The Godfather Trilogy (5 Disc Box Set) [DVD]

Despite making many other distinguished films in his long, wandering career, Francis Ford Coppola will always be known as the man who directed The Godfather trilogy, a series that has dominated and defined their creator in a way perhaps no other director can understand. Coppola has never been able to leave them alone, whether returning after 15 years to make a trilogy of the diptych, or re-editing the first two films into chronological order for a separate video release as The Godfather Saga. The films are an Italian-American Shakespearian cycle: they tell a tale of a vicious mobster and his extended personal and professional families (once the stuff of righteous moral comeuppance), and they dared to present themselves with an epic sweep and an unapologetically tragic tone. Murder, it turned out, was a serious business.

The first film remains a towering achievement, brilliantly cast and conceived. The entry of Michael Corleone into the family business, the transition of power from his father, the ruthless dispatch of his enemies--all this is told with an assurance that is breathtaking to behold. And it turned out to be merely prologue; two years later The Godfather, Part II balanced Michael's ever-greater acquisition of power and influence during the fall of Cuba with the story of his father's own youthful rise from immigrant slums. The stakes were higher, the story's construction more elaborate and the isolated despair at the end wholly earned. (Has there ever been a cinematic performance greater than Al Pacino's Michael, so smart and ambitious, marching through the years into what he knows is his own doom with eyes open and hungry?) The Godfather, Part III was mostly written off as an attempted cash-in but it is a wholly worthy conclusion, less slow than autumnally patient and almost merciless in the way it brings Michael's past sins crashing down around him even as he tries to redeem himself. --Bruce Reid, Amazon.com

On the DVD: Contained in a tasteful slipcase, the three movies come individually packaged, with the second instalment spread across two discs. The anamorphic transfers are acceptable without being spectacular, with Part 3 looking best of all. Francis Ford Coppola--obviously a DVD fan--provides an exhaustive and enthusiastic commentary for all three movies, although awkwardly these have to be accessed from the Set Up menu. The fifth bonus disc is a real goldmine: the major feature is a 70-minute documentary covering all three productions, which includes fascinating early screen-test footage. There's also a 1971 making-of featurette about the first instalment, plus several shorter pieces with Coppola, Mario Puzo and others talking about specific aspects of the series, including a treasurable recording of composer Nino Rota performing the famous theme. Another section contains all the Oscar-acceptance speeches and Coppola's introduction to the TV edit, plus a whole raft of additional scenes that were inserted in the 1977 re-edited version. Text pieces include a chronology, a Corleone family tree and biographies of cast and crew. Overall, this is a handsome and valuable package that does justice to these wonderful movies. --Mark Walker

DVD Special Features:

• Five-disc Box Set
  
• Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
  
• Theatrical trailer(s)
  
• "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside" Making Of (73 min.) plus original 1971 featurette
  
• Deleted Footage, including the additional scenes originally contained in the re-edited 1977 "The Godfather Saga"
  
• "Francis Coppola's Notebook"
  
• Production Stills and storyboards
  
• Segments on Gordon Willis' cinematography, Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola's music, Francis Ford Coppola, Locations and Mario Puzo's screenplays
  
• Rehearsal footage
  
• Corleone family tree
  
• "Godfather" timeline
  
• Academy Award acceptance speeches

DVD Technical Information:

• Widescreen anamorphic format
  
• Dolby
  
• Languages: English only
  
• Sub-titles: English, English for the hearing impaired, Danish, Dutch, = Finnish,  Norwegian, Swedish

DVD Special Features:

Five-disc Box Set
Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
Theatrical trailer(s)
"The Godfather Family: A Look Inside" Making Of (73 min.) plus original 1971 featurette
Deleted Footage, including the additional scenes originally contained in the re-edited 1977 "The Godfather Saga"
"Francis Coppola's Notebook"
Production Stills and storyboards
Segments on Gordon Willis' cinematography, Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola's music, Francis Ford Coppola, Locations and Mario Puzo's screenplays
Rehearsal footage
Corleone family tree
"Godfather" timeline
Academy Award acceptance speeches
Widescreen anamorphic format
Dolby

The Godfather Considered by many to be the greatest movie ever made, Francis Ford Coppola`s epic masterpiece features Oscar winner Marlon Brando as the head of the Corleone family. Coppola paints a chilling portrait of a Sicilian family`s rise and near fall from power in America, and the passage of rites from a father to a son who was previously uninvolved in the business. Godfather Part ll The Godfather Part II is one of the rare breed of cinematic sequels which is as good as, and perhaps better than, the original. Al Pacino heads the star cast as Michael Corleone, heir to the criminal empire established by his Mafioso father, the late Don Corleone.

The time is mid-1940s: Michael is now in charge of all gambling activities in Nevada, making certain that any and all political or mob enemies are quickly bought off, compromised, or disposed of. Throughout the film, Michael`s travails are paralleled with the early experiences of his father, played in flashbacks by Robert De Niro. The Godfather lll In the final installment of the Godfather Trilogy, an aging Don Michael Corleone seeks to legitimize his crime family`s interests and remove himself from the violent underworld.

Now in his sixties, Michael is dominated by two passions: freeing his family from crime, and finding a suitable successor. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael`s hopes of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence.