“Children of Paradise” (天井桟敷の人々), Original Japanese Re-Release Movie Poster 1963 (film 1945), B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) S173

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the 1963 Japanese re-release of Marcel Carné’s monumental French masterpiece Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis / 天井桟敷の人々). The film was produced during the German occupation of France, premiered in 1945, and first reached Japanese cinemas in 1952, distributed by Towa. This particular design belongs to the subsequent 1963 Japanese revival campaign.

Directed by Marcel Carné from a screenplay by Jacques Prévert, the film stars Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, María Casares, Marcel Herrand and Louis Salou. Set amid the theatres, performers, criminals and aristocrats of Paris’s Boulevard du Crime in the 1820s and 1830s, its vast romantic narrative centres on the elusive Garance and the four very different men drawn to her—most memorably the sensitive mime Baptiste Deburau, played by Barrault.

Poster design
A superb and unmistakably early-1960s Japanese revival design, combining photographic montage, hand-rendered architectural sketching and bold calligraphic typography.

Across the upper third, the enormous black Japanese title:

「天井桟敷の人々」

sweeps almost from edge to edge in expressive brush lettering. Behind it, a lightly sketched Parisian streetscape evokes the Boulevard du Crime, the theatrical district around which the film’s sprawling human drama revolves.

Immediately beneath the title, the original two-part structure is identified in vivid red:

「第1部『犯罪大通り』」
「第2部『白い男』」

— Part One: “Boulevard of Crime” and Part Two: “The Man in White.”

The lower composition is dominated by Jean-Louis Barrault as Baptiste, presented at monumental scale on the right, while Arletty as Garance appears at left in a striking green costume. A smaller portrait of María Casares sits below, against a densely populated sepia-toned image of the bustling Parisian boulevard.

The Japanese promotional line declares:

「パリの大通りに織りなす絢爛の人生模様！巨匠が世界映画史に築いた不滅の金字塔！」

— approximately, “A magnificent tapestry of human life woven across the boulevards of Paris! An immortal monument erected by a master in the history of world cinema!”

The elegant white LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS title appears against Barrault’s dark costume at lower right, while the original TOWA distributor mark is printed at the upper-right corner.

The mixture of restrained cream ground, black calligraphy, selective colour photography and sepia crowd imagery gives this revival sheet an unusually sophisticated graphic character—very different from both the celebrated 1952 first-release Japanese artwork and the later 1981 revival campaign.

Film significance
Children of Paradise is one of the defining achievements of French poetic realism and has long occupied an exceptional position in international cinema. Remarkably mounted during the occupation of France, its enormous sets, intricate romantic structure and recreation of 19th-century Paris resulted in a film running more than three hours across its two parts. Japan first released the film theatrically in 1952, where it became an important part of the post-war enthusiasm for major French cinema.

This 1963 revival poster is therefore an early Japanese re-release artifact for a film already established as a major world-cinema classic—and considerably earlier than the better-known 1981 Japanese revival material.

It is over 63 years old!

Condition
Very Good+ to Excellent. A highly attractive surviving example for a Japanese theatrical poster of this age.

The poster was originally folded and has subsequently been stored flat, with the original horizontal and vertical fold lines remaining visible. There is some light age-related handling creasing and minor surface character, principally around the fold intersections and margins, consistent with a genuine early-1960s theatrical poster. The verso remains generally clean and the sheet is complete.

Importantly, the large Barrault portrait, Garance imagery, black calligraphic title and coloured typography remain strong and highly displayable.

Once framed, it will display excellently.

Please review all photographs, including the front and reverse images—they show the exact poster for sale.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.