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One of the films I live by. --Martin Scorcesse<br /><br />A masterpiece beautiful, intelligent, deeply moving --Philip French, The Observer
A masterpiece beautiful, intelligent, deeply moving --Philip French, The Observer
A masterpiece beautiful, intelligent, deeply moving --Philip French, The Observer
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179 of 182 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Gold Standard,
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This review is from: The Leopard [1963] [DVD] (DVD)
A film to measure others against. Burt Lancaster in his pomp as an ailing Italian aristocrat seeing the established order turning full circle around him, as Garibaldi's rebellion ushers in a new order. Beautifully shot, perfectly framed throughout - a deep, resonant and compelling story, with Director and cast at their peak. Richly layered, and full of universal themes of revolution, nobility, opportunism, generational change, youth and age, ideals bending against reality, loss and yearning, and one order giving way to another. Impossible here to reveal all of the layers, as Burt Lancaster's central prince navigates himself and his family into their new place in the new order, and how his principles and ideals fade as his nephew and his beautiful young wife become the suceeding generation, and where to do right gives way to pragmatism in a new world built upon opportunism, greed and political corruption. "The world has to change in order to stay the same". Artful without being 'arty', supremely beautiful and majestic without the squeaky-clean chocolate box sheen of modern historical drama. Highlights? - every single, super-crafted scene: the prince's family, covered in dust from their journey, sat in church like a line of statues; the eye contact between Claudia Cardinale and Burt Lancaster as she is embraced by her husband, his nephew... The prince knows that his time has been and gone, and Lancaster plays this to perfection in yet another of his great performances. An all time great piece of work deserving a place in any cine-lover's top few movies. And to top it all they have produced the DVD from the original print to preserve the work in pristine glory. I have revisited The Leopard on this DVD and have been blown away by it once more - it pulls you in deeper each time you go back to it.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charismatic movie,
By
This review is from: The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
When I first saw The Leopard I was struck by its sheer magnificence and scope. Orson Welles never got this good with The Magnificent Ambersons or Citizen Kane. Visconti's direction is perfect, the costumes and sets create an accurate and impressive picture of the complexities and stifling mores of a powerful and conventional 19th-century Sicilian family. Burt Lancaster gives a bravura performance as the Prince - everyone else revolves around his central character. He ages through the story which covers two generations and a key period in Italy's history. The old principalities giving way to a unified Italy and modernity are reflected in the changes within the Prince's family, the clashes between him and his sons, the battle between tradition and new ways. Il Risorgimento brings a decline in the power and influence of the old families and every nuance of the effect of this change on the Prince, his power and land, his family is brought out by Burt Lancaster's prowess in the role which is even more admirable as the film is Italian, with Italian dialogue. It shows just how great an actor he was. It is a marvellous story and film and at last, is available to buy on video.
58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 stars are not enough,
By Penny Nom "aitchcee" (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Leopard [1963] [DVD] (DVD)
The Leopard is one of my top ten books of all time. Read and reread; I am incapable of describing the beauty of the language. I only realized recently that a film had been made of the book. I tried but I could not resist watching it. I have never known a film do a book justice the way this film has. The film has battle scenes that are only referred to in the book but that does not detract from the fact that the film has captured the haunting beauty of Scicily as described by Tomasi. It also describs, almost without words, the heavy sadness of the Prince who realizes his way of life is coming to an end.
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