Average Rating: 
Rating:  - If there was ever an offer you couldn't refuse, it's this!
Francis Ford Coppola and Paramount Home Entertainment held a press conference and street fair in Brooklyn, and yours truly was there! The exciting news, of course, was announcing the release of THE GODFATHER DVD COLLECTION on October 9, 2001! If the preview of the set is any indication, then I must say this will be the crown jewel in any DVD collection! The three films will only be released together in this set. The Godfather and The Godfather Part III will each be on one disc, and The Godfather Part II will take two discs. The first of the good news? Francis Coppola has recorded full-lenth audio commentaries for all three films! But wait, there's a fifth disc that will blow your socks off! Check this out -- the bonus disc contains 3+ hours worth of special features, including: > "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside" documentary > "Francis Coppola's Notebook", an inside look at taking the book to screen! > "On Location" with production designer Dean Tavoularis! > "The Godfather Behind The Scenes" 1971 featurette! > "The Cinematography of The Godfather"! > "The Music of The Godfather" -- two featurettes! > "Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting"! > Storyboards from GF2 and GF3! > "The Corleone Family Tree" character and cast bios! > Academy Award® acceptance speeches! > Photo galleries with captions! > Theatrical trailers! > Filmmaker bios! > Corleone Family timeline, with real-life events mixed in! > Never-seen alternate opening of GF3! > And "all" of the extra footage found in the televised Godfather Saga! The picture quality looked fantastic -- Coppola's American Zoetrope did a wonderful job restoring the films! From what I could tell, the sound quality was perfect, and the on-screen menus looked great. And the DVD packaging looks very nice. All three films are in widescreen format with English 5.1 surround sound, French mono, and English subtitles. Perhaps the only "bad" news I heard was that there were no plans at this point to release the chronological version on DVD. Francis said that the films were meant to be seen with the flashbacks, and I tend to agree. The biggest plus of having The Godfather Trilogy or Epic on tape, or watching The Godfather Saga on TV, was all the extra footage included. Well, the bonus disc in The Godfather DVD Collection contains "all" of the extra footage, and even something we've never seen anywhere before: an alternate opening for The Godfather Part III. Francis didn't give a firm "no" though; he cited technical reasons for not being able to include all the extra footage on DVD: the different scenes are in various levels of production ("they weren't mixed and scored"), making it difficult to add them seemlessly with today's technology. Maybe, but they seemed to be okay in the boxed sets and on TV to me. Do yourself a favor and order the biggest DVD release of all time!
Rating: - Leave the cannoli. Take the DVD. - A DVD Review
Anyone remotely familiar with film knows & loves The Godfather, truly our American epic. And having pored through the DVD I can truly say that I feel this is the definitive version of this masterpiece. OK, as everyone's said here before, #3 stinks, whatever, we know, shaddup. That isn't the point. The point is a beautiful widescreen digital picture. The point is 5.1 digital surround sound. Those two greatest benefits of the DVD format have allowed me to watch this picture at home in a way I've only been able to approach previously when our local art house deigns to show them on the big screen. As one would expect, the DVD menus & formatting is very professionally done. The extras are also stunning, including the Coppola commentaries for all 3 films, a great timeline & geneology of the Corleone family, scenes from the 1977 re-edited version, etc. I found the documentary & shorts less interesting, but your mileage may vary. In the end though, if you've always loved these movies but never owned them, this is the way to watch them. If you've got them on VHS widescreen version & don't have home theater I'd say keep what you have. If you buy, you're sure not to be disappointed, though a movie with this sort of grandeur really does call for a home theater situation.As far as people being [angry] about not getting that re-edited 1977 version on DVD, I have two things to say. First, I'm sure it'll hit stores eventually so stop yer whining, and second, for what it's worth I think they're best apart. The first introduces us to this warped vision of Americana and our primary character, Michael, while the second shows us both the genesis of Vito's legacy and the beautiful parallels between the decisions and actions of the young Vito & Michael as the new Godfather that're lost when they're melded into a linear tale. So pbbt.
Rating: - Here's the scoop ...
This is gonna be great!! I can't wait! Amazon doesn't tell you what you're getting, so here is the scoop as I know it ...The Godfather Trilogy is ONLY going to be released as a box set! (though I suspect that down the road you will be able to buy them individually) The trilogy will run across four discs, with GODFATHER II on two discs, and all are in anamorphic widescreen with running audio commentary from Francis Ford Coppola. The fifth disc will feature 3+ hours worth of bonus material, including Coppola's notebook on adapting the Mario Puzo novel for the screen * A Documentary on the Making of the Films (73 minutes)
* Additional Scenes
* Cast Rehearsals
* Filming Locations Featurette
* Storyboards
* Cinematography of The Godfather
* The Music of The Godfather
* The Corleone Family Tree
* The Godfather Historical Time Line
That's what I know so far!!! Good stuff huh? Well what are you waiting for? ORDER IT !!!
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