lac Aux Dames (1934)" is the French film she made which convinced Zanuck to bring her to the States - Fox failed to make her a big star and dropped her contract in 1938 after the gold key scandal. Simone is VERY hot in Lac Aux Dames (Ladies Lake). In La Plaisir, she's in the third sequence "Le Modele." She was 41 at the time this was shot, but EASILY looked 15 years younger! This was her second film made with her ex-lover, Max Ophuls, after La Ronde (1950). She is the ultimate femme fatale in La Bete Humaine, so definitely catch it.

I agree that she was one of the most seductive women in cinema ever. I believe that as more of her films become available over time, she will be thrust in the exclusive pantheon of sirendom next to the other famous ladies where she rightfully belongs.

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My kingdom for La Simone. I've been smitten with her since seeing her in the original 'Cat People' a couple of years ago and watching her tonight in 'The Devil & Daniel Webster' only cemented it for me. She was very sexy but she had playfulness like a naughty cat that I just find irrestible. I'm going to keep an eye out for 'Mlle. Fifi' because the bits I saw of it on the Val Lewton doc on TCM caught my attention.

Dang, I was born too late but I'd love to take a time trip too to see if I could get her apartment key one night.

Vive La Simone!!

'Cause I'm Black you think I did it?

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Shouldn't the title of this thread be "Belle? Hottest Woman Ever SPAWNED"? After all, I believe that Belle was a demon disguised as a human being and looked exactly like this under her attractive skin:

http://www.cloister.se/posted/demon_gfx.jpg

“I do write music for people, not for computers.” — Dr. Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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@Dr Rozsa, i have to agree with you and that's one nasty looking demon. i'd hate to wake up next to her! it just might cause me to find religion!!!

"only one food for the rest of my life? That's easy, cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it."

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I thought she was totally ineffective as a seductress, and thought that she was miscast. I found her acting quite irritating. Just didn't do it for me. Way it goes.

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Respected Film Historian Glenn Erickson sums it up best:

"Compared to the prim Anne Shirley Simone looks downright perverse, with a twinkle in her eye and a slightly curled lip. Anyone who has been chilled by the bizarre smirk on the face of Sybille Schmitz in Dreyer's Vampyr will know the slight hint of the uncanny in Simon's face. Even when she plays virtuous innocents (I've only seen one such show, Lewton's Mademoiselle Fifi) there's something in her face that would have no problem tearing a man's heart up before his very eyes."

I'd say he's right on the money.

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COurse, the prim and proper Anne Shirley character is more my type(I liked both, do I have to choose?). But, I find the actresses of this period overall more attractive than those of today. The movies better too.


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Thanks to everyone for the informative posts. While I question the existence of the character Belle--she sure isn't in the short story--Simone is hotness itself in the role, and makes you understand why Jabez and Mary don't seem to get along anymore! ;)!

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I personally found The wife's character to be much hotter.

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DEFINATELY!!!

I've seen about eight of her films and in each she had a real charm and grace to her and often stole the show. Cat People and it's sequel have her at her best to me, but she looked really good in Seventh Heaven, La Bete Humaine, and Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More (just to name a few) as well. A pity she's not as known as she should be. She wasn't like some Megan Fox or Jessica Alba girl, she could actually act AND look attractive. In Cat People she was much like Irena in coming to a different country in adulthood, fleeing from her country's danger, and having an interest in fashion design. In Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore there was a sort of irony in her playing a character who lives in a place various men have keys to that she attracts (there is that rumor she gave golden keys to her home to men of her liking but given this was told by her maid who was revealed to have stolen things from her it's not exactly credible thoughs she did have some lovers in her life but hey for some just aren't the marrying kind), and in The Devil and Daniel Webster and La Bete Humaine she was able to fully display her ability to play the attractive yet unapproachable sort of role that labeled her "Tender Savage". Seriously in La Bete Humaine you can kind of feel for her character and yet know being with her leads to trouble, while in The Devil and Daniel Webster with the help of Bernard Hermann she's pretty spooky as well as attractive especially when she's hovering over the baby in a manner that makes her remind me of some beast biding it's time to do something rather nasty with a helpless new-born, or a witch (same with her kneeling over the fire when we first see her).

I personally don't speak French so I can't clarify either but a picture I saw of her singing to the baby had words translating the song and while it sounds mysterious and sweet when she sings it, it's pretty creepy when you see what she was actually singing if that's what it was after you see the film.

Here's the link to that and if someone can clarify that's what she said I'd appreciate it: http://www.morethings.com/fan/simone_simon_images/index.htm


It's kind of a pity that James Stewart and Robert Mitchum were just starting out at the time they did movies with her (and while okay films they were pretty forgettable then and now in comparison to some of her other films) since even though she wasn't someone who needed another person to play off of to look good, the films would probably have been more noteworthy when Stewart and Mitchum were more famous and gotten her more attention. But luckily she's still remembered for her performances by fans and this is helped by the fact that both The Devil and Daniel Webster and La Bete Humaine are on The Criterion Collection and Le Plaisir (which feaatured her near the end) too has an artistic distribution, and the most famous Val Lewton films have a DVD boxset, her best films can be seen as they should be.

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