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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather (1972)

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Released 12-Oct-2001

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Mob Main Menu Audio & Animation
Audio Commentary-Director - Francis Ford Coppola
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 1972
Running Time 168:03
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (92:41) Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 4 Directed By Francis Ford Coppola
Studio
Distributor

Paramount Home Entertainment
Starring Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
James Caan
Richard Castellano
Robert Duvall
Sterling Hayden
John Marley
Richard Conte
Diane Keaton
Case Slip Case
RPI ? Music Nino Rota


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
Dutch
English for the Hearing Impaired
Swedish
Danish
Norwegian
Finnish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    For those of you like me who have never seen The Godfather (and don't like to admit it, in case those superior people that we all know sneer at you for being uncultured), here is a quick rundown of the plot.

    Adapted from the very successful novel by Mario Puzo, this is the story - no - saga is a much better word - of the Corleone Family. It is actually quite difficult to summarise in only a few paragraphs as this is a multi-layered story of very complex characters that spans a significant length of time.

    The period is just after the end of World War II and America is rebuilding. It is a time of opportunity in business. Don Vito Corleone (an Academy Award-winning  performance from Marlon Brando) is the patriarch or 'Godfather' of one of New York's large crime families (we can't use the word Mafia...at least not yet). His sons Santino 'Sonny' (James Caan) and Fredo (John Cazale) are involved in the day-to-day operation of the business, which includes racketeering and gambling. They are assisted by ever-faithful lawyer Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall). The Don's third son, Michael (Al Pacino), is a recently returned WWII veteran who wants little to do with the illegal doings of the family. Vito also has a daughter, Connie (Talia Shire). It is her wedding that becomes the opening scene of the film.

    As the family business unfolds before us, we get an idea of the standing that Don Vito has in the city by the number of people that visit him during the wedding to pay their respects and offer suitably large gifts. Included among the visitors are some of the competing 'families' in New York and the other heads or 'Dons'. They are all fighting on the same turf and for the same illegal business, so problems sometimes flare into confrontation. A conflict arises between the Corleones and one of the other families in respect to the continuation of the illicit drug trade. Don Vito makes a decision that is not entirely popular with the other family and when a resulting attempt to assassinate him goes awry, the shooting leaves him incapable of running the business. It looks like the family is under threat of being wiped out by their competition, but the murder attempt seems to trigger something in young Michael, who up until now had wanted no part of the business. When he seeks to exact revenge in one of the signature scenes in the film, it is the commencement of the phase that sees him establishing himself as the one most likely to take on his father's role as head of the family and the next 'Godfather'.

    From this point on, the story focuses on Michael and the ensuing transformation that he undergoes as the old Don Vito slowly loses his grip on the family and the youngest brother gets sucked more and more into the grubby dealings of the underworld. There is plenty of bloodshed and many deaths throughout, and some fairly gruesome scenes (including the famous severed horse head), that earn The Godfather an 'R' rating.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Even though this is the first time I have viewed this film, there is no doubt that this is the best it has looked since its release. Maybe I set my expectations just a little too high and I'm being a bit harsh, but I was just a little bit disappointed with the video presented here. Grain and plenty of film artefacts are the most noticeable problems. Still, don't get me wrong, the transfer is extremely watchable and satisfying, and given the source material quality, probably about as good as we could expect. I just dream what effect a full restoration would have on it.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is of consistent sharpness throughout, though there is a reasonable dose of edge enhancement present. I thought the level of shadow detail overall was lacking and in some parts it is very poor with some scenes very difficult to make out. I then listened to the audio commentary and the featurette from the cinematographer, Gordon Willis, and discovered that this was all intentional. Apparently Willis liked to stretch the boundaries with exposure and the darker scenes and shadows on faces are intentional. Willis admits that a couple of times he went too far and did not provide enough light for the camera. Therefore, I'd have to declare that the shadow detail is quite acceptable given the source material.

    Grain is without a doubt the biggest problem area for this transfer. It is present in some form or other in most scenes. It is most notable in the wider angle establishing scenes such as those showing Hollywood at 25:33-25:53, although given the budget constraints on the second unit material, it is not surprising that the source quality is not as good for these shots. There is no low level noise present.

    Colours are consistent, though not overly vibrant. They are certainly warm in tone with plenty of browns and similar hues portraying the 1940s period very nicely. Skin tones are natural and although blacks sometimes look a little grey, this is probably more to do with the source material.

    There are no apparent MPEG artefacts. Aliasing pops up on occasion though it has been very well-controlled, being mostly restricted to a minor shimmer on several automobile grilles. Film artefacts rank with grain as the most noticeable problem. Almost every scene features white spots or scratches of varying sizes, though the vast majority are small enough not to cause any disruption. They are, however, just so frequent that they are unmissable.

    There are seven subtitle streams available. I sampled the English and English for the Hearing Impaired variety and found them to be nicely accurate.

    The disc is presented as a single sided dual layered picture disc with RSDL formatting. The layer change occurs well into the film at 92:41 and should have been placed about 9 seconds earlier on a scene change. As it stands, John Cazale's character Fredo, pauses noticeably while visiting the sick Don.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks available for your listening pleasure. The original mono track is not available, instead replaced by a remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 track. There is also a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround audio commentary track by director Francis Ford Coppola. I listened to both tracks in total.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is by no means a show-stopper. Focussing very much on the centre speaker, this track doesn't pack a great deal of fidelity and is very closely linked to its mono origins.

   Dialogue is clear (apart from Brando's mumbles!), though occasionally comes across a bit harsh. During the scene where Tom Hagen is talking with the film-maker Woltz at 30:27, there is a noticeable hiss and extreme harshness in the dialogue. The only audio sync problems are attributed to the ADR work that is, at times, quite apparent.

    The score is a famous one, instantly recognisable even to someone like myself who had never seen the movie before. Composed by famous Italian composer Nino Rota, it sets a fantastic mood throughout. There is not much else to say about it, other than it is a classic. Much of the other music used (by the real bands featured in various scenes for example), was composed by Coppola's father Carmine. It captures the era perfectly.

    The surround channels are not called on too often. The most notable use they get is during the Italian restaurant shooting scene at 125:25 where the elevated train sounds come from all channels.

    The subwoofer is likewise not used extensively but when it is (during the odd explosion) does not focus any undue attention on itself.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Main Menu Audio and Animation

    The main menu features one of three scenes from the film (all involving a recent murder for some reason). These scenes are sequentially selected each time you go back to the main menu. The audio is part of the film score presented in Dolby Digital 2.0.

Audio Commentary - Director Francis Ford Coppola

    An audio commentary of any sort should add value to the overall film viewing experience. It should do this by being both entertaining and informative. It also needs to contain some variety in the information being delivered or otherwise it can boring very quickly. All the information about camera angles, lighting or problems with the cast can become a bit monotonous if it is endlessly repeated by a droning voice. There are many bad commentaries doing the rounds. Luckily, this is not one of them and is among the best that I have heard.

    Francis Ford Coppola's commentary is entertaining, informative, and offers much variety. I've always thought that the better commentaries are made when there is a heavy dose of nostalgia pervading the whole process. When a film-maker is looking back at a film that they made many years before, they can offer a critical look at their mistakes or offer thoughts on inappropriate casting choices or even poor performances. When the film is more recent, they are often reluctant to be critical and can often spend the whole time congratulating the cast, the crew, or even themselves. Coppola holds no such illusions and offers stories on the tight budget and the many other pressures put on him by Paramount, including the manner in which he convinced the executives at the time that Marlon Brando would indeed star in the film and the almost constant threat of himself being fired.

    Because he was involved in so many of the decisions that were made in making this film, such as casting, direction, and writing he can offer not only technical information about the construction and filming of certain scenes, but also anecdotal stories about things that only he would know. The inexpensive ways that the crew got around certain problems (the car headlights for one), the major problems with the casting and the amusing fact that Coppola believes all films should offer a decent recipe in the script!

    This is a first rate commentary track that deserves a listening to by all fans of the film and of Francis Ford Coppola.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Godfather Collection DVD Box Set features the same specification throughout the world. Therefore, our product is to be favoured due to the superior PAL formatting.

Summary

    The Godfather is superb film-making. Without needing to resort to the crash and bang of modern day films, this is character-based drama at its best. It plays out like a great novel that you just can't put down. I had intended watching Part I on the first review night and then moving to Part II, but it hooked me in so quickly that I watched both in one night. The character development is fascinating. At the end of Part II, you are so familiar with the forty-odd  year history of the family in such intimate detail that they seem like old friends.

    Given the age of the source material, the video is pretty good with no real problems apart from film artefacts, grain, and some edge enhancement. It is at least consistent in terms of colour and sharpness.

    The audio betrays its mono origins and can be a little harsh at times, but does the job.

    The Godfather is a must-have in any film buff's collection and a must-see for anyone like me who just hasn't ever got around to seeing it before.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Darren Walters (It's . . . just the vibe . . . of my bio)
Monday, November 19, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDLoewe Xemix 5006DD, using RGB output
DisplayLoewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationHarmon/Kardon AVR7000.
SpeakersFront - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10

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