Children of Paradise (1946)

Four men: a gifted but unsuccessful mime, a minor actor whose star is on the rise, a conman, and a nobleman all fall for Garance. She's beautiful, enigmatic and warm. Eventually the mime's a star, the actor's a star, the conman is comfortable, and the nobleman has "won" Garance -- the lives have moved on, but the desire for Garance has not... and the movie stagnates.

It's 3 hours long and the best bits were the stage shows of the mime and the actor: the plays within the movie. The actual story just felt like one idea stretched to the fraying point. Tightened up, this could've been poetry.

C