Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 classic, The Godfather, is to gangster films what Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments is to super spectaculars.
Video:
Paramount released all three films theatrically in a 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, reproduced here in anamorphic widescreen. The colors, predominantly brown earth hues, burnished golds, and shadowy blacks and tans, are naturally reproduced, if a bit on the soft side. However, since this is the way I remember the images looking on the motion-picture screen, I'd guess the DVD transfers are probably fairly accurate, although time seems to have faded the colors somewhat and added a touch of noise. "The Godfather, Part II," the longest of the movies, is spread out over two discs for maximum picture and sound quality, but the first "Godfather" film, surprisingly, seemed to me to have the sharpest definition and clarity of the lot; maybe I was just imagining things. I noticed some moiré effects in all three films and some moments of moderate grain and noise, the latter again perhaps due to the effects of time.
Audio:
The present Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes for the three films are a varied batch, spanning as they do nearly a twenty-year period. All of them convey smooth, natural voice properties and a reasonably wide dynamic range that render dialogue and effects realistically. However, they differ considerably in their ability to convey front and rear-channel information, the first of the films having an especially constricted stereo spread and very little surround sound. This should not come as a surprise. Although multi-channel stereo had been around in movies since the fifties (discounting "Fantasia"), stereo was not widely utilized theatrically for many years thereafter, with many filmmakers either ignoring stereo or limiting its use, as was the case with the first "Godfather" entry. But by "Godfather, Part II" the sound opens up a bit more, Nino Rota's musical score in particular, and by the final installment in the series the sound appears even wider, more dynamic, and more ambient. The 5.1 remixes do their job.
Extras:
As for added-value items, there´s a gang of them. Probably of most importance are the audio commentaries on each of the films by director Francis Ford Coppola. I liked the fact that he notices mistakes in the filming and isn´t shy or embarrassed about pointing them out to the viewer, like, for example, the extras who were out of place in certain shots. But as he says, if audiences didn´t notice or didn´t care, neither did he. He provides a wealth of such details, even remarking on his battle with Paramount over the inclusion of Rota´s famous music. Seems Paramount didn´t like it, and Coppola did. The director threatened to risk being fired if he didn´t get his way. He got his way.
Next, there´s a fifth, bonus disc in the box, which is neatly indexed for subject matter. The first item of interest on it is a seventy-three minute documentary called "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside" that takes us behind the scenes. It´s comprised of interviews and clips from around 1970 through 1991. It´s a genuinely informative work of filmmaking and not a mere fluff piece. Coppola calls "The Godfather" the "biggest home movie in history." This is accompanied by a recent seven-minute featurette, "On Location," detailing the locales of the first two films. Then, there are an amazing thirty-four additional scenes that had to be cut from the movies, each with its own introduction and each following a timeline in sequence. Some of the deleted material is in widescreen, some in full-frame, all of it is fascinating. In addition, the bonus disc brings us footage of the various Academy Award acceptance speeches for the films; Francis Coppola's notebook, a ten-minute narration; and a valuable Corleone family tree to help us keep track of all the characters in the movies. Finally, there are segments on Gordon Willis´s cinematography, Nino Rota´s and Carmine Coppola´s music, Coppola and Mario Puzo´s screenplays, plus the usual assortment of storyboards, photo galleries, and theatrical trailers for each of the three films.
"The Godfather" is accompanied by twenty-three scene selections; "Part II" by thirty scene selections; and "Part III" by twenty-five scene selections. Oh, and click around on the various menus for "extra" extras not mentioned. English and French are available for spoken languages, with English subtitles an option for the hearing impaired. The way I figure it, if you watch each of the three films one time through, it will take you something over nine hours. If you watch them a second time through with Coppola´s commentary, you´ve got another nine hours. Then, if you watch the bonus disc with its several more hours of material, you´ve got enough stuff in this box to keep you entertained and informed for nearly a twenty-four hour period. Seems like a deal to me.
Parting Thoughts:
Celluloid outlaws and hoodlums have been with us since the earliest days of Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, but, ironically, it would be the U.S. Government that indirectly encouraged Hollywood´s major excursions into the world of gangsters. As a consequence of lawmakers´ ill-conceived legislation leading to Prohibition in the twenties, Americans consumed more alcohol per capita than at any time before or since. Concurrently, to quench the country´s thirst for illicit booze, there was an attendant rise in organized crime that would go largely unchecked for the next fifty years. Is it any wonder that Hollywood would document this phenomenon in movies of the thirties and make stars of such actors as Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Paul Muni, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, and others?
I´m sure no one is proud of the dark side of America´s past or present, nor have most serious filmmakers attempted to glorify or glamorize the subject matter. But that hasn´t stopped the public from being fascinated by gangsterism all the same. Coppola followed a time-honored Hollywood tradition in making his Corleone family trilogy, adding a depth of character, background, and narration that had never been achieved so successfully in gangster films before, a depth that would only be approached by Martin Scorsese´s hard-edged "Mean Streets," "Goodfellas," and "Casino" in the years that followed. "The Godfather" movies represent filmmaking at its best--from their superb characterizations and acting to their innovative direction and striking camera work. Paramount´s DVD presentation of the films is the best we could hope for, short of some future high-definition transfers projected on theater-sized home screens. Until that day, the present silver-disc "Godfather Collection" is an offer that´s hard to refuse.
Paramount released all three films theatrically in a 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, reproduced here in anamorphic widescreen. The colors, predominantly brown earth hues, burnished golds, and shadowy blacks and tans, are naturally reproduced, if a bit on the soft side. However, since this is the way I remember the images looking on the motion-picture screen, I'd guess the DVD transfers are probably fairly accurate, although time seems to have faded the colors somewhat and added a touch of noise. "The Godfather, Part II," the longest of the movies, is spread out over two discs for maximum picture and sound quality, but the first "Godfather" film, surprisingly, seemed to me to have the sharpest definition and clarity of the lot; maybe I was just imagining things. I noticed some moiré effects in all three films and some moments of moderate grain and noise, the latter again perhaps due to the effects of time.
Audio:
The present Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes for the three films are a varied batch, spanning as they do nearly a twenty-year period. All of them convey smooth, natural voice properties and a reasonably wide dynamic range that render dialogue and effects realistically. However, they differ considerably in their ability to convey front and rear-channel information, the first of the films having an especially constricted stereo spread and very little surround sound. This should not come as a surprise. Although multi-channel stereo had been around in movies since the fifties (discounting "Fantasia"), stereo was not widely utilized theatrically for many years thereafter, with many filmmakers either ignoring stereo or limiting its use, as was the case with the first "Godfather" entry. But by "Godfather, Part II" the sound opens up a bit more, Nino Rota's musical score in particular, and by the final installment in the series the sound appears even wider, more dynamic, and more ambient. The 5.1 remixes do their job.
Extras:
As for added-value items, there´s a gang of them. Probably of most importance are the audio commentaries on each of the films by director Francis Ford Coppola. I liked the fact that he notices mistakes in the filming and isn´t shy or embarrassed about pointing them out to the viewer, like, for example, the extras who were out of place in certain shots. But as he says, if audiences didn´t notice or didn´t care, neither did he. He provides a wealth of such details, even remarking on his battle with Paramount over the inclusion of Rota´s famous music. Seems Paramount didn´t like it, and Coppola did. The director threatened to risk being fired if he didn´t get his way. He got his way.
Next, there´s a fifth, bonus disc in the box, which is neatly indexed for subject matter. The first item of interest on it is a seventy-three minute documentary called "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside" that takes us behind the scenes. It´s comprised of interviews and clips from around 1970 through 1991. It´s a genuinely informative work of filmmaking and not a mere fluff piece. Coppola calls "The Godfather" the "biggest home movie in history." This is accompanied by a recent seven-minute featurette, "On Location," detailing the locales of the first two films. Then, there are an amazing thirty-four additional scenes that had to be cut from the movies, each with its own introduction and each following a timeline in sequence. Some of the deleted material is in widescreen, some in full-frame, all of it is fascinating. In addition, the bonus disc brings us footage of the various Academy Award acceptance speeches for the films; Francis Coppola's notebook, a ten-minute narration; and a valuable Corleone family tree to help us keep track of all the characters in the movies. Finally, there are segments on Gordon Willis´s cinematography, Nino Rota´s and Carmine Coppola´s music, Coppola and Mario Puzo´s screenplays, plus the usual assortment of storyboards, photo galleries, and theatrical trailers for each of the three films.
"The Godfather" is accompanied by twenty-three scene selections; "Part II" by thirty scene selections; and "Part III" by twenty-five scene selections. Oh, and click around on the various menus for "extra" extras not mentioned. English and French are available for spoken languages, with English subtitles an option for the hearing impaired. The way I figure it, if you watch each of the three films one time through, it will take you something over nine hours. If you watch them a second time through with Coppola´s commentary, you´ve got another nine hours. Then, if you watch the bonus disc with its several more hours of material, you´ve got enough stuff in this box to keep you entertained and informed for nearly a twenty-four hour period. Seems like a deal to me.
Parting Thoughts:
Celluloid outlaws and hoodlums have been with us since the earliest days of Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, but, ironically, it would be the U.S. Government that indirectly encouraged Hollywood´s major excursions into the world of gangsters. As a consequence of lawmakers´ ill-conceived legislation leading to Prohibition in the twenties, Americans consumed more alcohol per capita than at any time before or since. Concurrently, to quench the country´s thirst for illicit booze, there was an attendant rise in organized crime that would go largely unchecked for the next fifty years. Is it any wonder that Hollywood would document this phenomenon in movies of the thirties and make stars of such actors as Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Paul Muni, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, and others?
I´m sure no one is proud of the dark side of America´s past or present, nor have most serious filmmakers attempted to glorify or glamorize the subject matter. But that hasn´t stopped the public from being fascinated by gangsterism all the same. Coppola followed a time-honored Hollywood tradition in making his Corleone family trilogy, adding a depth of character, background, and narration that had never been achieved so successfully in gangster films before, a depth that would only be approached by Martin Scorsese´s hard-edged "Mean Streets," "Goodfellas," and "Casino" in the years that followed. "The Godfather" movies represent filmmaking at its best--from their superb characterizations and acting to their innovative direction and striking camera work. Paramount´s DVD presentation of the films is the best we could hope for, short of some future high-definition transfers projected on theater-sized home screens. Until that day, the present silver-disc "Godfather Collection" is an offer that´s hard to refuse.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]7907[/release]