The negatives for the original two chapters of The Godfather suffered serious damage, right from the start, as no one reckoned that so many prints would have to be made, due to the films' success.  If most of you have seen the films in past two decades from older VHS or previous DVD versions, what you saw was taken from the poor copies remaining.  Coppola has now produced new versions of the films, which include a complete digital renovation of the original negative, heretofore hardly possible.

I won't go into the details of the technical process, partly because there are those here who understand the process better than i.  I can say that the result is dramatic... superlative... a revelation.

I had actually never seen the films on original release, as far as i can remember.  Because of their iconic nature, i did see video versions.  The storytelling stood out, but the films did not.

I've now been through all three on the Coppola Restoration versions, as well as two DVD's or accompanying material.  This package is a revelation, in that the restoration of the original film artist's vision, i.e., Gordon Willis' camera work, can now be seen in context to the great storytelling.

Perhaps of interest to ET'ers, Coppola originally said the films were actually a metaphor of capitalism.  Certainly he summed that up in Part III with its portrayal of a corrupt catholic church all the way up to the pabst blue ribbon, as Michael strove to bring the family into legitimacy.  The metaphor came to the surface in Part II, when Michael says we're just doing what government and business does, to which Kay responds, "That's naive Michael, presidents and senators don't kill people."  "Now who's being naive," Michael responds very quietly.

I was stunned to see the restoration, and recommend it for all film fans.  This ranks with the best films of all time, in storytelling, in filmmaking technique, in detail, in most of the acting, and certainly in using all of the above to make a telling point, at a critical juncture in our history, which a few decades later only increases in power.

And the Restoration package is about as good a value as any, since for 40 Euros you get maybe 10 hours of world class filmmaking, plus several hours of accompanying documentary, some of which is brilliant.  You have never seen a DVD which capture so much filmic information, and it is breathtaking.

Full Disclaimer:  Francis didn't ask me to post this.  I haven't seen him since i went to the script reading for Bram Stoker's Dracula, where Francis had eight actors on stage reading the then current version of the script, first time he could watch audience reaction.  Actually, i think it was just so HE could hear it out loud with actor's voices.  Afterwards, he told me there was only one bottle of his wine left, but it had sat by a compressor and was now too warm.  I told him, "We'll drink it red and warm, in honor of Dracula's blood lust."  He poured it right away, laughing as we toasted.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin