The Leopard ( Il Gattopardo ) ( Le Guépard )

The Leopard (DVD) (*)

~~$26.99~~ $20.97

Original Title: Il Gattopardo
Alternate Title: Le Guépard
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
David Donatello Awards
Golden Globes
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Subtitles )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 4 )

Running Time:
181 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Special Features:
2-DVD Set
Commentary
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1963 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Italy ( Italy, Greece )

Directed By:
Luchino Visconti

Written By:
Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
Luchino Visconti
Suso Cecchi d'Amico

Actors:
Alain Delon ..... Tancredi Falconeri
Anna Maria Bottini ..... Mademoiselle Dombreuil, the Governess
Brook Fuller ..... Little Prince
Burt Lancaster ..... Prince Don Fabrizio Salina
Carlo Valenzano ..... Paolo
Claudia Cardinale ..... Angelica Sedara/Bertiana
Giuliano Gemma ..... Garibaldi's General
Ida Galli ..... Carolina
Lucilla Morlacchi ..... Concetta
Ottavia Piccolo ..... Caterina
Paolo Stoppa ..... Don Calogero Sedara
Pierre Clémenti ..... Francesco Paolo
Rina Morelli ..... Princess Maria Stella Salina
Romolo Valli ..... Father Pirrone
Terence Hill ..... Count Cavriaghi (as Mario Girotti)

Synopsis:

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.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 22 February, 2007.

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