Don't listen to the negative reviews

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"Children of Paradise" would be an extraordinary achievement, even if it didn't break records in production. For one thing, it came out of nazi occupied France; the film saw fascist sympathisers working alongside French resistance operatives on screen. However, we don't require this historical footnote to understand the French film's legacy.It was the most expensive movie made in France up to that point, and one can really see the money up there on screen. The movie appears to have been shot on enormous sets. The effect of this is twofold; not only do we envision ourselves as standing among the characters in 1820s Paris, the design is ornate enough to produce an element of dreamlike whimsy, too.This is an extraordinary filmic achievement, and "Les enfants du paradis" perhaps offers an experience like no other. How they could create a living, breathing world, and yet still not stop you from appreciating the staging of it; how they could allow you to get lost in the "Boulevard of Crime", and then recognize their characters amongst the teeming masses.You may wonder, then, why I didn't give "Les enfants du paradis" a higher rating. The answer is, I'm afraid, that my modern-day attention span was just too taxed by the film; my attention seriously waned during the second half. I was impressed by the way the actors did not vanish amongst the labyrinthine sets; rather they seem perfectly at home there. I was less impressed by my general lack of interest in the story.

It's the 1820s in the theater district of Paris or the Boulevard du Crime. Claire 'Garance' Reine (Arletty) is an aluring woman in the show. Four men all fall for her. Baptiste Debureau (Jean-Louis Barrault) is a mime. Frédérick Lemaître (Pierre Brasseur) is a serious actor. Pierre François Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand) is a thief. Count Édouard de Montray (Louis Salou) is an aristocrat. Garance is accused of stealing a watch from a man which was taken by Lacenaire and witness Baptiste saves her. Nathalie, who is also a mime, loves Baptiste.When I read the accolades that this is "the greatest French film of all time", my expectations were heightened. Maybe there are things lost in the translation. It's basically a romance melodrama. I know that this was made during the Nazi occupation. I can certainly see the emotional connection that entails especially for the French. I understand perfectly how difficult this must have been to put such a large production on the screen. As a movie, this is merely a well-made melodrama and not much more. I really like the extended scene of the play. It's a good movie but it's a little disappointing.

Yes, I know this movie is considered by many to be one of the finest ever made. Nor do I have any intention of questioning its quality as film art.But I did not enjoy it.Yes, the scenes in the Théâtre des funambules on stage are magical. J. L. Barrault is wonderful as the mime. It's only when he speaks, in a highly theatrical and unnatural fashion, that I wanted to turn the sound off.And yes, I realize that this movie is about actors, and that the theme of reality vs. artificiality is big. But that conceit wears out quickly for me, and too often I was reminded of Blue Angel and the strange actors in that movie. Portraying the theater as a world of weirdos doesn't hold my attention for long. I just could not get caught up in this story.And then the end! I checked twice to make sure that my DVD player hadn't missed a segment. No, I don't expect a movie to wrap up all the loose ends. But this movie just stops. Everyone's life is ruined, true, so what's left to do? I don't know, but I would have liked at least a little sense of resolution with at least one theme.I'll take Le jour se lève or Quai des brumes any day over this. It really did not hold me.

It is said to be the greatest French film ever made. That is was made in occupied France is amazing. That it was made with Jews being sought by Nazis, with resistance fighters and Nazi-collaborators side-by-side, and with starving stage hand that stole food before it was filmed, is also fascinating. That four of the main characters in the film are historically real adds to the charm.The film is long and contains many scenes, but they are unified as a whole to tell a comic tragedy of 19th Century Paris.We see a beautiful Garboesque woman, Arletty, who glides across the stage. We are mesmerized by Jean-Louis Barrault playing the mime Baptiste Debureau, who is seeking happiness, but loses out to a thief (Marcel Herrand), an actor (Pierre Brasseur), and an aristocrat (Louis Salou), who also seek her hand.The street scene where the mime saves Garance (Arletty) from a charge of theft is priceless - true artistry! When Lemaître (Brasseur) rewrote a play in progress, it was incomparable.The tragedy orchestrated by Lacenaire (Herrand), and the resulting infidelity and murder, was the act of a true lover.Director Marcel Carné and writer, ne poet, Jacques Prévert, give us a film that is dazzling and captivating. It is a mystery to me why it is not one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. It truly is.Yes, it is over three hours, but the time is fleeting.