As mentioned, "Emulsional Rescue - Revealing The Godfather" provides an extensive nuts-and-bolts breakdown of the challenges that the restoration team faced and how they were overcome. " Godfather World" touches upon the cultural influence of the movies, with lots of clips and parodies from other sources, such as those two other great American families, The Sopranos and The Simpsons. "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't" begins promisingly, with tales of near-doom, but soon becomes a praisefest, albeit a celebrity-filled one. There's a good reason why he's considered one of our greatest living filmmakers.ĭisc Four is where most of the bonus material resides. Godfather and Part II also include their original mono soundtracks.ĭiscs One, Two and Three each carry over director Francis Ford Coppola's existing audio commentaries, and if you think one man can't hold your interest with behind-the-scenes tidbits for three hours at a clip, think again. There's also fireworks, a little bit of weather: In general, the entire soundfield is used in an organic, enjoyable way. Crowds are credibly alive and expansive, the front-to-back movement of a passing train is striking, and the quick, failed assassination attempt on Michael is intense. Music within the mix, particularly when a live band is a part of the scene, has a heightened presence. Previously indistinct little lines of dialogue are also perfectly clear now. Showpiece moments like Apollonia's car trouble are big and full, the screaming of the subway train outside Louis' Restaurant is more stress-inducing than ever, and gunshots always pack a jolt. Often the differences are subtle in their impact, as when the chirping of cicadas gives an outdoor scene palpable ambiance, or someone coughs offscreen, or the floorboards creak. īrand-new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes have been created for these Blu-ray reissues. All are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is the most colorful but also suffers from the evident grain. Part III, the most recent, always looked fine and is better than ever here. A small amount of negative dirt, which shows up as white specks, is still here. Each movie fits onto its own single 50GB disc, and the compression yields backgrounds that are occasionally soft and artificial in appearance. I'm catching bits for the first time, like the monogram on Sonny Corleone's shirt or the amount written on the check ($50,000) that Michael hands to Senator Geary. It is used more so in Part II, for the young Vito flashbacks, again to exquisite effect.īright scenes however are a joy to watch, benefiting from the refreshed colors while not marred by the grain. Cinematographer Gordon Willis employed a golden tint that had heretofore bordered on dingy, but is now revealed as a classic, nostalgic tone that works beautifully. There is however a life in the colors, a newness, including shades that I've never seen in these movies before. While not present every moment, a layer of grain is frequently noticeable and is the greatest handicap of this remastered trilogy, especially in the darker scenes. One of the most marked differences over all previous video editions is the natural quality to the blacks, which are deep and believable. Prior cleanup attempts had made some improvement, but not nearly on the scale of The Coppola Restoration. Add in the less-than-perfect quality of film stock circa 1971 and the abundance of dark, dark scenes, and we were left with a soft, murky mess for far too long on home video. The success of the film necessitated many duplicate prints being copied off of the original film negative. Several factors have left the physical elements for the Godfathers in horrible condition. I know how they all end, so no worries about spoiled surprises, but the included vignette about the restoration helped me figure out what to look for, how to appreciate what we've been given in this significant new set. Godfather was an uncommon instance where I actually wanted to watch one of the featurettes, "Emulsional Rescue," before the movie itself. The truth is that this movie was made for the wrong reasons, to cash in on the Godfather name and mystique, and so ultimately it fails on multiple, profound levels. Much of the blame for the poor reception of Part III has been placed on actress (and later writer/director) Sofia Coppola, who replaced Winona Ryder after she dropped out of the role of daughter Mary Corleone at the last minute, citing health concerns.
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