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    Wednesday, July 2, 2008

    A Restored Godfather On Blu-ray

    On June 30, the news hit: The Godfather Collection - The Coppola Restoration - on Blu-ray, September 23, 2008.

    Before we get to the Blu-ray set's specs, allow me to draw your attention to this fascinating article on the restoration of these classic films.

    From the May 2008 issue of American Cinematographer, an excerpt:

    Paramount delivered the film’s surviving elements — original camera negative, YCM separation masters, intermediate separation masters and thousands of feet of miscellaneous elements — to Pro-Tek Preservation Services in Burbank, where an inspection confirmed that radical surgery was required. Held together with tape, the original negative was filthy and riddled with scratches, rips and tears, some of which broke into the image area; in some sections, parts of the image had actually been torn away. An entire reel (1B) had at some point been removed and replaced with a dupe. Scenes were even missing from the final separation masters because they had been made before the cut was final...

    ...(cinematographer Gordon Willis) had this to say: “I think a remarkable job was done repairing all the damage done to the negative — very difficult work. The Godfather is a very good-looking picture now."

    A happy ending, perhaps, but this rather depressing article reveals how close we came to losing these films for good.

    From Peter Bart's June 23 blog entry in Variety, an excerpt:
    Here’s the darkest Godfather secret: The negative was literally turning into dust until Steven Spielberg, upon closing his DreamWorks deal at Paramount, made a personal call to Brad Grey pleading with him to salvage it. Grey was himself shocked to learn that one of the studio’s major assets was falling apart and he authorized payment of over $1 million for the restoration.
    Okay, then. Here's the official press release.

    Here's the relevant info. Cue Pavlov; start salivating:

    THE GODFATHER: The Coppola Restoration Blu-ray Collection
    THE GODFATHER:
    The Coppola Restoration Blu-ray four-disc set is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Mono (except The Godfather: Part III) and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The following special features are presented in high definition as noted:

    Disc 1:
    -- The Godfather feature film
    -- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
    Disc 2:
    -- The Godfather, Part II feature film
    -- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
    Disc 3:
    -- The Godfather, Part III feature film
    -- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola
    Disc 4:
    -- Godfather World (HD)
    -- The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't (HD)
    -- ... when the shooting stopped (HD)
    -- Emulsional Rescue-Revealing The Godfather (HD)
    -- The Godfather on the Red Carpet (HD)
    -- Four Short Films on The Godfather
    o The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II (HD)
    o Cannoli (HD)
    o Riffing on the Riffing (HD)
    o Clemenza (HD)
    -- The Family Tree
    -- Crime Organization Chart
    -- Connie and Carlo's Wedding Album
    Disc 4 (cont'd):
    2001 DVD Archive:
    -- Behind the Scenes
    o The Godfather Family: A Look Inside
    o On Location
    o Francis Coppola's Notebook
    o The Music of the Godfather
    o Coppola & Puzo on Screenwriting
    o Gordon Willis on Cinematography
    o Storyboards from The Godfather, Part II
    o Storyboards from The Godfather, Part III
    o The Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971
    -- The Filmmakers
    o Francis Ford Coppola
    o Mario Puzo
    o Gordon Willis
    o Dean Tavoularis
    o Nino Rota
    o Carmine Coppola
    -- Additional Scenes
    -- Acclaim & Response
    -- Trailers (HD)
    -- Photo Gallery
    -- Rogues' Gallery

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    © 2008 Felix E. Martinez