The Godfather [Sapphire Series] – Blu-ray Disc Review

January 22, 2010 – 2:16 AM - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Abe Vigoda, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Francis Ford Coppola, James Caan, John Cazale, Marlon Brando, Paramount, Richard Conte, Richard S. Castellano, Robert A. Harris, Robert Duvall

has an average rating of 9.2 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 & Mono
only include an audio commentary
–
– 1972
– 177 minutes
– Paramount
–
This uses 44.6GB for the movie out of 45.0GB total.
Street Date: February 2nd, 2010

Overall Verdict – An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Buy it for $17.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review by: Justin Sluss & James Segars —

The Movie Itself was Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and is based on Mario Puzo‘s novel. Puzo also was responsible for the screenplay adaptation of his novel for the film. Below I’ll let my co-writer James Segars have a bit of opening discussing this classic film and I’ll end things myself just below that.

— The Godfather —

A true American cinematic classic.

Ranked by the AFI as the #2 film of all time — second only to “Citizen Kane” — Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia masterwork has made an indelible mark upon the film making and viewing communities. It was Coppola’s introspective gaze and humanistic approach to the mafia and the Corleone family that made the film so iconic, memorable, and compelling.

If you didn’t know it already, The Godfather’s central focus is Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the son of Mafia Don, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). Being the first of three films, Coppola establishes the framework for a beautiful, tragic familial tale, that centers intently on the Corleone family as they struggle to maintain power amongst turbulent, and violent times within the world of organized crime.

Unlike most mafia films, it isn’t over zealousness or greed that sets the plot into motion, rather, it is a strict adherence to principles that triggers unrest within the Corleone family, as well as the competing crime families. Specifically, Vito’s reluctance to push drugs, and provide security for the dealers ultimately gives way to an attempt on his life. He survives, but due to poor health and his recovery, is forced to allow his sons to lead the Corleone family. Sonny (James Caan), Michael, and Fredo (John Cazale) seek to re-establish rapport with their fellow crime families, each in their own way, while exacting revenge upon the traitors who made the assassination attempt on their father.

— Introduction written by James Segars —

In closing, “The Godfather” is as my co-writer said above regarded as one of the best motion pictures ever but it is also undoubtedly the one of the greatest, if not THE greatest mobster (mafia) movie ever made. One of my personal favorite things about this unlike most of the other mafia films out there is the time period of the late 1940′s. Overall looking back on it, the direction by Francis Ford Coppola here is legendary as well as the performances by the late great Marlon Brando as well as Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan and even Richard S. Castellano (as “Clemenza“), to just name a few folks with memorable roles. This film is just a classic and for those of you who have actually never seen the film, do yourself a favor, buy it on Blu-ray and give it a watch. You’ll agree that this tops some other great mafia (mobster) movies like “Goodfellas“, “Scarface” and “Carlito’s Way” — the last two of those films also just-so-happen to star Al Pacino who was a major character in this film as “Michael Corleone“.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This choice results in no compression issues to speak of which is very important to note when you take into consideration the lengthy run time of the film itself. There is a significant amount of improvement in comparison to the fairly recent 2001 DVD releases, especially to be noted in the first two films. The film, which bares an abundance of natural lighting sources (that are often dimly lit, aside from outdoors scenes), has a reputation as being a “dark” movie, and those scenes are played very well with Gordon Willis’ (Director of Photography) very inky black levels; detail is extraordinary in comparison to previous releases, though more significant in the second and third films that would come later. International filming locations in Sicily shot to produce a piece of the plot are breath-taking, with accurate color and detail, giving viewers quite a spectacle. There is also more film grain and noise in the first film here in comparison to the sequels, but this is a 1972 film, and this restoration in comparison to past versions, blows those right out of the water.

Fleshtones are very accurate, displaying the ethnic-olive complexion of the Sicilian family and friends perfectly. The color palette is extremely vibrant, with perfect contrast, for example, the rose worn by Vito Corleone broached to his tuxedo in the beginning stands out boldly, again with the solid black level, and does not appear to “bleed”. The restorationist’s task of creating a palette that offers more for the eyes was definitely achieved, with a tone that is not too yellow or too pink at all. Certainly no signs of Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) or Edge Enhancement (EE) filters used; the budget for the restoration of this classic film was more than you will see in a life time (most likely), thus superior options were available in bringing this movie back to life. “The Godfather” [Sapphire Series] on Blu-ray Disc earns itself a perfect “5 Star Rating” and is a definitive example of how to do a restoration correctly. Kudos to Robert A. Harris on a job well done.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono. The original musical Score by Nino Rota in the first film especially comes through amazingly well in the newly created 5.1 TrueHD track’s rear channel and bass presence as well as obviously the front channels. Point is that the 5.1 track is being used to it’s best extent and does have some highlight moments in the mix. The dialogue throughout is delivered very clearly from the front center, left and right channels — which requires no volume adjustment.

The film involves mostly dialogue and not so much action as the later films in the trilogy. The sound effects, gunshots and even environment noises such as thunder and rain to the acoustics of a room size all sound excellent, very realistic (convincing). The fact that these film’s do mostly revolve around dialogue at times more-so than action does result in this not being exactly a release I’d pick off the shelf as something to demonstrate Dolby TrueHD. But with that being said I will admit it is as close to “reference material” for this particular film as you’re going to get. This earns a very solid “4 Star Rating” for overall audio quality, which spans across the three films. No complaints here at all about the sound.

Bonus materials only include:

• Audio Commentary with Francis Ford Coppola

Overall, the bonus materials are minimal, obviously but if fans want more they will have to opt for the box set “The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration” which includes all three films. That includes a bonus fourth disc with bonus materials; unlike this release.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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