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Licensor Information
Pathe
Directed by: Marcel Carné
Featuring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Marcel Herrand, Pierre Renoir, Maria Casarès, Louis Salou
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.
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Technical Specifications
Format:
Blu-ray
Discs:
BD-50 (1 Disc)
BD-25 (1 Disc)
Total: 2 Discs
Regions:
A (Blu-ray)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37:1
Audio Options:
French PCM Mono 1.0
Resolution:
1080p/24
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Audio Commentary, Introduction, Restoration Demonstration, Theatrical Trailer, Documentary, Video Essay, Booklet
- 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 2010 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 German documentary that visits Nice, where the film was partially shot, and features interviews with cast members Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault,Pierre Brasseur; production designer Alexandre Trauner; and others
- A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Dudley Andrew and excerpts from a 1990 interview with Marcel Carné
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Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Producer: Brian Stonehill
Producer: Karen Stetler
Producer: Johanna Schiller
Artwork: F. Ron Miller
Artwork: Alexandre Trauner
Release Notes on Restoration
Children of Paradise
Children of Paradise is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. For the DVD edition, the picture has been slightly windowboxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors.
The digital restoration of Children of Paradise presented in this edition was performed by the legendary film company Pathé in 2011. Made by Pathé during the German occupation of France in World War II, Children of Paradise was shot on whatever types of scrap stock the filmmakers could get their hands on. That original nitrate camera negative was the main source of the restoration, but it was in poor condition, with significant damage from scratches, dirt, and mold, as well as some tape residue from old splices, all of which had to be digitally removed. Also, in several instances, frames were missing from the original negative. These were reconstructed from multiple sources, including two 35 mm nitrate fine-grain positives.
Before digitization, all elements were ultrasonically cleaned. The reels of the original camera negative and the selected parts of the fine-grain positives were then scanned at 4K resolution on an ARBISCAN film scanner at L’Immagine llitrovata laboratory in Bologna, Italy. The 4K data was sent to Eclair Laboratories ' in Paris for reconstruction and picture restoration. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI, Image Systems, Da Vinci, and Cinnafilm restoration software. The poor state of certain shots could not be improved; characteristics of other shots, including soft focus and shadow effects in the theater scenes (typical of nineteenth-century Stage lighting), were maintained in order to remain faithful to the film.
The original monaural soundtrack, restored by L.E. Diapason in Epinay-sur-Seine, France, is a patchwork of the best available sources, including a new preservation positive made from the original sound negative. Clicks and crackle were removed With at Cedar Cambridge workstation, while taking care to preserve the tone and texture of the original sound; remaining imperfections where removed manually.
The digital restoration of Children of Paradise presented in this edition was performed by the legendary film company Pathé in 2011. Made by Pathé during the German occupation of France in World War II, Children of Paradise was shot on whatever types of scrap stock the filmmakers could get their hands on. That original nitrate camera negative was the main source of the restoration, but it was in poor condition, with significant damage from scratches, dirt, and mold, as well as some tape residue from old splices, all of which had to be digitally removed. Also, in several instances, frames were missing from the original negative. These were reconstructed from multiple sources, including two 35 mm nitrate fine-grain positives.
Before digitization, all elements were ultrasonically cleaned. The reels of the original camera negative and the selected parts of the fine-grain positives were then scanned at 4K resolution on an ARBISCAN film scanner at L’Immagine llitrovata laboratory in Bologna, Italy. The 4K data was sent to Eclair Laboratories ' in Paris for reconstruction and picture restoration. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI, Image Systems, Da Vinci, and Cinnafilm restoration software. The poor state of certain shots could not be improved; characteristics of other shots, including soft focus and shadow effects in the theater scenes (typical of nineteenth-century Stage lighting), were maintained in order to remain faithful to the film.
The original monaural soundtrack, restored by L.E. Diapason in Epinay-sur-Seine, France, is a patchwork of the best available sources, including a new preservation positive made from the original sound negative. Clicks and crackle were removed With at Cedar Cambridge workstation, while taking care to preserve the tone and texture of the original sound; remaining imperfections where removed manually.