20 Most Perfect Scenes In Cinema History

There’s a reason that musicals, on stage and screen, still retain a huge audience worldwide after all this time. Set the perfect song to a critical moment, and you magnify the effect fivefold.

That’s why Beauty And The Beast remains one of Disney’s best-loved animated classics: it has the tunes to match the classic fairytale narrative. Gaston’s eponymous brag is full of wit, both broad and sly; ‘Be Our Guest’ ranks up there with the best Disney ‘choreography’ there is.

And then there’s the titular Oscar-winning song, the best loved signature tune in any Disney film. The first to be rearranged for the contemporary charts, both the 1991 original and the recent live action remake make the mistake of having the song sung as a duet, which robs it of much of its charm.

The pivotal scene in the film’s narrative, it defines the second act, which has focused on the deepening relationship between Belle and her erstwhile captor. The use of computers to place the 2D hand-drawn protagonists in a 3D CG environment allows for breathless ‘camerawork’ to accentuate the charm and romance of this enchanting dance.

It’s cinematic perfection… and no amount of pop divas can beat the simple, aching clarity of Angela Lansbury’s quavering vocal.