The Godfather DVD Collection DVD

Average Rating:

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!

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 !!!

I purchased the much-anticipated Godfather Box Set, knowing already what great movies these were (well, Part III is merely okay, but I'll spare the redundancies ...you've heard it all before!) The first two pictures continue to be towering achievements in epic film making. Coppola's treatise on family and the mob are undeniable classics.

Nearly as great an accomplishment is Al Pacino's performance in the first two films. If you only have knowledge of Pacino's later, over-the-top work (Scent of a Woman comes to mind), you will be amazed at the great subtleties he is capable of. He is mesmerizing to watch here. In fact, everything in Part's I and II is nearly flawless, from the the cinematography, Nino Rota's score, the period design, etc.

The bad news is all about the prodution of the DVD. Having both the VHS and Laser Disc versions of these movies, I was eagerly awaiting the DVD release. One of the main reasons I was in such a state of anticipation was due to the flaws apparent on those earlier formats. Both the tape and LD versions are rather dark, particularly the scenes in Vito Corleone's office and in Michael's boat house. Sadly, the DVD does nothing to help these scenes. In fact some are worse - for instance, when Jonnie Ola gives Michael an orange in Part II. Characters in these scenes are barely perceptible, fading into the shadows, only distinguishable by their voices.

There is a very bizarre video problem with one scene in particular. Near the end of Part I, at Vito's funeral, Tessio (Abe Vigoda) comes up to speak with Michael. As Tessio's back fills the cameral with a dark shadow, the image of a red face is superimposed on the shot. I could not believe what I was seeing the first time I saw it. I've replayed this, and used the still pause, and it is there! I seriously doubt that this was intentional as it is rather disturbing.

My other complaint is about the sound on Part I. In spots, it is very echoey, sounding as if the film were shot in a cavernous sound stage. I can only guess that this problem cropped up during the remixing of the soundtrack for Dolby Digital. In any event, it is not apparent on either the VHS or LDs.

There are some nice extras on the fifth DVD, but overall I was a bit disappointed at how this package turned out.