The Leopard - Criterion Collection

The film is incredible, but the DVD left me confused. First of all, this is NOT the original cut of this film. Secondly, the sides are chopped off. Then the English version is some horrible print. Why didn't they use the restored print for this? Contrary to people who have written reviews here, I prefer the English dubbed version. I would rather hear the real Burt Lancaster than listen to some bad Italian actor. And since Alain Delon is also dubbed by someone else in Italian, I would rather not read subtitles. Fans at least deserve a restored version in English. I know the english dubbed version is trimmed by twenty minutes but that isn't so bad in this films case. The 185 version is trimmed from the 305 version anyway. And what's up with that? They got stills from the missing footage but they don't have the actual missing footage? Maybe Criterion is sitting on it so they can re-release it on the even-more-extended Blu Ray version? And why IS the aspect ratio wrong on the restored edition but on the English dubbed crap-print, it's correct? Someone really screwed up.

Other reviewers have provided plenty of information on this film which I won't repeat here. Nor will I indulge in a bout of political or philosophic pontification which does little justice to the viewer's independent judgement or the film itself. In response to some of the fiery commentaries posted earlier, I'd only say - Visconti was far too subtle a film-maker to wear his politics on his sleeve, and the film was a complex work of art and not a piece of ideological agit-prop. No fiery rhetoric to stir one's heart, no panning shots of peasant misery to rouse one's indignation here. In fact, I was impressed - given the director's self-professed Communist associations - how true the film stayed to the novel's decaying (some would say decadent) aristocratic vision.

The Criterion edition of the DVD comes with English audio commentary by film critic Peter Cowie. Cowie's commentary provides an interesting comparison between the film and the novel on which it is based, and at the same time is chockful of subtle period historical and social details which the viewer might have otherwise missed. For that the film is well worth two viewings - once with the original Italian soundtrack and once with the audio commentary, and the second viewing is well worth the time because one gets twice as much out of the film the second time.

There's no question that Il Gatopardo, as the movie is called in Italian, is Italy's answer to "Gone With the Wind." That said, this viewer was left hanging at the close of the story. Parts of it are truly brilliant; the acting is powerful; even the dubbing of Lancaster's voice isn't bad. And yet....I came away feeling that something was missing. Ever get that feeling? You can't put your finger on it, but you know something just isn't there. Maybe it needs another viewing...or two...or three...?

The Leopard, the novel, portrays a pensive Don Fabrizio reflecting on his position in a changing world. The film, on the other hand, portrays the changing world in which Don Fabrizio is thinking. This is not wrong. A film overwhelms the senses and excites where a book naturally leads to thought and examination. The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuan said, and a different medium often delivers a different message.

So, is the novel better than the film? No! This film is the best kind of adaptation, one that interprets the book, complements and stands alongside it. Burt Lancaster as Don Fabrizio is an inspired choice, as is Alain Delon as Tancredi. Claudia Cardinale is lovely, but she fails to command Angelica's fullness; she's not nearly as seductive as she is in, for instance, Once Upon A Time In The West. But Angelica shines, radiates, glows! next to Don Fabrizio's wife and daughters, so the actress does her job, and well.

The Leopard has been called Italy's Gone With The Wind and it is indeed contemporaneous with Margaret Mitchell's story. But they shouldn't be compared. Don Fabrizio is no Rhett Butler nor is Angelica a Scarlett O'Hara; conversely though, Georgia and Tara are no match for Sicily and Palermo. The antebellum American South looked enviously on Europe while Europe never cared much for the colonies; the New World was nouveau-riche while the Old World's new revolutionaries cared for, but respected, Europe's inherited treasures.

All in all, a marvelous movie.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin

The Leopard - Criterion Collectionfascinating look at Italian unification and an often overlooked opinion of same.