Post by Hedvig on Oct 19, 2009 14:41:40 GMT -6
I just saw The Leopard (Il Gattopardo, 1963), a visually amazing masterpiece directed by Luchino Visconti, and starring Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster, all three dubbed to Italian! And it was a much, much better film than I could have imagined.
Firstly I was sceptical because Burt Lancaster was dubbed, of course. I thought they had just brought in an internationally famous actor in order to appeal to a bigger audience, which might well be true. However, you forget about the fact that he's dubbed almost immediately, and it becomes obvious why they might actually have wanted Mr Lancaster to play the part of the "leopard" of the title, the old Sicilian patriarch who represents the old order of Italy which is crumbling during the 19th century. His screen-presence is unequaled in this film. He even outshines Claudia Cardinale (in my female opinion, at least!) and seemingly effortlessly dominates every scene he's in. Which is a good thing, because the film stands and falls with this character.
Secondly I was sceptical because I thought this was going to be an epic similar to Gone With the Wind, or perhaps War and Peace. I prepared myself for mental exhaustion. Instead this turned out to be surprisingly low-key. The young romantic couple which one could have expected to dominate the story turn out to be fairly unlikeable, a couple of coarse, shallow people who will represent the "new order" of Sicily. Sparks still fly between them, though with almost zero cheese-content. The sweeping landscapes are not overused for dramatic effect, despite the film's being set in beautiful Sicily. On the other hand you get a glimpse of what village life might have been like there in the 1800's. Everything's covered with dust, there's poverty, and everyone sweats in the heat. It looks quite realistic in other words. A great deal of focus is on the interiors of the houses, such as the haunting abandoned rooms of an old castle from the Renaissance era.
The final ballroom sequence of the film reminds me not of anything in Gone With the Wind, but rather of the film The Russian Arc, with it's concluding tracking-shot over the heads of a crowd departing from a ball, everyone chit-chatting without saying anything significant. In The Leopard you can sense that it's stuffy in those rooms though. It's hot to dance, being used to Nordic climate I don't know how they manage to even move! I love movies that can transport you back in time like this.
Apparently the original American release was cut by 40 min and dubbed to English. I can recommend the restored original in Italian. It might be too restrained for melodrama, but it's still an epic, of a different sort.
Firstly I was sceptical because Burt Lancaster was dubbed, of course. I thought they had just brought in an internationally famous actor in order to appeal to a bigger audience, which might well be true. However, you forget about the fact that he's dubbed almost immediately, and it becomes obvious why they might actually have wanted Mr Lancaster to play the part of the "leopard" of the title, the old Sicilian patriarch who represents the old order of Italy which is crumbling during the 19th century. His screen-presence is unequaled in this film. He even outshines Claudia Cardinale (in my female opinion, at least!) and seemingly effortlessly dominates every scene he's in. Which is a good thing, because the film stands and falls with this character.
Secondly I was sceptical because I thought this was going to be an epic similar to Gone With the Wind, or perhaps War and Peace. I prepared myself for mental exhaustion. Instead this turned out to be surprisingly low-key. The young romantic couple which one could have expected to dominate the story turn out to be fairly unlikeable, a couple of coarse, shallow people who will represent the "new order" of Sicily. Sparks still fly between them, though with almost zero cheese-content. The sweeping landscapes are not overused for dramatic effect, despite the film's being set in beautiful Sicily. On the other hand you get a glimpse of what village life might have been like there in the 1800's. Everything's covered with dust, there's poverty, and everyone sweats in the heat. It looks quite realistic in other words. A great deal of focus is on the interiors of the houses, such as the haunting abandoned rooms of an old castle from the Renaissance era.
The final ballroom sequence of the film reminds me not of anything in Gone With the Wind, but rather of the film The Russian Arc, with it's concluding tracking-shot over the heads of a crowd departing from a ball, everyone chit-chatting without saying anything significant. In The Leopard you can sense that it's stuffy in those rooms though. It's hot to dance, being used to Nordic climate I don't know how they manage to even move! I love movies that can transport you back in time like this.
Apparently the original American release was cut by 40 min and dubbed to English. I can recommend the restored original in Italian. It might be too restrained for melodrama, but it's still an epic, of a different sort.