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New digital transfer; Commentary by film scholars Brian Stonehill and Charles Affron; Video introduction by director Terry Gilliam; Restoration demonstration; New and improved English subtitle translation; Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition; Jacques Prévert's film treatment; Production designs by Alexandre Trauner; Production stills gallery; Filmographies for Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert; U.S. theatrical trailer; 26-page booklet, including transcribed excerpts from Brian Stonehill's 1990 interview with Marcel Carné, cast biographies, and an essay by film historian Peter Cowie
Full Product DetailsSide #1 -- Disc One
1. Opening Titles [3:31]
2. "The Boulevard of Crime" [5:15]
3. Lacenaire & His Guardian Angel [6:27]
4. Baptiste Rescues Garance [6:15]
5. Backstage at Les Funambules [5:24]
6. Chaos Onstage [6:38]
7. Baptiste & Nathalie [3:42]
8. Frédérick Lemaître [2:22]
9. At Madame Hermine's [2:48]
10. Baptiste & the Blind Man [2:49]
11. At the Rouge Gorge [7:37]
12. Baptiste Fights Back [4:28]
13. "Love Is So Simple" [4:47]
14. Baptiste Loses His Nerve [2:55]
15. "Paris Is Small..." [2:08]
16. Onstage at Les Funambules [5:48]
17. Nathalie Speaks [4:44]
18. Hope Remains [2:55]
19. Frédérick & Garance [4:16]
20. The Court de Montray [4:45]
21. A Man Full of Hate [3:46]
22. Criminals at Work [2:30]
23. A Judicial Error [5:17]
24. Color Bars [:20]
1. Introduction
2. Garance/Frédérick
3. Lacenaire/Jéricho
4. Baptiste
5. Backstage World
6. Appetite for Diversion
7. Poetic Realism
8. Frédérick's Passion
9. Shameless Flirting
10. Carné & Prévert
11. Paradox & Hierarchy
12. A Cubist Film
13. Head & Heart
14. Two Kinds of Love
15. From Flowers to Astronomy
16. A Sophisticated Juggling Act
17. Wounds
18. A Circular Dance
19. Love the Whole World Over
20. The Language of Flowers
21. Broken Hearts
22. Misinformation
23. An Object of Art
24. Color Bars
Side #2 -- Disc Two
1. Opening Titles Repeated [3:43]
2. Summary of Part One [1:02]
3. "The Man in White" [4:59]
4. Rehearsing With the Authors [4:10]
5. Opening Night Improvisation [5:21]
6. Frédérick Meets Lacenaire [5:39]
7. Duel [1:55]
8. Garance Has Changed [4:16]
9. Baptiste Performs [4:35]
10. Frédérick Is Jealous [3:03]
11. Backstage Reunion [4:55]
12. "Yes, I'm All Alone" [2:47]
13. A Visit From Lacenaire [7:04]
14. Garance & the Count [4:09]
15. Baptiste Hides From the World [4:24]
16. Frédérick as Othello [2:13]
17. Baptiste & Garance Reunited [4:57]
18. "Jealousy Belongs to All" [5:44]
19. Garance Was Right [1:44]
20. At the Bath [3:47]
21. Nathalie Intervenes [5:31]
22. Lost in the Carnival [2:52]
23. Color Bars [:19]
1. A Film in Two Parts
2. Prévert's Creative Chronology
3. Frédérick's Fame
4. French Romanticism
5. Reversals & Inventions
6. A Real Drama
7. Death Off-Screen
8. Garance's Formality
9. Pierrot & the Rag Man
10. Meeting of Life & Art
11. Robert Le Vigan/Maria Casarès
12. Nathalie's Ploy
13. Power Games & Private Spaces
14. Alienated Lovers
15. Baptiste's Suffering
16. Shakespeare
17. Time Has Stood Still
18. "The Plots Are All the Same"
19. Poetic Realism
20. Exoticism & Murder
21. Lovers Interrupted
22. Final Ironies
23. Color Bars
Even in 1945, Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise was regarded as an old-fashioned film. Set in the Parisian theatrical world of the 1840s, Jacques Prévert'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. Amazingly, the film was produced over a two-year period in virtual secrecy, without the knowledge of the Nazis then occupying France, who would surely have arrested several of the cast and production staff members (including Prévert) for their activities in the Resistance. Children of Paradise has gone on to become one of the great romantic classics of international cinema. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide