I mentioned Il Gattopardo-The Leopard- here before when the British Film Institute’s DVD was released last September. It is a wonderfully restored version of Visconti’s masterpiece.
On Sunday as part of its CineFesta season, The Tyneside Cinema showed the same version- though happily not the dubbed version the website announced. I had never seen the film as a wide screen theatrical presentation before. The Sicilian landscapes, the interiors of the palazzos- what a treat! O.K., it’s over three hours long, but believe me, Visconti divides the film into such manageable portions that the viewer's attention is never allowed to wander. And the last 48 minutes -the ball section- simply passes too quickly.
The best review is that written by Michael Wood here
Things only get better when, on March 5th, the CineFesta season continues with Bertolucci’s Il Conformista (The Conformist).
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