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The Godfather The Coppola Restoration Discount.
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The Godfather The Coppola Restoration
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #342 in Movie
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Running time: 178 minutes
The New Restoration Collection does not disappoint!
The new transfers for The Godfather Parts I and II are stunning. It really is like seeing them for the first time. All of the murky, faded colors have been restored to their original glory while still retaining the warmth of the film stock. Gordon Willis’ then-controversial cinematography can finally be seen they way it was intended on these new discs. If you have the original box set, it is worth it to double dip if only for the restoration job on these two films.
Carried over from the original set are all of Francis Ford Coppola’s commentary tracks for the three films. On The Godfather one, he appropriately enough, starts off by talking about the film’s famous opening scene and how it was supposed to start with the wedding but a friend suggested he do something else. Coppola talks about how he organized the elaborate wedding sequence and shot it only 2-3 days! He talks about the pressure he was under by the studio and in read danger of being fired because they didn’t like what he was doing. This is pretty solid track that we’ve come to expect from the veteran filmmaker.
Coppola’s contributes another excellent commentary for The Godfather Part II. Initially, he had no interest in doing a sequel and dealing with studio bureaucracy. He suggested Martin Scorsese for the job. The studio balked at this idea and accepted all of Coppola’s terms. The veteran filmmaker talks at length about the development of the Corleone family from Part I. Coppola is engaging and very articulate, delivering a top notch track that is well worth a listen for any fan of this movie.
Finally, there is Coppola’s commentary for The Godfather Part III. One of the heated debates the filmmaker had with the studio was over Pacino’s hair. He wanted Michael to look older and like a man in crisis, while the studio didn’t want to mess with Pacino’s distinctive looks. Coppola defends his casting of Sofia and feels that she delivered a “real” performance because she wasn’t an actor. He also addresses the scathing criticism she received as in fact an attack on him. This is a solid track with good observations and analysis by Coppola — better than the film itself.
The rest of the supplemental material is spread out of two discs. Thankfully for those who did not buy the first box set all of the extras from it have been carried over with a whole other disc of brand new material.
The fourth disc features all the brand new material and starts off with “Godfather World,” which takes a look at how The Godfather films influenced popular culture, including parodies on The Simpsons and South Park, and how it informed the characters on The Sopranos. All kinds of celebrities, from William Friedkin and Alec Baldwin to author Sarah Vowell who sing its praises with clips of shows and films that reference it.
“The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t” tells the story of how Hollywood had changed at the end of the 1960s with the demise of the studio moguls and the rise of the film brats, the first generation of film students who became filmmakers. One of them, Coppola, ended up being picked to direct The Godfather. This is an excellent look at how the director almost didn’t get the gig and why.
“…When the Shooting Stopped” examines the post-production phase of the first film. Coppola battled with the studio over the length of it. Executives initially did not like Nino Rota’s score for the film and samples of some of his original and revised cues are played.
“Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather” takes a look at the newly restored transfers for Part I and II and how they preserve Gordon Willis’ gorgeous cinematography. This featurette takes us through the restoration process, showing before and after examples.
“The Godfather on the Red Carpet” is a forgettable featurette shot during the premiere of Cloverfield with various minor celebrities gush about the films.
“Four Short Films on The Godfather” features celebs citing which one they prefer, Part I or II. Another one has Richard Belzer, and the man who adapted the films for the stage, quote their favourite lines, which turns out to be quite funny. The third one sees Coppola talk about his love of cannoli and how made it into the film. Finally, Coppola answers the question about what happened to Clemenza in Part II and why he died.
The fifth disc starts off with “A Look Inside,” a feature-length documentary about The Godfather trilogy done when Part III was being made. As a result, a lot of the major players were interviewed. We see Coppola at work on this film with on-set footage of the director working with Pacino. We also see Coppola working on the script with author Mario Puzo. The doc then goes back to the first film with Coppola’s battle with the studio over casting Brando, Pacino, et al. with fascinating vintage screen tests and rehearsal footage. This is an excellent extra that goes into great detail.
“On Location” revisits key locations in the lower east side of New York where they shot parts of all three films and how they transformed them into various historical periods.
“Francis Coppola’s Notebook” examines how he adapted Puzo’s book into the first film. Coppola shows us his notebook that he used as his master document that he would constantly refer to. This featurette provides fascinating insight into the man’s creative process.
“Music of The Godfather” features an audio excerpt of a conversation Coppola had with composer Nino Rota about the music for the film. Also included is footage of composer Carmine Coppola (Francis’ father) working on Part III. Francis talks about working with his father.
“Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting” features the author talking about the origins of his novel while Coppola discusses adapting it with Puzo into the films.
“Gordon Willis on Cinematography” features the man talking his approach to the look of the film and the choices he made and why.
“Storyboards – Godfather Part II and Part III” allows you to see sketches for the look of both films and see how Coppola planned to shoot them.
“The Godfather: Behind the Scenes 1971″ is a vintage promotional featurette done at the time of the production of the first film. This is a fantastic snapshot of the times.
“The Filmmakers” are text biographies of key crew members.
Also included are 30 additional scenes from the four eras, spanning the entire trilogy. Much of this footage was inserted into the first two films when they were shown on television.
“The Family” gives you a handy organization chart for the Corleone family. You can see who everyone is and how they are related.
Finally, there are “Galleries” with trailers for all three films, stills, a collection of portraits of enemies of the Corleone family, and footage of the Academy Awards wins for the first two Godfather films.
THE GODFATHER, The Coppola Video Game Giftset
This Review is based on The Standard DVD format Restoration, not The Blu-ray Version.
I’m on the fence about this New Restoration Box Set(The Restored GODFATHER III is a cleaner version), but I’m leaning towards an all-out PAN of this New Restoration. Unfortunately, I listened to some of the reviewers here and purchased this Set. (A couple of you owe me a few bucks.) It doesn’t look like any of the reviewers here did a side-by-side comparison test of The New Restoration and The Original Versions of these films on DVD. I did mine on a 50″ Panasonic plasma.
Yes, the New prints have fewer scratches, dirt, and grain than The Original Set, (which is not as bad as some reviewers suggest). But, the COLOR ENHANCEMENT of The New Restoration Set is OVERLY saturated in many parts. Especially, in the Red Scale. Yellows and orange flesh tones are extremely pronounced, overly brilliant, and unnatural looking in this Set. And it still contains scratches, dirt, and grain. Not as much as The Original Set, but it’s still there. A lot of the grain in certain frames has been removed, while other frames remain untouched and appear to be just as grainy as The Original Version. A very uneven transfer in my opinion.
In the opening shot of THE GODFATHER, the Undertaker is so overly saturated with yellow that as the camera pulls back to reveal Don Corleone’s desk, it renders The Undertaker almost out of focus. Trust me, this shot looks far better in The Original Set. Compare the shot in THE GODFATHER of Luca Brasi in his apartment, donning his bulletproof vest, in preparation for his meeting with Sollozzo. The colors in The Original Version look natural, while The Restoration renders Luca’s apartment in a blazing wash of bright sunshine yellow. These frames are entirely over-saturated with color. I assure you, certain frames of this Restoration DO NOT look anything like the Original film stock print. The warm and natural looking sepia tone of The Original film has been blasted away with digital color in many frames, almost making them look unreal.
THE GODFATHER II has been compressed onto one disc, while The Original Version was compressed onto 2 discs.
(By the way, I could care less about The TV Saga Version. It’s not the way these films were shot, and it’s not the way they were intended to be seen.)
Some frames of The New Restoration look very grainy, some look incredible, while other frames make these films appear as if Ted Turner Colorized them. At times, I wasn’t sure if I was watching THE GODFATHER, or SPEED RACER.
Is this version worth a Double Dip? I’m still on the fence about that. But, I think I prefer The Original Box Set over this half-baked attempt at improving this Classic with an over-saturation of color.
I get the feeling that The Blu-ray Version must look really odd. Blu-ray is great technology for newer films. Older films tend to suffer from over-saturation with this technology. The public is so enamoured with Blu-ray, they don’t realize some of the classic older films don’t resemble their original celluloid color exposures anymore. And that’s a shame. It’s going to take some more time before remastering technicians understand the remastering treatment that some of these classic older films deserve. Sometimes less is more.
If you must have The Restoration, turn the brightness and color way down on your TV.
I’m calling this THE GODFATHER: THE COPPOLA VIDEO GAME GIFTSET.
Act accordingly.
UPDATE:
There is no question that this Standard DVD Remastered Version is overly saturated with color. Here is a pretty SIMPLE ADJUSTMENT SOLUTION that seems to work quite well, reproduces truer color, and makes these Remastered films much more enjoyable. At least it did on my 50″ Panasonic Viera plasma. (I also use this for The Anniversary Remaster of SCARFACE which is also overly saturated with color.) Stay away from the VIVID and CINEMA Picture Settings. Use the STANDARD Picture Setting which will give you the following numbers: Picture 50, Brightness 50, Color 50, Tint 0, and Sharpness 75. Simply tune the COLOR setting down from 50 to 35. I found that changes to the other settings were not necessary. This should take care of the overly saturated playback color issue. I do not know whether this adjustment will work as well with an LCD, Projection, Tube TV, or Blu-Ray Disc.
Too bad I didn’t refuse the offer for the original release !
I don’t really care that much about the new extras, the real need to double-dip for this release is the improvement of the video for the three films. If you own the original release you’ll have noticed just how un-watchable the three movies were, specially because of the incredible amount of specs and marks which I’ve found distracting and downright intolerable; there’s not a +/-5 second period in which a spec does not appear on I & II while the video in III is affected by terrible color and brightness.
While watching the new release of the Bond fims a few months ago I concluded I couldn’t be long before the GODFATHER series received a similar treatment and sooner rather than later, here we are. I really hope the price for this edition is brought down by Amazon from the 62.99 it currently stands but, even if it doesn’t, two of the greatest films of all time are worthy of just swallowing and making such expense. I like III very much too but obviously it isn’t in the same league with the first two, just about no other film ever made is.
10/13 UPDATE TO THIS REVIEW: Having finally seen this DVDs: fantastic picture, much improved sound. There are plenty of images and sounds there to find which simply couldn’t be appreciated in past editions. But you’d think that for $62.99 they’d get the labels on disc 4 & 5 right ! $62.99 !!!! You can find this collection on e-bay for half the amount. Very sorry to say that for the last several months, Amazon has been pricing themselves out of being considered the best option in DVDs.
Stream The Hustler Movie Online
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Movie Title: The Hustler The Hustler is available for streaming or downloading. |
Many people who saw the slick and stylish Scorcese creation Color of Money didn’t even realize that Eddie Felson already existed on the silver hide in The Hustler. What many people yell me when they score out and behold The Hustler is that either they hated it or loved it. That’s because while Color of Money is detached, slick, collected, and polished, The Hustler is raw, biting, and grand and so by definition it is not for everyone. Color of Money is more about visual effects and music, which is classic Scorcese, though there’s no actual substance. Scorcese himself has said in interviews that movies like Goodfellas were finish to his heart, but Color of Money was unbiased a commercialized creation.
The Hustler, on the other hand, really grabs you. First off, as a pool player myself, let me announce you Tom Flit can’t play pool worth a damn, and that lack of authenticity is a glaring weakness to commence with. But unbiased the fact that Newman and Gleason can play pool does not perform The Hustler a better movie – it’s a masterpiece because it is a inviting account of human redepmption, of Eddie’s battle to separate his pool game from his self-esteem. It’s also about one man’s passion for the game. How can any pool player forget that soliloquoy by Snappily Eddie when he and Sarah go for that picnic, how he talks about how he loves even honest the sound of the click of the balls, how the cue has nerves in it and is share of his arm!
Remember that last scene in Color of Money, where young cocky Vincent plays the older, cagier Mercurial Eddie and Eddie declares “I’m abet” before he breaks the balls? Even though the movie ends there, everyone knows Eddie wiped up the floor with Vincent. Vincent’s character had talent, but Eddie had character, and that’s what beat Hasty Eddie time he played Fats.
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Bert Gordon: You got talent.
Fast Eddie: I got talent? So what beat me?
Bert: Character.
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And that’s the plot the two movies are too. Color of Money has talent, but The Hustler has character.
The Hustler spotlights one of Paul Newman’s finest performances in his portrayal of Fleet Eddie Felson, an arrogant, amoral pool hustler who’s distinct to be the greatest pool player in the country by beating the legendary Minnesota Fats (played flawlessly by Jackie Gleason) .
The film is a gritty, uncompromising character eye and tragic worship epic that is residence in the world of pool hustlers. Piper Laurie; as an alcoholic floozy who falls hard for Speedy Eddie; and George C. Scott as the frigid hearted manipulative gambler, Bert Gordon,– contribute two additional flawless supporting performances. It was directed by the controversial Robert (All the King’s Men) Rossen (he resisted but eventually named names during the unfriendly blacklist of the 50′s) .
The film focuses on the arrogant, unsympathetic exploits of a con man as he uses his charm, looks and pool playing skills to hustle enough money to challenge Minnesota Fats, only to be humiliated in defeat. As ‘Fast Eddie’ attempts to raise money for a re-match, he meets and almost falls in care for with Sarah a fellow alcoholic. At first Speedy Eddie refuses to be managed by Bert Gordon, but after a pool hall hustle ends up with Posthaste Eddie having his thumbs broken, he reconsiders. Before the re-match with Minnesota Fats, a warm up high stakes game in Louisville has tragic consequences.
The film dares to focus on a-typical anti-hero characters who live by amoral codes. Very miniature Hollywood style gloss is to be found anywhere in this stylistic gritty masterpiece which afflict up being nominated for 10 Academy Awards (West Side Legend won most of them that year) . Cinematographer Eugene Shufftan deservedly won an Oscar for his moodily lit, splendid sunless and white images. Harry Horner’s and Gene Callahan’s intricately art direction, production effect and spot decoration were also awarded with Oscars. Pool record Willie Mosconi taught Newman how to glance and act the section of a pool hustler and also made Newman’s trick shots in the film. Jackie Gleason was already an capable pool player. There really was an Aames pool hall in Unusual York City and it is faded for the film’s most riveting scenes. Boxer Jake LaMotta (of ‘Raging Bull’ fame) plays a bartender in the film.
Director Rossen who began his career as a screenwriter made only one other film (1964′s Lilith) after ‘The Hustler’. Rossen died in 1966. Martin Scorcese directed the 1986 sequel Color of Money, with Newman reprising his Quickly Eddie role (and this time Newman won a best Actor Oscar for his efforts) as he teaches an up and coming hustler (Tom Coast) the ropes. The sequel doesn’t advance finish to being as capable as the recent (despite its stylistic flourishes, cast and director) .
Interesting to mark that the characters in The Hustler were fictitious and an above average pool player legally changed his name to Minnesota Fats AFTER the film was released. The sincere life ‘Minnesota Fats’ eventually played a nationally televised (hosted by Howard Cosell) pool exhibition with William Mosconi in the 1970′s more than 10 years after this 1961 film.
DVD IMAGE AND SOUND
The film has been digitally re-mastered in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The films looks to be in well-behaved shape with very diminutive print hurt observed. The scrutinize of the film is smoky and gritty and the shadow details are rich indicating strong dark levels prove. This is a very provocative looking dim and white film. The sound will not effect but the dialogue, sound effects and occasional music is crisp and usually centered..
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DVD EXTRA’S
In addition to two trailers for the film, there are a few entertaining featurettes some production stills and the friendly commentary track.
Richard Schickel hosts the too short documentary The Hustler: The Inside Legend which gives us some details on how the film came to be made, and delivers some we were there stories from some of the film-makers and a few surprise guests.
“How to Originate the Shot,” and “Trick Shot Analysis by World Artistic Champion, Mike Massey”
are two shorts demonstrating and showing viewers how to get some trick shots on the pool table.
There is a well-behaved commentary track which features the reminisces, and perspectives from actors: Paul Newman, and Stefan Gierash (Preacher), Dede Allen (film editor), Ulu Grosbard (assistant director), Carol Rossen (the director’s daughter), Richard Schickel (film critic, Time), and Jeff Young (film historian) . The comments veil all aspects of the making of the film. Newman’s comments as one might interrogate are few.
The film looks and sounds spacious, the extras compliment the classic film very well. Along with Hud, and Nobody’s Fool, The Hustler has, what for me, is one of the three best Newman performances on film. Considering the supporting cast are ample, there’s slight for anyone to fault with this film.
Christopher J. Jarmick, is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller…
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Movie Title: Miss Potter Miss Potter is available for streaming or downloading. |
“Because you are fond of fairy tales,” Beatrix Potter wrote to one of her celebrated children in 1901, “I have made you a account all for yourself, a recent one that nobody has read before.”
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Now, a century later, “Miss Potter” (directed by Chris Noonan, starring Rene Zellweger) has a unique yarn to snort, and quite a fairy sage it is, too, with all the delectable magic of one of Beatrix Potter’s beget stories: winsome characters, delicious settings, strong period details. I was charmed by this film (viewed on DVD, with all the extras), and spent an enchanted evening watching it. As a movie, it is aesthetic family entertainment–something that’s hard to approach by, these days.
But the film has been widely billed as a biopic, and if you were looking for a anecdote that’s good to Beatrix’s life, this one might mislead you. Richard Maltby (who wrote the script and spent some 10 years trying to acquire it produced) and Chris Noonan have teamed up to give us a attractive fairy narrative, but one that is based on some fairly fundamental misrepresentations of Beatrix’s valid life.
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Take that clarify Christmas party, for instance, in a festooned Potter mansion. This dramatically pivotal event could never have happened, for Rupert and Helen Potter were Dissenters who did not celebrate Christmas–much to Beatrix’s disappointment, as a child longing for a tree and the trimmings. (In life, both the Potters seem to have been worthy more dour people than their on-screen representations.)
Or lift those childhood visits to the Lake Districts, which never happened either. The Potters holidayed in Scotland until Beatrix was 16. Which means that she could not have met Willie Heelis, who was nearly five years younger than Beatrix, anyway (not older, as the film portrays him) . Oh, and Willie was the son of a rector and the Heelis family belonged to quite a different social class from the one in which Willie is placed in the film. More misrepresentation (although the on-screen Willie is a accurate charmer.)
But the most poor distortion of all is the decision to collapse the eight years it took for Beatrix to become independent enough to leave her parents. The film portrayed Norman’s death as the lever that pried her from the Potters’ pick. Not so. Beatrix bought Hill Top a few months after Norman died in 1905, but did not leave her parents until 1913, when she married Willie. For eight long, difficult years, Beatrix commuted from her parents’ home or holiday station to Sawrey. During that time, she could pick up away only five or six times a year, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for as distinguished as a fortnight. Norman’s death was indeed the prod she needed to originate a change, but it wasn’t until Willie offered her another choice that she was finally able to free herself. Compressing this long-running family conflict into a matter of months and hinging the whole thing on Norman’s death distorts Beatrix’s character and makes her seem more decisively “novel” than she was in valid life.
As a novelist engaged in creating historical fictions (some of them featuring Beatrix Potter), I am always aware of the challenges of representing genuine people in fictional contexts, and effort when trusty lives are seriously distorted to design a tale more racy. I enjoyed this film as a film, and give it five stars for its entertainment value. As a biopic, I’d give it a two, three to be top-notch. Putting the two together, a four-minus.
Oh, and for the dependable epic of Beatrix’s life, you’ll want to read Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear.
Susan Wittig Albert is the author of The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter: The Story of Hill Top Farm (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter), The Myth of Holly How, The Yarn of Cuckoo Brow Wood (Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter Mysteries), The Story of Hawthorn House: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, and four other forthcoming novels in the series.
I saw this graceful film this past week in Chicago at a preview showing and was simply gratified by it. Only five years ago this would have been a Miramax film, but following the messy departure of the Weinsteins from Miramax to accomplish their bear production company, they are distributing this joint production. Status in the early decades of the twentieth century, in a sort of extended Edwardian age, the film possesses a improbable period feel and peruse. Like the best of the Miramax films, it feels like a time capsule more than a contemporary production.
With only some shame I have to admit to shimmering very tiny about Beatrix Potter. To inject some autobiography, I was not read Potter as a child and though after my divorce I raised my daughter, reading to her constantly, there was an agreement that on her periodic visits to her mother she would be allowed to read her Beatrix Potter (because of a Potter obsession by her absorb godmother) and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read my daughter every other children’s’ writer, but was forbidden to dip into either of those. So I saw this biopic bright next to nothing about her. The film seemed to me to give a profitable impression of who she was. She emerges in the film as a sort of horrified feminist, not a activist, but quietly insisting on taking her possess path. Though there are flashbacks to her childhood and the final quarter of the film focuses on her sharp to the Lake District, most of the film deals with the period of partnership and eventually romance between her and her publisher, Norman Warne. One suspects that of necessity a tremendous deal is left out, but as it exists it is compelling. I did a bit of checking on the Internet and discovered that she was not 32 in 1903, so the film obviously fudges some numbers, but as presented the film serene provided a exquisite portrait.
Renée Zellweger is improbable in the title role. I have seen photographs of Beatrix Potter and there does not seem to be powerful of a resemblance between the two. To the film’s credit, they do a large deal to de-emphasize Zellweger’s loveliness. She isn’t exactly insensible, but she isn’t as radiant as usual. But she brings a delectable simplicity to her role. Ewan McGregor is pleasing in his role, but unlike their melancholy film DOWN WITH Worship, his role is not equal to hers in this one. He manages to be everything he needs to be. Emily Watson plays his sister. There are movie stars and there are actresses, and she is an actress. I have always been amazed at mighty her various roles can differ from one another. A lot of actresses, unfortunately, as they approach the age of forty, have probably reached finish to the raze of their career. Watson is so sparkling, however, and those colossal eyes so expressive, that you sense that she probably hasn’t reached half of her eventual film resume. I’m definite we’ll be seeing her in roles thirty-five years from now. It was kindly to glance Bill Paterson as Beatrix’s father. He has always been one of my celebrated supporting actors and for my money we have always seen far too shrimp of him. Broken-down British actress Barbara Flynn is trustworthy as well as Beatrix’s mother.
Chris Noonan directed the film. The last time we encountered him as a director was in one of the most scrumptious films of the nineties, BABE. I have absolutely no thought what he has been up to the past decade, but this film has some of the same lush discover that BABE did. Interestingly, animals feature prominently in both films.
The last piece of the film, that centers on the beginning of the final chapter of Potter’s life as a farmer in the Lake District, features some of the most resplendent landscapes you can ever hope to seek in a movie. The demolish of the film indicates that Miss Potter left 4,000 acres of Lake District property to the National Trust. I hope that some of those scenes were filmed on some of that property.
Finally, I want to add that while I’ve never been one to be on the lookout for “family” (which to me usually are synonymous with “dreary” or “bland”), this film, which could easily receive a “G” rating, is a film that any parent could feel comfortable showing any child. Younger children might catch it a bit stupid, but any fan of Beatrix Potter, whether young or mature, will surely savor this film. Indeed, as someone who cannot count himself among her fans (entirely through a complete lack of acquaintance), I can attest that those unique with her work will like the film as well.
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Buy The Godfather Part III The Coppola Restoration At Amazon!
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Buy The Godfather Part III The Coppola Restoration At Amazon!
Compare & Purchase The Godfather Part III The Coppola Restoration at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $5.99 |
The Godfather Part III The Coppola Restoration Description:
- Amazon Sales Rank: #949 in Movie
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Running time: 171 minutes
Customer Reviews:
The New Restoration Collection does not disappoint!
The new transfers for The Godfather Parts I and II are stunning. It really is like seeing them for the first time. All of the murky, faded colors have been restored to their original glory while still retaining the warmth of the film stock. Gordon Willis’ then-controversial cinematography can finally be seen they way it was intended on these new discs. If you have the original box set, it is worth it to double dip if only for the restoration job on these two films.
Carried over from the original set are all of Francis Ford Coppola’s commentary tracks for the three films. On The Godfather one, he appropriately enough, starts off by talking about the film’s famous opening scene and how it was supposed to start with the wedding but a friend suggested he do something else. Coppola talks about how he organized the elaborate wedding sequence and shot it only 2-3 days! He talks about the pressure he was under by the studio and in read danger of being fired because they didn’t like what he was doing. This is pretty solid track that we’ve come to expect from the veteran filmmaker.
Coppola’s contributes another excellent commentary for The Godfather Part II. Initially, he had no interest in doing a sequel and dealing with studio bureaucracy. He suggested Martin Scorsese for the job. The studio balked at this idea and accepted all of Coppola’s terms. The veteran filmmaker talks at length about the development of the Corleone family from Part I. Coppola is engaging and very articulate, delivering a top notch track that is well worth a listen for any fan of this movie.
Finally, there is Coppola’s commentary for The Godfather Part III. One of the heated debates the filmmaker had with the studio was over Pacino’s hair. He wanted Michael to look older and like a man in crisis, while the studio didn’t want to mess with Pacino’s distinctive looks. Coppola defends his casting of Sofia and feels that she delivered a “real” performance because she wasn’t an actor. He also addresses the scathing criticism she received as in fact an attack on him. This is a solid track with good observations and analysis by Coppola — better than the film itself.
The rest of the supplemental material is spread out of two discs. Thankfully for those who did not buy the first box set all of the extras from it have been carried over with a whole other disc of brand new material.
The fourth disc features all the brand new material and starts off with “Godfather World,” which takes a look at how The Godfather films influenced popular culture, including parodies on The Simpsons and South Park, and how it informed the characters on The Sopranos. All kinds of celebrities, from William Friedkin and Alec Baldwin to author Sarah Vowell who sing its praises with clips of shows and films that reference it.
“The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t” tells the story of how Hollywood had changed at the end of the 1960s with the demise of the studio moguls and the rise of the film brats, the first generation of film students who became filmmakers. One of them, Coppola, ended up being picked to direct The Godfather. This is an excellent look at how the director almost didn’t get the gig and why.
“…When the Shooting Stopped” examines the post-production phase of the first film. Coppola battled with the studio over the length of it. Executives initially did not like Nino Rota’s score for the film and samples of some of his original and revised cues are played.
“Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather” takes a look at the newly restored transfers for Part I and II and how they preserve Gordon Willis’ gorgeous cinematography. This featurette takes us through the restoration process, showing before and after examples.
“The Godfather on the Red Carpet” is a forgettable featurette shot during the premiere of Cloverfield with various minor celebrities gush about the films.
“Four Short Films on The Godfather” features celebs citing which one they prefer, Part I or II. Another one has Richard Belzer, and the man who adapted the films for the stage, quote their favourite lines, which turns out to be quite funny. The third one sees Coppola talk about his love of cannoli and how made it into the film. Finally, Coppola answers the question about what happened to Clemenza in Part II and why he died.
The fifth disc starts off with “A Look Inside,” a feature-length documentary about The Godfather trilogy done when Part III was being made. As a result, a lot of the major players were interviewed. We see Coppola at work on this film with on-set footage of the director working with Pacino. We also see Coppola working on the script with author Mario Puzo. The doc then goes back to the first film with Coppola’s battle with the studio over casting Brando, Pacino, et al. with fascinating vintage screen tests and rehearsal footage. This is an excellent extra that goes into great detail.
“On Location” revisits key locations in the lower east side of New York where they shot parts of all three films and how they transformed them into various historical periods.
“Francis Coppola’s Notebook” examines how he adapted Puzo’s book into the first film. Coppola shows us his notebook that he used as his master document that he would constantly refer to. This featurette provides fascinating insight into the man’s creative process.
“Music of The Godfather” features an audio excerpt of a conversation Coppola had with composer Nino Rota about the music for the film. Also included is footage of composer Carmine Coppola (Francis’ father) working on Part III. Francis talks about working with his father.
“Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting” features the author talking about the origins of his novel while Coppola discusses adapting it with Puzo into the films.
“Gordon Willis on Cinematography” features the man talking his approach to the look of the film and the choices he made and why.
“Storyboards – Godfather Part II and Part III” allows you to see sketches for the look of both films and see how Coppola planned to shoot them.
“The Godfather: Behind the Scenes 1971″ is a vintage promotional featurette done at the time of the production of the first film. This is a fantastic snapshot of the times.
“The Filmmakers” are text biographies of key crew members.
Also included are 30 additional scenes from the four eras, spanning the entire trilogy. Much of this footage was inserted into the first two films when they were shown on television.
“The Family” gives you a handy organization chart for the Corleone family. You can see who everyone is and how they are related.
Finally, there are “Galleries” with trailers for all three films, stills, a collection of portraits of enemies of the Corleone family, and footage of the Academy Awards wins for the first two Godfather films.
THE GODFATHER, The Coppola Video Game Giftset
This Review is based on The Standard DVD format Restoration, not The Blu-ray Version.
I’m on the fence about this New Restoration Box Set(The Restored GODFATHER III is a cleaner version), but I’m leaning towards an all-out PAN of this New Restoration. Unfortunately, I listened to some of the reviewers here and purchased this Set. (A couple of you owe me a few bucks.) It doesn’t look like any of the reviewers here did a side-by-side comparison test of The New Restoration and The Original Versions of these films on DVD. I did mine on a 50″ Panasonic plasma.
Yes, the New prints have fewer scratches, dirt, and grain than The Original Set, (which is not as bad as some reviewers suggest). But, the COLOR ENHANCEMENT of The New Restoration Set is OVERLY saturated in many parts. Especially, in the Red Scale. Yellows and orange flesh tones are extremely pronounced, overly brilliant, and unnatural looking in this Set. And it still contains scratches, dirt, and grain. Not as much as The Original Set, but it’s still there. A lot of the grain in certain frames has been removed, while other frames remain untouched and appear to be just as grainy as The Original Version. A very uneven transfer in my opinion.
In the opening shot of THE GODFATHER, the Undertaker is so overly saturated with yellow that as the camera pulls back to reveal Don Corleone’s desk, it renders The Undertaker almost out of focus. Trust me, this shot looks far better in The Original Set. Compare the shot in THE GODFATHER of Luca Brasi in his apartment, donning his bulletproof vest, in preparation for his meeting with Sollozzo. The colors in The Original Version look natural, while The Restoration renders Luca’s apartment in a blazing wash of bright sunshine yellow. These frames are entirely over-saturated with color. I assure you, certain frames of this Restoration DO NOT look anything like the Original film stock print. The warm and natural looking sepia tone of The Original film has been blasted away with digital color in many frames, almost making them look unreal.
THE GODFATHER II has been compressed onto one disc, while The Original Version was compressed onto 2 discs.
(By the way, I could care less about The TV Saga Version. It’s not the way these films were shot, and it’s not the way they were intended to be seen.)
Some frames of The New Restoration look very grainy, some look incredible, while other frames make these films appear as if Ted Turner Colorized them. At times, I wasn’t sure if I was watching THE GODFATHER, or SPEED RACER.
Is this version worth a Double Dip? I’m still on the fence about that. But, I think I prefer The Original Box Set over this half-baked attempt at improving this Classic with an over-saturation of color.
I get the feeling that The Blu-ray Version must look really odd. Blu-ray is great technology for newer films. Older films tend to suffer from over-saturation with this technology. The public is so enamoured with Blu-ray, they don’t realize some of the classic older films don’t resemble their original celluloid color exposures anymore. And that’s a shame. It’s going to take some more time before remastering technicians understand the remastering treatment that some of these classic older films deserve. Sometimes less is more.
If you must have The Restoration, turn the brightness and color way down on your TV.
I’m calling this THE GODFATHER: THE COPPOLA VIDEO GAME GIFTSET.
Act accordingly.
UPDATE:
There is no question that this Standard DVD Remastered Version is overly saturated with color. Here is a pretty SIMPLE ADJUSTMENT SOLUTION that seems to work quite well, reproduces truer color, and makes these Remastered films much more enjoyable. At least it did on my 50″ Panasonic Viera plasma. (I also use this for The Anniversary Remaster of SCARFACE which is also overly saturated with color.) Stay away from the VIVID and CINEMA Picture Settings. Use the STANDARD Picture Setting which will give you the following numbers: Picture 50, Brightness 50, Color 50, Tint 0, and Sharpness 75. Simply tune the COLOR setting down from 50 to 35. I found that changes to the other settings were not necessary. This should take care of the overly saturated playback color issue. I do not know whether this adjustment will work as well with an LCD, Projection, Tube TV, or Blu-Ray Disc.
Too bad I didn’t refuse the offer for the original release !
I don’t really care that much about the new extras, the real need to double-dip for this release is the improvement of the video for the three films. If you own the original release you’ll have noticed just how un-watchable the three movies were, specially because of the incredible amount of specs and marks which I’ve found distracting and downright intolerable; there’s not a +/-5 second period in which a spec does not appear on I & II while the video in III is affected by terrible color and brightness.
While watching the new release of the Bond fims a few months ago I concluded I couldn’t be long before the GODFATHER series received a similar treatment and sooner rather than later, here we are. I really hope the price for this edition is brought down by Amazon from the 62.99 it currently stands but, even if it doesn’t, two of the greatest films of all time are worthy of just swallowing and making such expense. I like III very much too but obviously it isn’t in the same league with the first two, just about no other film ever made is.
10/13 UPDATE TO THIS REVIEW: Having finally seen this DVDs: fantastic picture, much improved sound. There are plenty of images and sounds there to find which simply couldn’t be appreciated in past editions. But you’d think that for $62.99 they’d get the labels on disc 4 & 5 right ! $62.99 !!!! You can find this collection on e-bay for half the amount. Very sorry to say that for the last several months, Amazon has been pricing themselves out of being considered the best option in DVDs.