235 The Leopard

[eerik]

Australian Madman's Directors Suite release might be the first English-friendly Blu-ray of the new restoration. Sent them an e-mail asking if they use the new restoration or not. Hopefully they do.

[andyli]

Fantastic! Please keep us updated.

[eerik]

Received the answer. No, they won't use the Film Foundation restoration.

[andyli]

Another English speaking country crossed off... How many are left?

[Michael]

Help me understand the "English-friendly" mentality. The Leopard was based on a famous Italian literary classic, directed by a famous Italian director and shot in Sicily. Why would you want an English-friendly (sheesh that sounds awful to me) version?

[swo17]

I think he's saying that he's looking for a Blu-ray based on the new restoration that has English subtitles. Apparently the only releases using the new restoration so far are from France and Japan, and neither has English subtitles.

[Michael]

Ah okay thanks. I was confused. But I would still prefer the VHS of Italian-language The Leopard over the English-friendly Blu-ray of The Leopard. I have watched CC's Senso 7 times since I received it and I still haven't watched the "English-friendly" The Wanton Contessa. No interest in going there. That's just me.

[matrixschmatrix]

I think you might still be confused- when you watch The Leopard on the CC Blu, it is the original language version, it's not dubbed or anything. "English-friendly" just refers to an option to watch the movie with English subtitles- a release could be English-friendly, French-friendly, Italian-friend, etc. all at once.

The dubbed-into-English version of those movies is English friendly, in a sense, but that's not generally what people mean.

[Michael]

Haha So "English-friendly'" means English subtitles. I didn't know that. I was thinking more of "dubbed" kind of thing as most of the Italian films of 1950s - 1970s are.

[Fred Holywell]

A very brief, but rather nice looking vid on the recent restoration has been uploaded to YouTube. Or, as someone from Gucci says, "Martin Scorsese illustrates how Gucci and The Film Foundation restored Luchino Visconti's 1963 masterpiece, "Il Gattopardo"." Not exactly, but it does show an example of what the fllm may have looked like, somewhere along the line, before restorers got to it.

[videozor]

I'd ordered a DVD of The Leopard during the last B&N sale. On receiving it I was quite surprised to realize that the original cover design was replaced with a new one. The back cover indicates that this is DVD EDITION of the movie and it’s a 2nd printing.

I checked the CC web site to see if any other DVD with old-style cover undergone the same changes, but was able to locate only Scenes from a Marriage. Can I find detailed information somewhere on the DVDs which original cover design changed in this or other way?

Is there any consistency in such changes - e.g. Leopard DVD cover is changed to make it identical to the later BD edition, but Marriage 's design just changed from the old-style to the new-style one, and as far as I know, there is no BD of this movie issued yet?

Thanks in advance for suggestions!

[Fred Holywell]

Turner Classic Movies is screening "The Leopard" on Thursday, August 25, at 8 pm ET, as part of its Summer Under the Stars -- Burt Lancaster day. Though Fox Movie Channel occasionally runs the American cut of the film, this is the first time TCM (or any channel, that I know of) has run the full-length 187 min. version.

Curiously, a note in TCM's monthly program guide refers to "The Leopard" as 'French-made', rather than Italian, or even French-Italian (according to the credits, it was a French-Italian co-production), so I'm curious to learn if Burt will 'parler en francais' or 'parla italiano'. Either way, it's great to see TCM running a rare foreign-language film in prime time.

UPDATE:

TCM did, indeed, run the Italian-dubbed version of "The Leopard" on August 25. No big surprise there. But one did come when it became clear that this wasn't the expected Criterion version, but, rather, the new restoration by The Film Foundation and Martin Scorsese. Good news for those of us wanting to see this version with English subtitles (and at the correct, no-PAL-speed-up, playing time.) Sound and image-wise, the showing looked quite fine to me. I couldn't watch for the entire time, but did try to catch some of the more important or memorable scenes.

I did notice that a warm tint seemed to be laid over the visuals; at least, a bit warmer than the cooler colors on the Pathe-Gaumont DVD. The look wasn't nearly as golden as the Criterion image, though, so some viewers may have found it to be a happy medium. The framing was noticeably tighter than on the Pathe-Gaumont disc. Though the height looked about the same, the disc's 2.55:1 aspect ratio was cropped to around 2.10:1. But with the odd visual dynamics of Technirama, no essential image info seemed to be cropped out. Overall, it really looked very nice; quite filmic, if a bit softer than the Criterion DVD. Now, let's hope that some English-subbed DVDs and BluRays of this edition will soon make their way to the U.S. marketplace.

[eerik]

Blu-ray is finally coming out in Italy. Medusa's webpage confirms it has English subtitles for both the feature film and documentary L'ultimo gattopardo.

[Fred Holywell]

While we're waiting for the new Medusa BluRay of "The Leopard", we can check out another showing of The Film Foundation restoration on TCM next month, Sunday, Dec. 4 from 2:00am - 5:30am ET (actually early Monday morning). [Update: TCM pulled an interesting switch the second time out. It wasn't the Film Foundation version they played this time, but the Janus/Criterion one.]

And for devoted fans of the picture, you might want to discover three scenes deleted from the Italian, English, etc. cuts of the movie. The French distributor Pathe held on to these brief clips, and added them to a previous dvd edition.

The scenes themselves don't go far in developing the film's many plot lines, but they do add some local color with Don Calogero and the peasants, as well as Prince Salina and the obnoxious Colonel Pallavicino at the ball. They all have English subtitles.

Deleted Scenes: 1 - 2 - 3

[Paku]

Received the answer. No, they won't use the Film Foundation restoration.

I e-mailed them and they said it was based on the Film Foundation restoration. In addition I've been told the aspect ratio on the Madman Blu-ray is 2.55:1, while the Criterion is 2.20:1 so they must have used the newer master.

I've been meaning to get it, but it's so expensive to import Blu-rays from Australia. It's $39.99 to begin with and there are hardly ever any discounts greater than 10% off SRP.

[hearthesilence]

This is playing at Lincoln Center in May.

Sure to be the Film Foundation restoration, which has already played at MoMA and Film Forum, I highly recommend it if you want to see how good this film can really look.

[Drucker]

Do you know if it's a 35MM print or not? Just curious.

[hearthesilence]

Short answer is "no," but that 35mm print of the restoration should still be in circulation, and that's what they showed at MoMA and then Film Forum, so I doubt it would be a DCP. They'll probably say definitively when they post the schedule on their website - that link is simply a press release - but I'd be surprised if it was a DCP.

[Emilio]

Recently I've seen the restored 'Leopard again at the Eye in Amsterdam. It was a DCP and very beautiful indeed. Except, and it reminded me of a print of the restoration as well, the ball sequence at the end where the blacks become impenetrable and the colors are saturated in a weird way. I definitely prefer the Criterion look where more detail can be seen in the black and the colors look more natural, in that particular sequence.

[hearthesilence]

As of this writing, it doesn't say 35mm or DCP, but it is the restoration.

[Drucker]

Yeah I'll be buying tickets this weekend, and hoping (assuming) they don't sell-out before then.

[jegharfangetmigenmyg]

The Copenhagen cinematheque is showing an old Danish 35mm copy next month. I'll take note of the colours in the restoration and post a comment here. I'm a bit concerned, though, that the copy is very worn; it must surely have been shown many many times during the years. Unless it is a newer copy, of course. But it is 35mm, not a restored DCP, according to the webpage: http://www.dfi.dk/Filmhuset/Cinemateket ... lmID=f8048" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Drucker]

I just got back from this afternoon's screening at Lincoln Center. I enjoyed the film immensely, and a few quick notes that might be of interest:

It was definitely a blu ray, as there was an FBI warning and a screen saying the blu ray wasn't available anywhere. It was then followed by an Olive Films logo, interestingly enough.

Fantastic film and great viewing experience.

[manicsounds]

Pretty surprised to see on the Blu-ray, when playing the US version of the film, the older Criterion Collection logo with the line going across the screen preceding the movie. I guess this is because this is just an upscaled version from the old DVD, so the logo remains.

Anyway, even with the supposed "perfect" picture quality said by many online reviewers, there were still instances of dirt on the film (Lancaster getting out of the bath scene for example) or some weird green horizontal lines (during the opening battle scenes), and what looks like an insect crawling on the lens (which I'm sure doesn't have to be fixed, but I kept wondering about that shadow moving around slowly). Not to say it's all bad, it looks great, but not perfect.

[TMDaines]

This sounds a bit like the Algiers set where all/nearly all of the extras are upscaled and the two Blu-rays are therefore a complete waste of time. The content might be worth the premium, but the package being spread over two Blu-rays is a complete red herring. I wish Criterion would stop upscaling their extras, as it does nothing but mislead people and adds little benefit at the expense of greatly bloated encodes. It's bad practice.