If any trilogy was going to get a large group of folks buying Blu-ray players I can’t imagine the Godfather trilogy not being the one to do it. Fully restored and as I already pointed out before the picture has been completely color corrected to represent the warm, almost golden palette originally intended. Scratches and film issues have been resolved and a brand new Dolby TrueHD audio track has been used to give audiences a look at these three great films as most likely they have never been seen before.
The new collection includes all three Godfather films and their special feature counterparts carried over from Paramount’s 2001 trilogy release. This includes Francis Ford Coppola commentaries on all three films as well as all the behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, filmmaker profiles, galleries and storyboards as well as a brand new group of features especially made for this release.
Of course, before talking about the features the highlight here is obviously the restored films. Each film looks magnificent and is virtually presented without a single noticeable flaws. A pair of highlights I particularly noticed are in The Godfather beginning with the first scene in Don Corleone’s office and how distinctly dark the picture is contrasted by the following scene featuring his daughter’s wedding. This contrast is mentioned more than once on the special features, but only because it stands out that much. Never before has the wedding scene looked this great. It has always appeared to be relatively washed out and dulled down, basically looking like a film that was made in the ’70s. Well, now it looks like it just came off the line and is ready for theatrical distribution. Another scene that caught my attention is the assassination scene in The Godfather when Michael assassinates McCluskey and Sollozzo. When he shoots Sollozzo in the head I didn’t remember such a distinct cloud of blood spray behind his head, whereas now it is more vivid than ever.
However, it isn’t all perfect. One scene in particular in The Godfather stands out among the rest as looking particularly awful and that was when Michael is at the hospital looking after his father when he thinks he hears someone coming. It turns out it is Enzo the baker, but upon them seeing one another the picture looks downright dreadful. I am not sure if they didn’t have decent stock to work from or what happened, but once that scene ends it goes back to the vastly improved restoration, one example can be seen just below.
In terms of the new features, they are all actually pretty good, primarily due to them all being relatively short and sticking to the subject at hand. “Godfather World” is the longest of the bunch and takes a look at the film trilogy’s impact on society and how it is impossible to imagine a world without The Godfather. Even folks such as “South Park” creator Trey Parker are brought in to talk about the film’s impact as they include a scene from a “South Park” episode titled “Toilet Paper” and show scenes from “The Sopranos”, “The Simpsons” (remember Don Homer?) and “Family Guy”. One they didn’t show that I always remember are the endless Godfather references from “Seinfeld”, here’s one such example.
“The Masterpiece that Almost Wasn’t” takes a look at all the crap the film went through just to get made including Paramount’s near demise as a studio, the trouble getting a director and then even once Coppola was aboard the problems that ensued still. “…when the shooting stopped” takes a look at those behind-the-scenes that worked on a film and includes an especially interesting look at the scene with the horse head as post-production consultant Walter Murch points out the difference in some musical cues for the scene and the differing impact each has.
For you tech junkies “Emulsional Rescue” will be a lot of fun as it takes a look at how they went about restoring the film including the color correction and removal of scratches and dust. “The Godfather on the Red Carpet” however is damn near embarrassing as it is about five minutes of red carpet Q&A at the premiere of Cloverfield with a bunch of people you wouldn’t listen to their opinion for free let alone pay for it and want it messing up your brand new Blu-ray collection. Seriously, Paramount should offer a $1 refund to everyone that buys this set just for this one farce of a feature.
Next are what are called four “short film”, which are actually four featurettes ranging from about 90 seconds to two minutes. They are actually a good bit of fun as the folks you heard on the longer features prior are involved in discussing The Godfather vs. The Godfather II, the cannoli line which actually wasn’t even in the script (it just ended at “take the gun” if you can believe that), a riffing on the riffing of Godfather and an explanation into Clemenza’s briefly mentioned death. All are very interesting, especially the Cannoli and Clemenza bits.
Then you have a pair of interactive features that are exclusive to the Blu-ray release. One takes a look at the Corleone family tree and while it may seem silly at first, it actually becomes interesting when you begin looking at the characters that aren’t as prominent such as Tom Hagen’s family, etc. The second example is a Crime Organization Chart taking a look at the baddies of the trilogy and their relation to one another. Both are good for a few minutes of enjoyment, but nothing too outrageous. Finally, there is a photo album filled with pics from Connie and Carlo’s wedding.
If I haven’t convinced you to buy this yet either a) you don’t like the Godfather trilogy or b) you haven’t seen it yet. If your reason is that you don’t like it then I am surprised you read this far. If your reason is that you haven’t seen it yet then I can’t recommend a better time to get started. This collection is a must own for anyone that claims to like movies on any level. This trilogy satisfies cinephiles and your average moviegoer alike and it has never looked so good. If you already own the collection on DVD I recommend you upgrade this collection is that good.
