Children Of Paradise | ||||
Marcel Carné Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault 1945 Special edition two-disc set; in French; English subtitles; audio commentary by film scholar Brian Stonehill; video introduction by Terry Gilliam; restoration demonstration; audio commentary by film scholar Charles Affron; Jacques Prévert's film treatment; production stills gallery; production designs by Alexandre Trauner; U.S. theatrical trailer; filmographies for Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert; 24-page booklet, including transcribed excerpts from Brian Stonehill's 1990 interview with Marcel Carné, cast biographies, and essay by film historian Peter Cowie. |
The Criterion video company has done it again with another exquisite restoration of a movie that deserves the very best. Set amid the tumult of the 19th century Parisian theatrical community, "Children of Paradise" is an indisputable classic of French cinema and one of the most glorious romantic epics ever to reach the screen. It's also a miraculous achievement in film production. Director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert actually began shooting this elaborate costume drama, the story of a seductive, independent-minded actress (Arletty) and the four men who love her, in Nazi-occupied France during the final years of World War II. Chief and most sympathetic among the woman's suitors is a mime (Jean-Louis Barrault) from the same theater company, but he has to compete for her hand with an actor, a thief and a nobleman. Passion, changes of fortune, sudden violence and other complications buffet the characters as their lives enmesh, drift apart and intertwine again. | |||
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