The Leopard (1963) - The Criterion Collection

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:

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 (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
The 161-minute American release, with English-language dialogue, including Burt Lancaster’s own voice
Audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie
A Dying Breed: The Making of The Leopard, an hour-long documentary featuring interviews with Claudia Cardinale, screenwriter Suso Ceccho D’Amico, Rotunno, filmmaker Sydney Pollack, and many others
Video interview with producer Goffredo Lombardo
Video interview with professor Millicent Marcus on the history behind The Leopard
Original theatrical trailers and newsreels
Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Michael Wood

From the Current

The Leopard

by Michael Wood Jun 7, 2004

Giuseppe 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 . . .