The Godfather Part II (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Mob	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Francis Ford Coppola (Director)
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	192:07
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (62:55) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Francis Ford Coppola
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Al Pacino Robert Duvall Diane Keaton Robert De Niro Talia Shire Morgana King John Cazale Mariana Hill Lee Strasberg
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$29.95	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
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Danish English Dutch Norwegian Finnish Swedish English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    "The best sequel ever?" - a phrase often used to describe The Godfather Part II, released two years after the original took all before it. Not many films claim the Best Picture Academy Award, even less claim it with a sequel as well. Regarded by many as the superior film of the trilogy, I was expecting big things from this film when I sat down to watch it immediately after viewing the superlative The Godfather. I was not disappointed. Wider in scope than the first instalment, this three hour epic is told using two parallel stories, each as engrossing as the other.

    The film opens with Vito Corleone as a boy fleeing from Sicily after a mafia chief murders his family. He sails to America and grows up in New York. As a young man (a youthful Robert De Niro in a very early role) he dabbles in a bit of petty crime and soon crosses the path of local crime boss, Fanucci. Rather than pay protection money to this local crime lord, Vito takes matters into his own hands and starts the journey that will place the Corleone family at the top of the Mafia crime families of New York.

    The other thread of the film follows on from where The Godfather finished. 'Don' Vito Corleone has passed away and we now find Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) the new 'Don' of the family empire. We are exposed to the struggle that Michael Corleone faces in the freewheeling and decadent 1950s as he tries to come to grips with various shady deals in Nevada and Cuba and betrayal by some of his closest allies and family. Michael is facing inner turmoil as he tries to determine what sort of man he is becoming.

    With these two eras book-ending the plot from the original film, a complex tapestry is woven of the whole Corleone dynasty. Don Vito is slowly building his family and his empire and exacting revenge on his enemies. He travels back to Sicily to find those responsible for the deaths of his parents and brother. Michael is burdened with the legacy of his father before him. Continuing the family business in the same vein is beginning to weigh heavily on his shoulders and the cracks are beginning to show.

    It is obvious from the plot that Francis Ford Coppola had a much larger budget to work with, no threat of being fired, and no lingering self-doubts about his directorial ability when he made this. This is a film crafted by a director who knows exactly what he wants and how to go about getting it. More varied location shots, such as The Dominican Republic for the Cuba shots, Lake Tahoe, and Las Vegas offer a much slicker overall package than the second unit shots that were used in the original film. The turn-of-the-century era in New York city are fantastically shot. Attention to detail is supreme and the colours are just ideal. The Godfather - Part II offers probably the best-looking early 1900s I have seen on film.

Video

    The video transfer for this movie is similar to that of the first instalment, though perhaps a little more consistent in terms of grain and with less film artefacts present. Due to the very long running time (over 3 hours), the decision was made to split this film onto two discs, rather than run the risk of compression problems. The first two hours are on disc one and the last seventy minutes are on disc two. The break is well-placed between a storyline switch from the early 1900s to the 1950s and is not too disruptive (except you have to get out of your seat!).

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

    Sharpness is about the same as the first film, with a nice overall level of detail, though there is still plenty of edge enhancement present which is quite noticeable at times. Shadow detail is not as much of a problem here due to the wider range of outdoor locations portrayed such as Cuba,  Las Vegas, and Lake Tahoe, and the lower reliance on the dingy interiors used in the original. Having said that, there is one scene in particular at 4:45-6:00 on Disc 2 (125:55-127:10 overall), where Michael is talking to his mother by the fire that is incredibly dark. It is almost impossible to make out the expressions on their faces, even with the glow of the open fire. This is the scene mentioned by cinematographer Gordon Willis on the bonus materials disc where he feels he went a bit too far with the lack of lighting.

    Grain is still quite prominent throughout most of the film, though much better controlled. There is no low level noise.

    Colours are well rendered and reflect the times of the two periods shown in the parallel storylines very well. The sepia browns and yellows of the early 1900s period are superbly captured. Absolutely no problems in terms of oversaturation or bleeding are evident.

    There are no MPEG artefacts, which given the two disc decision is exactly what is expected. Some minor aliasing on the steps at 58:00 are about the worst case of this particular artefact in the whole film which is rather pleasing. The number of film artefacts is significantly less than the original, though most scenes still feature some manner of white spots.

    There are several subtitle streams present. I verified the presence of them all and sampled the English and English for the Hearing Impaired variety. Like the original film, they are both extremely accurate.

    Being over 3 hours long, this film has been split onto 2 discs. The first two hours are on disc one which is a dual layered disc with RSDL formatting. The layer change occurs at 62:55 and is barely perceptible. The last 70 minutes are on disc two and fits onto a single layer.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     There are two audio tracks available, a remixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 track and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround audio commentary track by director Francis Ford Coppola. I listened to both tracks in total. The main film track, the Dolby Digital 5.1 effort, is very similar to the original film's remixed track, but offers slightly more stereo separation at key moments. It is very much front and centred focused, though this does not detract from the listening experience..

    The dialogue is on a par with the first film, though we are spared Brando's mumblings this time around. While on the whole the dialogue is clear, it is at times poorly recorded and can sound extremely tinny. The best (or worst if you like) example of this is the conversation between Michael and Tom between 37:00-39:45, where it sounds like both of them have their heads in steel buckets. There are no audio sync issues of any note.

    The score for Part II was again composed by Nino Rota, and again is superb and sets a fantastic mood throughout. There is not much else to say about it, other than it is a classic.
   
    The surround channels are seldom called upon.

    The subwoofer is likewise not used extensively but does not draw any undue attention to itself when used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    The main menu features one of three scenes from the film (only one involving a murder this time!). These scenes are sequentially selected each time you go back to the main menu. Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 and features part of the film score.

Audio Commentary - Director Francis Ford Coppola

    This commentary from Coppola is more specific to the actual film than the commentary for the original Godfather, and is once again a high quality extra. There are a few silent spots, but Coppola does talk for the majority of the three hour plus film, which is a pretty fair effort.

    He commences by discussing how he insisted on calling the second film Part II, much to the displeasure of Paramount, who figured people would see it as the second half of the original. This is in direct contrast to how the name of the third instalment came about, which he flags as the ultimate irony in the closing stages of this commentary. It's interesting to hear that he never had any intention of making Part III and the closing stages of Part II were supposed to be the end.

    Coppola had a great deal more freedom in the making of this film after the huge success of the original. As a result, a lot of the conflict that was so common in the original was simply not present in this film. He spends more time explaining exactly what he was thinking in terms of plot for certain scenes, and how he came up with the ideas for certain shots and locations.

    A very good commentary that certainly isn't losing any steam after more than 5 hours of discussion.

    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.

    Sequels of successful films seldom reach the lofty heights achieved by their predecessor. This is the exception to the rule. The fact that it is titled Part II is an indication of how closely linked it is to the original. They really are complementary to each other, so much so that after having watched both films, you will try to recount certain scenes and at times have trouble working out which film they are from.

    The video is better than the original, though the number of film artefacts is still quite high and grain is continuous.

    The audio is similar to the original with a little more stereo separation.

    Thoroughly enjoyable. A classic.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall