Detailed here are some of the better known anecdotal minutia regarding the 1945 French film Children of Paradise:

• Still said to be shown at least once everyday somewhere in Paris.

• The most expensive French film to ever made at the time with excessively detailed costumes and sets.

• Filmed during Nazi occupation of France in 1943.

• Film length restrictions at the time forced it to become two films totaling three hours ten minutes .

• Highly regarded as perhaps the greatest and most influential French film ever made.
  
  In 1945, Marcel Carné along with Jacques Prévert were able to create a lavish cinematic representation of the passionate bond of performance artists using the backdrop of a pervading criminal element of 1820's Paris. "The show must go on" conquers all other idioms as characters each give of their true spirit for their craft, occasionally compromising both subtly and overtly, with their inner struggle endearing them to the audience.
  
  Children of Paradise explores the concepts of love and art, with intricate juxtapositions that are interwoven with perhaps some of the wittiest dialogue ever written in the history of cinema. It reads much like a Shakespearean drama, as another link to its thespian forbearers. Dominating the tight narrative is the sophistication of Garance, the female lead played by Arletty. Passionately circling her to varying degrees are four men who have come to love her, each in a different way. These characters exude their own individual appeal with vain bravado, sensitivity, animal cunning and pompous wealth.
  
  A star of the film just as much as any character, is the Funambules Theater where much of the theatrical presentations take place. The viewer is made to feel a privileged member of the bawdy crowd appreciating the developmental "mask" that the performers imbue. The border of art and life are criss-crossed time and again with masterful perfection. This evocation and the sardonic dialogue are part of the films deepest strengths.
  
  Working well on its own surface storyline, Children of Paradise is also a subtle representation of art itself and even more vehemently displaying the portrait of the artists who perform for us. Has the plight of the performance artist ever been portrayed with such accuracy? Perhaps not. Above all else, I would suggest that this film, with its dedication to the art of the mime and curious references to artistic abstraction is above all else; French, both culturally and aesthetically.
  
  With interpretational openness of its narrative, Children of Paradise has been examined to a much further extent than its auteurs had intended. Perhaps this has given it the longevity in cinematic history that it holds with such justifiable loftiness.
  
  The final scene seems to bundle the films deeper affectations and fundamentals together with the artist pursuing his heartfelt love, but blockaded and betrayed by his own performance craft. An ideal which enables the "common man" to perform as much as the marquee'd star, perhaps informing us that his emotional catharsis is not only for the "artiste oblige", ... but that we are all inherently "children of paradise".
  
  I can't say enough about this film... spectacular beyond words. Just buy it and watch it over and over for the rest of your life.out of

Disc Size: 43,237,819,249 bytes

Video Bitrate: 25.97 Mbps

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray