The Leopard The Leopard Criterion 235 1963 / Color / 2:21 anamorphic 16:9 / 185, 161 min. / Gattopardo, Il / Street Date June 8, 2004 / 49.95 Starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, Romolo Valli, Mario Girotti, Pierre Cl´menti, Lucilla Morlacchi, Giuliano Gemma Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno Production Designer Mario Garbuglia Costume Design Piero Tosi Film Editor Mario Serandrei Original Music Nino Rota Written by Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, Luchino Visconti from the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa Produced by Goffredo Lombardo Directed by Luchino Visconti
	Reviewed by Glenn Erickson The Leopard is one of those Italian masterpieces we've heard Martin Scorsese wail about for twenty-five years, a film that could not be seen in a decent, uncut copy. Criterion has not only resurrected this acclaimed classic but presents it in two versions and with some excellent extras in a handsome if costly 3-disc presentation. Considering the work that had to go into this show it's well worth the premium. Synopsis: 1860. Garibaldi invades to free Sicily from the Bourbons while the patriarch of the landed Salina Prince Don Fabrizio (Burt Lancaster) tries to keep his family from panicking. His favorite nephew Tancredi Falconeri (Alain Delon) runs off to fight with Garibaldi's Red Shirts. As the revolution cools into negotiations between existing power centers and fake plebescites are held, Tancredi returns to become a Royal officer. The Salinas seem posed to blend their artistocratic bloodline with the new bourgeois through the romance of Tancredi and the beautiful Angelica Sedara (Claudia Cardinale), daughter of the nouveau riche Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). The future seems to be well in hand, with Tancredi preparing to run for public office in the new republic and Don Fabrizio readying himself and his feudal system to retreat to the shadows of history. Here's the picture that ambitious filmmakers looking to be taken seriously have been imitating for 40 years - Coppola in The Godfather, Cimino in The Deer Hunter, Leone in Duck You Sucker. Before this, the supremely confident Luchino Visconti set Senso in the same period but in the North of Italy, but little can match the opulence on view. All of the pride and decadence of the world of the Sicilian nobility is captured in detail, from their clothes to the fabric on the furniture and the walls. Unlike some "painstaking" productions, this one breathes an accuracy that places one in a different world and makes us believe that Burt Lancaster speaks Italian and comes from a long line of blooded nobles. Erich Von Stroheim would have approved. Visconti's style is an effortless blend of careful masters, trucking shots and closeups that never look like scenes filmed for ordinary assembly. Instead of being overwhelmed by the decor our attention is always focused on the human drama. Lancaster's Don Fabrizio is much more flexible than he looks and he admires and envies his surrogate son Tancredi even as he doubts the younger man's commitment. The revolution (risorgimento) really amounts to a uniting of Italy into a distinct nation and Don Fabrizio neither resists nor runs away. Knowing that a real revolution that deprives the nobles of their land and titles is unlikely, he waits for the right cues to reassert his power. As it turns out he doesn't really have to. Tancredi fights in the battle for Palermo (a brilliantly shot series of barricade charges in the dusty streets) but the revolution soon changes into a simple accomodation of interests. The emerging class is the moneyed business interest represented by the rich Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa from Miracle in Milan). He can nominate politicians and fix elections and the Salinas realize his power even as they patronize the man for his hopeless lack of refinement. The same goes for his daughter Angelica, a flower who sets both Tancredi and Don Fabrizio aflame. The union of nobles and bourgeoisie makes for some awkward moments at the dinner table but Don Frabrizio is nothing if not flexible. Angelica and Tancredi are the future and he'll not stand in their way. Visconti took over Sicilian towns and utilized a monumental budget to erect new building facades when necessary and dress hundreds of extras in authentic costumes. Except for the battle scene there's little in common with the American style of epic, yet everything we see lets us know that this might as well be a true 1861 we're looking at and not some studio recreation. The pagaentry of a formal arrival at the hill-town villa forces us to appreciate exactly how the town works, with the music and dust blowing through the cathedral. Don Fabrizio can go hunting with a commoner friend to discuss the changes that are coming, and interestingly it's this lowly peasant who considers the family Tancredi is marrying into as dung compared to the Salinas. Don Fabrizio wisely makes the match that will secure his line's future. All of the themes and character arcs are resolved but not closed at the giant 35-minute ball that finishes The Leopard. Tancredi shows his intention to be a closed-minded "republican" noble who looks out for nobody but himself and his own. Don Fabrizio suddenly becomes aware that the power of his generation is fading fast and that he himself might be dying. As in a great painting, the petty movements of the characters mask real events such as the news of Garibaldi's defeat. The beauty and decadence of the nobles is expressed in their nightlong party with Don Fabrizio dancing as the great patriarch whose time has come. Meanwhile, offscreen and out of sight, some revolutionaries are being executed by the uncaring new order. The future will be the same, only different. Burt Lancaster always had the capacity for Don Fabrizio's kind of dignity and gravity but it must be said that he's surprisingly effective - not a single sharktoothed smile or acrobatic stunt here. Claudia Cardinale is something to swoon over in her incredibly tight-waisted dresses, even though we must strain to understand the taboo that's being shattered when she laughs like a mule-driver at the formal dining table. Alain Delon is dashing and less expressive, although his role is the easiest to follow through direct dialogue. When he changes allegiances or becomes less idealistic his words show it right away. Paolo Stoppa is appropriately awkward, and Romollo Valli (Girl With a Suitcase, Duck You Sucker) an amusingly endearing family priest. Criterion's DVD of The Leopard continues their untouchable lead when it comes to academically-oriented film presentations. Only a few years ago critics were complaining that the only way to see this film was in the cut version - and in B&W. Disc one has the full original 185 minute cut in splendid condition. Originally shot in Technirama (squeezed VistaVision) the razor sharp image allows us to pore over the textures of furniture and subtle color shifts in the walls of rooms, while counting the pores on Burt Lancaster's mustachioed face in closeups. The Italian track is excellent and the fact that Burt is dubbed by an Italian voice actor soon stops being distracting. Peter Cowie provides a full-length commentary. He has enough to say about Visconti and the movie to keep any foreign film fan happy. Disc two has the convential extras, the key one being a lengthy set of edited interviews beautifully shot in 16:9. Conversing naturally with the camera are Claudia Cardinale, screenwriter Suso Checci D'Amico, Giuseppe Rotunno, a relative of author Lampedusa, Piero Tosi and others. Sydney Pollack, then an associate of the late Burt Lancaster, tells the story from Burt's side. A second interview lets producer Geoffredo Lombardo give his angle on the production. The Leopard bankrupted his prestigious company Titanus, and that combined with 20th Fox control is what kept the film out of circulation for so long. Americans didn't see it in its original Italian until 1983. Univ. of Pennsylvania professor Millicent Marcus provides an excellent overview of the political background of the Risorgimento and how key events in the uprising are mirrored in the film. Interestingly, Lombardo talks about the main problem weighing against a sequel, which would probably play like a historical bookend to another Criterion release, Salvatore Giuliano: not long after the events of The Leopard, the Mafia was formed in Sicily. There is also a selection of trailers and newsreels, and a gallery of stills and artwork ads from various markets. Disc 3 has the alternate American cut supervised by Lancaster and Pollack back in California. It's a wreck, because European films dubbed into English always sound phoney (especially after hearing an original soundtrack) and Burt Lancaster with his own voice remains "Burt," keeping us from accepting him as a Sicilian aristocrat from 100 years in the past. The American cut is 24 minutes shorter and the color is good, but it hasn't been given the digital scrubbing of the longer version, enabling us to appreciate Criterion's work all the more. Visconti's later films The Damned and Death in Venice are weak sisters next to this achievement. Criterion presents it with a tasteful and simple menu and art design. The producer is Issa Clubb. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Leopard rates: Movie: Excellent Video: Excellent Sound: Excellent Supplements: plenty, see above Packaging: 3 discs in Keep case Reviewed: May 26, 2004 [Savant Main Page] [Savant Links] [Article Index] [Review Index] [Savant 5 Year Report] DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson Advertise With Us Review Staff | About DVD Talk | Newsletter Subscribe | Join DVD Talk Forum Copyright © DVDTalk.com All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use