Diagonaldi Very well executed

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

elvircorhodzic THE LEOPARD is an epic drama about a dramatic political, economic and family turmoil on Sicily. It is based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel of the same name.Garibaldi's troops come on Sicily. Prince of Salina sees that event as an obvious threat to his current social status. However, his nephew takes an opportunistic attitude and becomes an officer in Garibaldi's army. He has returned home as a war hero. He begins a romance with the beautiful daughter of a newly appointed mayor of their city. Prince of Salina despises a new mayor as an upstart who made a fortune on land speculation during the recent social upheaval, but he supports an emotional relationship and engagement of his nephew. He, later, declines an offer from a governmental emissary to become a senator in the new Parliament in Turin. He, painfully, experiencing the downfall of the aristocracy and the birth of a new class - the bourgeoisie...This is a very emotional epic, which considering social turmoils, through a sad look of a man. A magnificent ambiance is very personal. The atmosphere is melancholic and nostalgic at the same time. The story is full of memories and sorrow, so smile and dance of young people become uncomfortable. A revolution is not marked with bloody conflicts. A slow pace fully corresponds with emotional crisis of the main protagonist.Mr. Visconti has showed us a harmonious luxury, which is limited with emotions, ambitions and desires. The surface is decorated, and the core is rotten. The changes are inevitable.The scenery and costume design is at the highest level. Characterization is also very good. The closing section, an almost hour-long ball is a spectacular sequence, which shows the culmination of social changes in a subtle way.Burt Lancaster as Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina is a solid and imperious man who has frequent attacks of melancholy. His sharp patriarchal character is softened with sarcastic interruptions and moments of nostalgia. Mr. Lancaster has offered a convincing performance.Alain Delon as Tancredi Falconeri, Don Fabrizio's nephew is a charming and handsome young man, who does not have enough self-confidence to become the hero of this story. Claudia Cardinale as Angelica Sedara / Bertiana is, in addition to her beauty, a grotesque character. She is a strange combination between an indecent bourgeois girl and a serious young woman in love. Her uneven character is an embodiment of a social change.Further, clumsy, vulgar and shy characters fit perfectly into the atmosphere.Mr. Rota has offered a very rich and vivid soundtrack.

Jackson Booth-Millard I do not know many films where an established English or American star is in a foreign film either speaking the specific language or dubbed over while all other actors are speaking their own language, but that is the case with this Italian film from the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically, set in the 1860's, against the Sicilian landscape a dying aristocracy, led by the Prince of Salina, Don Fabrizio Corbero (Burt Lancaster), he is also known as The Leopard, and the film traces the slow waning of his noble home. We see how he turned from peasant and rose to become the enormously wealthy prince he is, but with the decline of his empire and personal fortunes he refuses to take steps and halt this or rebuild Sicily, but assuring his own position to marry Don Calogero's beautiful daughter Angelica (Claudia Cardinale) is the nephew, Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri (Golden Globe nominated Alain Delon). Angelica is introduced to society by Tancredi in the climactic sumptuous forty minute ball, but in the end the conclusion is unclear whether Don Calogero recovers his empire or any of his personal fortune. Also starring Paolo Stoppa as Don Calogero Sedara, Rina Morelli as Princess Maria Stella Salina and Romolo Valli as Father Pirrone. It is obvious that Lancaster has been dubbed over by an Italian voice, but he otherwise gives a good confident performance being the head of the family and of the aristocracy, I admit I did not really know everything that was going on, because it involved political stuff, like about the republican movement or whatever, but the performances and costumes are well done, and I know it is a most watchable period drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Costume Design. Very good!

preppy-3 Italian film that takes place in 1860. A revolution is sweeping over Sicily to overthrow the government. Burt Lancaster plays a prince who realizes a change is coming and his way of life is over. It also deals with his nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) joining the revolution and his romancing of Angelica (Claudine Cardinale).VERY long but fascinating. It came to America in 1963 and was cut by 30 minutes--it's 3 hours and 15 minutes. Also it was shown in washed out color prints. It was fully restored in 1983 and that's the version I saw. It looks incredible. The film is in rich color with absolutely breath-taking settings. I have never seen such beautiful color cinematography! There's also a great music score by Nino Rota which perfectly matches the images. The story is long and drags at times (a sequence between Tancredi and Angelica in a deserted mansion should have been cut) but I was never really bored. There was ALWAYS something to look at. The acting varies. Delon was a little too lightweight for this role but Cardinale was good. Best of all was Lancaster. He's dubbed but is magnificent. His face perfectly shows what his character is going through. This is an Academy Award winning performance. So very long but never dull. Just incredible. A true classic!

dlee2012 Visconti'mos The Leopard, based on the novel of the same name by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is an epic that encapsulates the birth of the modern Italy and the transition from the old world of the privileged but moribund aristocracy controlling small duchies to the new era of the democratic nation-state.Burt Lancaster is surprisingly well-cast as the ageing Sicilian prince who realises his era is drawing to a close whilst Alain Delon, playing Tancredi, represents the ambitious, younger generation, fluid to adapt to a changing situation and seeking glory for their own benefit.The film does not take sides between the aristocrats and the peasants. The aristocratic class is shown to be relatively benign by this period, despite their isolation from reality and lives of privilege. As the priest notes, they are simply different, with different priorities and expectations from the rest of the people. Lancaster's prince is a fascinating mixture of honour, integrity and decadence. Having all that he can want except an exciting wife, he constantly seeks affection from other woman to make up for her dourness and extreme prudishness.Visconti's cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. Virtually every shot in the film looks as though it could come from an oil painting of the era, so perfect is the framing of the shots and so rich and exquisite is the colour.There is an interesting use of abrupt cuts to the soundtrack during the cuts from scene to scene and this reinforces the abrupt changes happening in Sicilian society.The film's pace is slow and there are times that interest lags but there are enough bursts of humour and drama to sustain one in the end. The flaws and humanity of the people who make up this dying class really do shine through. Ultimately, the film is the character study of someone who recognises the time for change has come yet and finds himself representative of the transitional generation between the two epochs.There is violence in the film and some scenes of warfare however, this reinforces the fact that soldiers are brutal opportunists and that there is no real honour in the military. Indeed, the fact that some of the aristocratic women fall for the delusion that a man in uniform is somehow a good man makes an ironic point about how divorced from the brutal reality they are. Indeed, it is frightening that someone prepared to kill can then rise to a position of power in society, a problem that democracies are still to adequately address to this day.The ball scene at the film's end shows how the classes and generations intermingle in the new life.The dialogue is excellent and seems to translate to English well on the subtitled edition this reviewer watched. Particularly insightful is the soliloquy about Sicily being a stagnating society, that only if people escape whilst young can they be revitalised and shaken out of their apathy. As someone who left another island (Tasmania) in a similar state of apathy (albeit with a much younger society and culture than Sicily), this reviewer can relate to the need to escape and revitalise if one is to have a future.The Prince, though, recognising his age, refuses to escape. He is not world-weary though, just resigned to accept his generation will fall, yet still intent on clinging to the old values of honour and integrity.Ultimately, this is a lavish spectacle on a large enough scale to encompass the saga of the birth of a new nation out of a myriad of ancient and tired kingdoms. It is also a character study of a person who fits into neither world and feels it more honourable to stand aside for the young generation to take charge. It also shows that values do not always change for the better and that something of value, however small, may have been lost when the brutal and ruthlessly ambitious younger generation took power.With some of the best cinematography ever, excellent acting and a truly historical sweep, this is one of the greatest of the studio-bound epics. Of course, like the Prince himself, these films would be a dying breed throughout the 1960s as the new generation of the nouvelle vague movement asserted themselves across Western Europe.