3 Hours in Heaven with Cannes Classics

Cannes Classics presents Children of Paradise* by Marcel Carné just as it was released in 1945. That’s 3’10’’ of film shown in the Salle du Soixantième.

“We quickly realised that we were going to have a long film” Marcel Carné explained. “And André Paulvé (producer, Ed.) suggested that I do it in two epochs”. The director therefore decided to film his storyj with dialogue written by Jacques Prévert, in two parts. The first, known as Le Boulevard du Crime (Boulevard of Crime) describes the meeting between Garance, played by Arletty who had worked under the director already in three other films, and two men – a dandy named Deburau and the Count of Montray, played by Jean-Louis Barrault and Louis Salou. The second part, L’homme blanc (The Man in White) tells the story of what has become of these characters six years later. The French director agreed to organise his film in two parts, but on one condition “that for the Paris screenings, it be shown in one go”. Despite the film’s length and the raised ticket price, it was a box office hit as soon as it was released and ran for 45 weeks thereafter. Cannes Classics has today chosen to show Marcel Carné’s feature film in one sitting.

A.C.

The film will be shown at 2.30 pm, Salle du Soixantième.
 

* New restored version presented by Pathé