LEOPARD, THE (restored version)

Reissued 20 years after its initial release, THE LEOPARD can at last be seen the way its director Luchino Visconti created it: In Italian, full-length and in its original Technicolor, filtered light that evokes memories of the past. The previously released American version's cuts, dubbing and altered color process distorted the continuity and the entrancing visual and tonal rhythms of Visconti's masterpiece. A pioneer of neo-realism, Visconti's opera productions and films are characterized by a heightened naturalism, grandeur and sensuous perception of nuance, from his “Ossessione” in 1942 to “Death in Venice” in 1971. THE LEOPARD is his most personal and subtle examination of history, as seen through the eyes of Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, the central character magnificently played by Burt Lancaster. The Prince observes the death of an era during the 1860 Italian revolution when Garibaldi and his Redshirts were overthrowing the Bourbon Rule. By concentrating so thoroughly on the protagonist, the film's intensity far exceeds that of the usual epic, drawing us inside and emotionally involving us with a long gone culture. A flawless cast and incredibly detailed set-piece sequences, particularly the famous, spectacular Ponteleone Ball conclusion, absorb all our senses to the fullest. “THE LEOPARD is a pageant of music, painting, architecture, landscapes, ideas.” -Vincent Canby, New York Times “A film of the future. . .a vision of space and time as lucid as the screen has known.” – Film Comment