Description

Poetic realism reached sublime heights with Children of Paradise, widely considered one of the greatest French films of all time. This nimble depiction of nineteenth-century Paris’s theatrical demimonde, filmed during World War II, follows a mysterious woman (Arletty) loved by four different men (all based on historical figures): an actor, a criminal, a count, and, most poignantly, a mime (Jean-Louis Barrault, in a longing-suffused performance for the ages). With sensitivity and dramatic élan, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert resurrect a world teeming with hucksters and aristocrats, thieves and courtesans, pimps and seers. And thanks to a major new restoration, this iconic classic looks and sounds richer and more detailed than ever.

Disc Features

• Pathé’s 2011 restoration of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentaries by film scholars Brian Stonehill and Charles Affron
• Video introduction by director Terry Gilliam
• Restoration demonstration
• 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 Houwer Film documentary featuring interviews with director Marcel Carné; actors Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, and Pierre Brasseur; production designer Alexandre Trauner; and others
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Dudley Andrew and excerpts from a 1990 interview with Carné