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Oh sweet, II is only on one disc this time around.

This may get me to take the Blu plunge.

Tom Hagen wrote:This may get me to take the Blu plunge.

Oh? I wouldn't have taken you for a 'Godfather' fan.

A restoration they couldn't refuse.

Fans who pick up the recently announced "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration," due out from Paramount Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on Sept. 23, are likely to see things in the 1972 Mafia saga and its two sequels they've never noticed before. The differences could be subtle to the casual observer, but the improved color and clarity give new visual punch to some of the most cherished sequences in recent cinema history.

Only almost 40 years ago..

Alzo..

The FWMS restoration of Metropolis will be bringing new visual exposure to some of the most cherished sequences in some fairly recent stuff.

The Film Forum will be screening the restored version prior to the DVD release. Also it appears some earlier "suppressed" dialogue has been brought back for this release.

Antoine Doinel wrote:The Film Forum will be screening the restored version prior to the DVD release. Also it appears some earlier "suppressed" dialogue has been brought back for this release.

And ArcLight Hollywood will be screening the restorations beginning 9/19.

Antoine Doinel wrote:The Film Forum will be screening the restored version prior to the DVD release. Also it appears some earlier "suppressed" dialogue has been brought back for this release.

Wow. This will be a privilege to see in the theater for the first time...

Baffling that this came out in the UK almost three months ago without so much as a visible press release or any advertising. It was practically a secret, even when the RRP was the bargain price of £29.99. I caved in last week and bought a copy of the steelbook edition from Amazon when it was £16.97. The packaging is amazing - it fits 5 DVDs elegantly with minimal fuss within the width of a normal keepcase.

To lessen the sting the tiniest bit, DVD owners of The Godfather trilogy can get a $10 rebate by mail if they purchase the trilogy on Blu-ray. The form is inside the BR set and also works for other titles, including the forthcoming Zodiac.

Digital Bits review of the Blu-Ray discs.

I love Glenn Kenny so much.

As I said over on the beev thread (which he quoted on his review), Coppola & Willis did a great job restoring these films to their original look, and resisted the urge to soup them up with fake radiance and digital cream.

If only more directors had that kind of discipline and restraint, CC's "director approved" editions wouldnt be subject to revisionism. I saw Godfather resto in the cinema this weekend at NYCFForum, and it looked just like those caps.

The film stock speaking thru the restoration, which they didnt attempt to de-grain, belies the films modest origins... budgeted as a run of the mill crime drama with one basically unbankable washed-up has-been (Brando, who Paramount thought was box office poison), and a bunch of nobody actors (Pacino, Cazale, Duvall, Shire, et al) shot with very few sets.

Antoine Doinel wrote:"Not to be disrespectful or vulgar, but the "home theater crowd" can go eat a bag of dicks."

'Bout time someone said so. I'm glad that this forum is largely comprised of FILM dorks, not HT dorks. I wish that more studios would work harder to replicate the experience of seeing these films in theaters.

I heart grain.

I like my PAL DVDs (new restored edition):



They will help me to wait for better prices in the world of Blu-ray.

Hardly anybody has seen the Blu-Ray discs yet but each of those who has is slagging off the home theatre crowd for what Godfather doesn't look like, it's almost warning them off from buying the discs. Odd that nobody (as far as I know) complained about grain when the film was released on VHS and DVD, there were a lot of complaints about the overall transfer to DVD but not about excessive grain, that particular bug-bear of the home theater crowd seems to have crept in with hi-definition discs.

stwrt wrote:Hardly anybody has seen the Blu-Ray discs yet but each of those who has is slagging off the home theatre crowd for what Godfather doesn't look like, it's almost warning them off from buying the discs. Odd that nobody (as far as I know) complained about grain when the film was released on VHS and DVD, there were a lot of complaints about the overall transfer to DVD but not about excessive grain, that particular bug-bear of the home theater crowd seems to have crept in with hi-definition discs.

That's because the nature of 1080p HD reveals the grain to far more substantial degree than previous video editions and people who have Blu-Ray tend to usually have larger screens than they had before. That's the double-edged sword of presenting something in greater as great resolution - the perceived 'weaknesses' as well as the 'strengths' of the aesthetic are revealed conjunctively. But as Blu-Ray has low compression, the grain should appear as grain and not digital video noise. And that's a far better state of affairs than what SD-DVD can offer up.

When this sells phenomenally well, it will again remind studios that people want their favorite films fully restored no matter what the cost should be. It's only right I suppose...

What amazed me about the Godfather standard DVD edition is that there was some kind of a very thin video noise line at the bottom of the image on Part I (maybe not viewable on a 16:9 TV? I dunno). I couldn't get through it. I even Netflixed another copy years later to make sure I hadn't gotten a defective pressing or something. So somewhat to my surprise, this could be a BluRay tipping point release for me.

I just received the Blu-Ray version and i am very disappointed in the packaging. I think for the regular price of $125 we should have gotten more than a flimsy 5 page booklet. To me all we got was the discs and nothing else!!

Sleeves or hubs?

The case is slightly bigger than regular cases. It has hubs like don't hold the discs too well. Mine was broken and the first disc sometimes floats around because the case doesn't hold.

Overall, very shabby packaging. Didn't help that Amazon shipped it in a yellow envelope.

Luke M wrote:The case is slightly bigger than regular cases. It has hubs like don't hold the discs too well. Mine was broken and the first disc sometimes floats around because the case doesn't hold.

Overall, very shabby packaging. Didn't help that Amazon shipped it in a yellow envelope.

(Make them replace it. I just sent mine back and bought locally. Was expecting such careful handling on amazon's part and so was only a little disappointed.)

As above, anyone getting this new restoration set? Available in DVD and Blu-ray