The Godfather DVD Collection: Review (1 Viewer)

[Frank L]

Well today I got my hands on The Godfather DVD Collection and I thought I'd post a few comments. I just finished watching The Godfather, so mostly I'll stick to that.
I should start by saying that as much as I think of myself as both a film and HT buff, I've never really seen The Godfather complete until now, only bits and pieces here and there. I was 1 year old when the movie came out, so I completely missed it.
Boy was I missing something.
I wont talk about the movie, we all know its merits, so I'll stick to the DVD.
The film sports a really good anamorphic transfer and is nicely framed at 1.85:1, and it looks great on my WS TV. Throughout various parts in the movie you notice a lot of grain, but it's clear this is part of the movie itself and not the transfer. To be quite honest, I was surprised how well it looked considering the film is almost 30 years old.
Colors are very subdued and the blacks are good for the most part, I did notice a few times when they weren't as black, but I'm not sure whether it's part of the movie or not.
On the audio side, you get DD 5.1 and again I was pleasently surprised to see how well they used the surrounds to enhance certain scenes without drawing too much attention to itself. I did have a problem with the central channel in that I couldn't make out what they were saying at times and I had to turn on the subtitles here and there, which was destracting and a bit annoying. However I imagine that since most know the movie by heart, they wont have a problem following it.
The DVD itself is very nicely done, you pop the disc in and are only greeted by the MPAA rating card (in black, no less) and then the movie starts automatically. You can access the main menu to get the audio options and the scene selections. On the audio you get DD 5.1, French mono and an audio commentary (yay!) with Francis Ford Coppola. A nice touch about the main menu is that it changes to a different one each time you access it, so far I've gotten three different ones.
The packaing is nice and sober, a little thinner than the X-Files set.
The set also comes with The Godfather Part II spread across 2 discs, and The Godfather Part III, as well as an extra disc with bonus material which include:
1. Behind the Scenes:
The Godfather Family: A look Inside (73 min documentary!)
On Location
Francis Coppola Notebook
The Music of the Godfather
Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting
Gordon Wills on Cinematography
Storyboards from The Godfather Part II and III
The Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971
2. Additional Scenes / Chronology
3. The Family Tree
Character Bios
Cast Bios
4. Photo Galleries
5. Theatrical Trailers
6. Acclaim and Response
Academy Award Acceptance Speeches
List of Awards and Nominations
1974 Network TV Introduction
DVD Credits
7. Filmmaker Bios
By the way, there is a 'Set Up' option on the bonus disc in which you can set subtitle options for the documentaries, a nice touch.
All in all this is one amazing set. Previous to this, I had only watch The Godfather Part III when it came out in the theaters, and bits and pieces of The Godfather on video. Considering that this is a Paramount title, I'm very satisfied with it. Highly recommended (duh, like I gotta say that... )
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Frank

DVD Collection | Website
[Edited last by Frank L on September 27, 2001 at 05:05 PM]

 

[Britton]

I sure am glad to hear this is like the Chinatown DVD, where you just pop it in and it starts up. I take it disc 2 on Part II also starts up the movie automatically, and hopefully does so without the MPAA rating card.