Child of Paradise

Marcel Carne symbolizes the period, approximately 1930-1945, when French cinema recaptured the creative vitality and prestige it had relinquished almost completely to the American film industry. This biography of this director of classic films, including the epic historical romance "Les Enfants du paradis" (Children of Paradise), relates the saga of Carne's meteoric rise in the 1930s and his decline from critical grace after the war. The book draws on unpublished correspondence from, among others, Jean Cocteau, Francois Truffaut and Simone Signoret, and on interviews by the author with Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Mme. Jacques Prevert, Pierre Prevert, Claude Renoir, Alexander Trauner, Truffaut and Carne himself.