There is a deeper meaning here, but I don't know if I care. Many have suggested in the past that mere technical brilliance is not enough to carry a film; I am guilty of having believed this once. And to be honest, I don't know if I can spot technical brilliance, but I know spectacle when I see it. I understand the scope of something, and this has a scope that is breathtaking. The idea that technical brilliance cannot carry a film suggests a lack of appreciate for the feeling of wonder. While technical brilliance is not necessary, and while technical brilliance does not necessarily equal greatness, there are times when it evokes such powerful feelings of wonder that it…

Although I’ve watched thousands of films there are still a few classics I have yet to experience. One such film is Les Enfants du Paradis and what better time to watch it since it has recently been restored and released on Blu-Ray. For the eagle eyed amongst you, you will notice I have refrained from giving the film a star rating, not because it is a no star film but because I’m still unsure quite what it deserves. At over three hours it is a sizeable investment of time and I’m not convinced I was quite in the right frame of mind for this type of film. Therefore it is not entirely fair for me to judge it accurately on…

Film #17 of Project 40

”Love is simple.”

Some film historians believe that this was in fact a response to the critically and financially successful Gone with the Wind and you can certainly see the contrasts both in terms of film’s general way of dealing with issues such as love, poverty, the passing of time and loyalty and also in its somewhat gritty visual style which is totally different from the gorgeous and sharp shots of Victor Fleming’s film. Les Enfants du Paradis is filled with the same kind of romanticism which is common in French literature and its epic scale, multiple characters with interwoven storylines and patient pace give the atmosphere of the film the feeling of a classic…

One of my goals is to see all 200 movies listed in Danny Peary's Cult Movie books volumes 1-3. After finishing Children of Paradise...I have now seen 112 of those 200 movies. I actually picked this movie up after reading feedingbrett's review here on Letterboxd. About 30 minutes into the movie I started thinking the movie was one of the Peary movies...and sure enough...it is listed in Volume 3.

As for the movie...I think the best way to describe it is...a classic version of There's Something About Mary....granted this one was made 53 years before Mary...but both movies have a female lead that all men fall in love with. This one is set in Paris in roughly 1830.... four men…

Do you remember that illustration from The Five Chinese Brothers? The one near the beginning with the guy who can hold the entire sea in his mouth, and he's standing on the shore with his head as big as a hot air balloon? That's how one feels after completing Children of Paradise; easily one of cinema's grandest buffets. There's almost too much to consume, really. But I assure you; every piece, every morsel, every molecular crumb, is insufferably delicious and entirely essential.

Lately though, I've been noticing fewer people at the restaurant, and find it somewhat concerning...

Much like Gone with the Wind, its American cousin and counterpart, there appears to be an aversion amongst millennials to this romantic epic…

The so-called "French Gone With the Wind" is a lot more bleak and cynical than what Hollywood was producing at the time. American movies didn't catch on until the post-war film noirs, which were, incidentally, heavily influenced by the French Poetic Realism movement of the '30s and '40s, of which this is considered the pinnacle.

I had avoided this film for years, despite my affection for director Marcel Carne', because it has been described as a costume period romance, which is technically accurate but grossly inadequate in capturing the essence of the film. It is a captivating story of a complicated woman and the four men in her life who all want to possess her to one degree or another.…

Set amid the swirling frenzy of the French theater world, Michael Carne’s epic length romance Children of Paradise is generally considered one of the greatest films of all time. It’s easy to see why its mix of realism and poetic beauty are so highly treasured. The film manages to pay its greatest tributes to the arts simply by demonstrating how their splendor has the ability to transport the masses into another world. Throughout the film we see several show-stopping performances and each of them is really something special. The storyline follows the actors that give these great performances, so during the backstage scenes, we feel as if we’re in on some secret, since we’ve been wowed by the artifice of…