Leopard

UPC: 715515060219

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children]

Summary: Arguably Luchino Visconti's best film and certainly the most personal of his historical epics, The Leopard chronicles the fortunes of Prince Fabrizio Salina and his family during the unification of Italy in the 1860s. Based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, published posthumously in 1958 and subsequently translated into all European languages, the picture opens as Salina (Burt Lancaster) learns that Garibaldi's troops have embarked in Sicily. While the Prince sees the event as an obvious threat to his current social status, his opportunistic nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) becomes an officer in Garibaldi's army and returns home a war hero. Tancredi starts courting the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), a daughter of the town's newly appointed Mayor, Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). Though the Prince despises Don Calogero as an upstart who made a fortune on land speculation during the recent social upheaval, he reluctantly agrees to his nephew's marriage, understanding how much this alliance would mean for the impecunious Tancredi. Painfully realizing the aristocracy's obsolescence in the wake of the new class of bourgeoisie, the Prince later declines an offer from a governmental emissary to become a senator in the new Parliament in Turin. The closing section, an almost hour-long ball, is often cited as one of the most spectacular sequences in film history. Burt Lancaster is magnificent in the first of his patriarchal roles, and the rest of the cast, especially Delon and Cardinale, become almost perfect incarnations of the novel's characters. Filmed in glorious Techniscope and rich in period detail, the film is a remarkable cinematic achievement in all departments. The version that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival ran 205 minutes. Inexplicably, the picture was subsequently distributed by 20th Century Fox in a poorly dubbed, 165-min. English-language version, using inferior color process. The restored Italian-language version, supervised by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, appeared in 1990, though the longest print still ran only 187 minutes. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

Category: Epic

Awards: New Star of the Year - Male – null Best Color Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Palme d'Or – Cannes Film Festival Best Foreign Film – National Board of Review New Star of the Year - Male – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie
The 161-minute american release, with english-language dialogue, including Burt Lancaster's own voice
A dying breed: the making of "the legend," an hour-long documentary featuring interviews with actress Claudia Cardinale, screenwriter Suso Cecchi D'Amico, rotunno, filmmaker Sydbey Pollack, and many others
Video interview with producer Goffredo Lombardo
Video interview with scholar Millicent Marcus on the history behind The Leopard
Original theatrical trailers and newsreels
Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos

Leopard

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 06/29/2010

Runtime: 185 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Subtitles: English

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Richard Gilliam

Il Gattopardo is perhaps much too cinematically opulent to fit comfortably into director Luchino Visconti's body of neo-realist work, but it is likely his most personal film, with a powerful central protagonist (Burt Lancaster) who resembles aspects of Visconti's own life. Visconti was among those wealthy Italians who became attracted to Marxist ideals, but who was not willing to relinquish his own personal wealth or status. There is at least some parallel to the central character in Il Gattopardo, an aristocrat who aware of his own impending obsolescence. The film is meticulously produced, with great attention to period detail. Giuseppe Rotunno's cinematography is a substantial asset, as is Nino Rota's orchestral score and Mario Garbuglia's production design. Several versions of the film exist, most of them considerably shortened from the original theatrically released version. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Tina Lattanzi  Actor 
Dante Posani  Actor 
Marie Bell  Actor 
Alina Zalewska  Actor 
Alberto Carlo Lolli  Actor 
Marcella Rovena  Actor 
Giovanni Materassi  Actor 
Amalia Troiani  Actor 
Carlo Palmucci  Actor 
Vittorio Duse  Actor 
Stelvio Rosi  Actor 
Pasquale Festa Campanile  Screenwriter 
Suso Cecchi D'Amico  Screenwriter 
Massimo Franciosa  Screenwriter 
Goffredo Lombardo  Producer 
Nino Rota  Composer (Music Score) 
Luchino Visconti  Director 
Luchino Visconti  Screenwriter 
Enrico Medioli  Screenwriter 
Burt Lancaster  Actor 
Alain Delon  Actor 
Claudia Cardinale  Actor 
Paolo Stoppa  Actor 
Rina Morelli  Actor 
Serge Reggiani  Actor 
Romolo Valli  Actor 
Ottavia Piccolo  Actor 
Ivo Garrani  Actor 
Lucilla Morlacchi  Actor 
Leslie French  Actor 
Pierre Clémenti  Actor 
Carlo Valenzano  Actor 
Ida Galli  Actor 
Mario Girotti  Actor 
Olimpia Cavalli  Actor 
Marino Masé  Actor 
Brook Fuller  Actor 
Giuliano Gemma  Actor 
Claudia Cardinale  Actor 

Country: France,Italy