Synopsis
Making its long-awaited U.S. home video debut, Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) is an epic on the grandest possible scale. The film recreates, with nostalgia, drama, and opulence, the tumultuous years of Italy’s Risorgimento—when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. Burt Lancaster stars as the aging prince watching his culture and fortune wane in the face of a new generation, represented by his upstart nephew (Alain Delon) and his beautiful fiancée (Claudia Cardinale). Awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, The Leopard translates Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, and the history it recounts, into a truly cinematic masterpiece. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the film in two distinct versions: Visconti’s original Italian version, and the alternate English-language version released in America in a newly restored special edition.
Cast
| Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina | Burt Lancaster |
| Angelica Sedàra | Claudia Cardinale |
| Tancredi Falconeri | Alain Delon |
| Don Calógero Sedàra | Paolo Stoppa |
| Maria Stella Corbera, Princess of Salina | Rina Morelli |
| Father Pirrone | Romolo Valli |
| Count Cavriaghi | Mario Girotti |
| Francesco Paolo Corbera | Pierre Clementi |
| Concetta Corbera | Lucilla Morlacchi |
| Cavaliere Chevelley | Leslie French |
| Don Ciccio Tumeo | Serge Reggiani |
Credits
| Director | Luchino Visconti |
| Screenplay | Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Enrico Medioli, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa and Luchino Visconti |
| From the novel by | Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa |
| Director of photography | Giuseppe Rotunno |
| Editing | Mario Sarandrei |
| Music | Nino Rota |
| Art direction | Mario Garbuglia |
| Costumes | Piero Tosi |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION THREE–DISC SET:
- New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno, with restored image and sound and presented in the original Super Technirama aspect ratio of 2.21:1
- New transfer of the 161-minute American release, with English-language dialogue (including Burt Lancaster’s actual voice)
- Audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie
- A Dying Breed: The Making of The Leopard, a new hour-long documentary featuring interviews with Claudia Cardinale, screenwriter Suso Ceccho D’Amico, cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, filmmaker Sydney Pollack, and many others
- Interview with producer Goffredo Lombardo
- An exclusive video interview with professor Millicent Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania on the history behind The Leopard
- Original theatrical trailers and newsreels
- Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos
- A new essay by author and film historian Michael Wood
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
From the Current
The Leopard
by Jun 7, 2004Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard had a hard time finding a publisher but was well known by the time Luchino Visconti began to work on his film of the same name. The book appeared in Italy in 1958 and was subsequently translated into many languages—a German version is seen...
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which version of The Leopard is better?
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