The Leopard [Criterion Collection] [3 Discs]

Director: Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti

Overview

Arguably Luchino Visconti's best film and certainly the most personal of his historical epics, The Leopard chronicles the fortunes of Prince Fabrizio Salina and his family during the unification of Italy in the 1860s. Based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, published posthumously in 1958 and subsequently translated into all European languages, the picture opens as Salina (Burt Lancaster) learns that Garibaldi's troops have embarked in Sicily. While the Prince sees the event as an obvious threat to his current social status, his opportunistic nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) becomes an officer in Garibaldi's army and returns home a war hero. Tancredi starts courting the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), a daughter of the town's newly appointed Mayor, Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). Though the Prince despises Don Calogero as an upstart who made a fortune on land speculation during the recent social upheaval, he reluctantly agrees to his nephew's marriage, understanding how much this alliance would mean for the impecunious Tancredi. Painfully realizing the aristocracy's obsolescence in the wake of the new class of bourgeoisie, the Prince later declines an offer from a governmental emissary to become a senator in the new Parliament in Turin. The closing section, an almost hour-long ball, is often cited as one of the most spectacular sequences in film history. Burt Lancaster is magnificent in the first of his patriarchal roles, and the rest of the cast, especially Delon and Cardinale, become almost perfect incarnations of the novel's characters. Filmed in glorious Techniscope and rich in period detail, the film is a remarkable cinematic achievement in all departments. The version that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival ran 205 minutes. Inexplicably, the picture was subsequently distributed by 20th Century Fox in a poorly dubbed, 165-min. English-language version, using inferior color process. The restored Italian-language version, supervised by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, appeared in 1990, though the longest print still ran only 187 minutes.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/08/2004
UPC:	0715515081214
Original Release:	1963
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Sales rank:	14,207

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Burt Lancaster	Actor
Alain Delon	Actor
Claudia Cardinale	Actor
Rina Morelli	Maria Stella
Paolo Stoppa	Don Calogero
Romolo Valli	Padre
Serge Reggiani	Don Ciccio
Pierro Clementi	Francesco
Marino Mase	Tutor
Mario Girotti	Cayriaghi
Lucilla Morlacchi	Concetta
Ida Galli	Carolina
Ottavia Piccolo	Caterina
Carlo Valenzano	Paolo
Anna-Maria Bottini	Governess Mademoiselle Dombreuil
Terence Hill	Count Cayriaghi
Leslie French	Cavalier Chevally
Olimpia Cavalli	Mariannina
Sandra Chistolini	Youngest Daughter
Brook Fuller	Little Prince
Giuliano Gemma	Garibaldino General
Giovanni Melisendi	Don Onofrio Rotolo
Howard Nelson-Rubien	Don Diego
Lola Braccini	Donna Margherita
Ivo Garrani	Col. Pallavicino
Vittorio Duse	Actor
Alberto Carlo Lolli	Actor
Franco Gula	Actor
Giovanni Materassi	Actor
Carmelo Artale	Actor
Marie Bell	Actor
Amalia Troiani	Actor
Anna Maria Surdo	Actor
Alina Zalewska	Actor
Winni Riva	Actor
Giuseppe Spagnitti	Actor
Rosolino Bua	Actor
Dante Posani	Actor
Stelvio Rosi	Actor
Tina Lattanzi	Actor
Marcella Rovena	Actor
Rina De Liguoro	Actor
Valerio Ruggeri	Actor
Carlo Palmucci	Actor
Nino Rota	Composer

Technical Credits

Luchino Visconti

Suso Cecchi d'Amico

Enrico Medioli

Pasquale Festa Campanile

Massimo Franciosa

Luchino Visconti	Director,Screenwriter
Goffredo Lombardo	Producer
Pietro Notarianni	Executive Producer
Suso Cecchi d'Amico	Screenwriter
Enrico Medioli	Screenwriter
Pasquale Festa Campanile	Screenwriter
Massimo Franciosa	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Il Gattopardo is perhaps much too cinematically opulent to fit comfortably into director Luchino Visconti's body of neo-realist work, but it is likely his most personal film, with a powerful central protagonist (Burt Lancaster) who resembles aspects of Visconti's own life. Visconti was among those wealthy Italians who became attracted to Marxist ideals, but who was not willing to relinquish his own personal wealth or status. There is at least some parallel to the central character in Il Gattopardo, an aristocrat who aware of his own impending obsolescence. The film is meticulously produced, with great attention to period detail. Giuseppe Rotunno's cinematography is a substantial asset, as is Nino Rota's orchestral score and Mario Garbuglia's production design. Several versions of the film exist, most of them considerably shortened from the original theatrically released version.

All Movie Guide - Richard Gilliam