Children of Paradise

UPC: 715515098410

Studio: Criterion

Summary: Even in 1945, Marcel Carn?'s Children of Paradise was regarded as an old-fashioned film. Set in the Parisian theatrical world of the 1840s, Jacques Pr?vert's screenplay concerns four men in love with the mysterious Garance (Arletty). Each loves Garance in his own fashion, but only the intentions of sensitive mime-actor Deburau (Jean-Louis Barrault) are entirely honorable; as a result, it is he who suffers most, hurdling one obstacle after another in pursuit of an evidently unattainable goal. In the stylized fashion of 19th-century French drama, many grand passions are spent during the film's totally absorbing 195 minutes. The film was produced under overwhelmingly difficult circumstances during the Nazi occupation of France, and many of the participants/creators were members of the Maquis, so the movie's existence itself is somewhat miraculous. Children of Paradise has gone on to become one of the great romantic classics of international cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: Audio commentary by film scholars Brian Stonehill and Charles Affron
Video introduction by director Terry Gilliam
Restoration demostration
U.S. trailer
Once upon a time: "Children of Paradise" a 2009 documentary on the making of the film
New visual essay on the design of Children of Paradise by film writer Paul Ryan
The birth of "Children of Paradise," a 1967 Rob Houver film documentary featuring interviews with director Marcel Carn?; actors Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, and Pierre Brasseur; production designer Alexandre Trauner and others

Children of Paradise

Format: DVD

Release Date: 09/18/2012

Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Academy Apeture

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 190 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Children of Paradise
1. Opening Titles [4:19]
2. The Boulevard of Crime [5:15]
3. Lacenaire and His Guardian Angel [6:28]
4. Baptiste Rescues Garance [6:15]
5. Les Funambules [5:25]
6. Chaos Onstage [10:21]
7. Fr?d?rick Lema?tre [5:10]
8. Le Rouge Gorge [10:29]
9. Baptiste Fights Back [4:28]
10. "Love is So Simple" [9:51]
11. The Palace of Illusions [5:49]
12. Nathalie Speaks [7:39]
13. "The Voice of Love" [12:48]
14. A Judicial Error [7:38]
Disc #2 -- Children of Paradise
1. Opening Titles [4:26]
2. Fr?d?rick the Great [8:52]
3. The Inn of the Adrets [5:21]
4. Backstage with Lacenaire [7:34]
5. Garace Has Changed [11:57]
6. Backstage Reunion [7:42]
7. Lacenaire and the Count [11:14]
8. Baptiste in Hiding [4:25]
9. Othello [7:11]
10. "Jealousy Belongs to All" [5:44]
11. Garance Was Right [1:44]
12. At the Bath [3:48]
13. Lost [8:17]
1. Color Bars [:00]

Lucia Bozzola

Shooting secretly over a two-year period during the German Occupation of France, director Marcel Carn? and writer Jacques Pr?vert produced their grandest masterwork. In the 19th century Paris theater world, life and performance become interchangeable, as the complex romantic entanglements of Arletty's inscrutable Garance with superficial actor Frederick, a wealthy count, and especially Jean-Louis Barrault's sensitive mime Baptiste become fodder for the masses crowding the "Street of Crimes" and the theater's uppermost balcony. Structured as two intricate "acts" complete with curtains rising and falling, the film reveals the creative power of idealized love in Baptiste's exquisite mimes of his fateful passion for Garance, even as the ebb and flow of human behavior thwarts that ideal. Magnificently recreating the period and its tradition of popular entertainment, Les Enfants du Paradis was released to international postwar acclaim for its spectacular beauty and excellent acting, while Pr?vert's intelligent script was nominated for a screenplay Oscar. Even as Carn? fell out of artistic favor after the 1940s, Les Enfants du Paradis's glorious visuals transcended its association with the maligned French "Tradition of Quality," maintaining its legacy as Carn? and Pr?vert's crowning achievement. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jean Carmet  Actor 
Jacques Castelot  Actor 
Auguste Boverio  Actor 
Marcel Pérès  Actor 
Jean Lanier  Actor 
Robert Dhéry  Actor 
Guy Favieres  Actor 
Paul Demange  Actor 
Léon Larive  Actor 
Marcel Carné  Director 
Joseph Kosma  Composer (Music Score) 
Jacques Prévert  Screenwriter 
George Mouque  Composer (Music Score) 
Fred Orain  Producer 
Maurice Thiriet  Composer (Music Score) 
Arletty  Actor 
Jean-Louis Barrault  Actor 
Pierre Brasseur  Actor 
Marcel Herrand  Actor 
Albert Remy  Actor 
Pierre Renoir  Actor 
Maria Casarés  Actor 
Fabien Loris  Actor 
Etienne Decroux  Actor 
Louis Salou  Actor 
Jane Marken [Jeanne]  Actor 
Pierre Palau  Actor 
Gaston Modot  Actor 
Paul Frankeur  Actor 

Country: France