No doubt about it, The Leopard with its DeMille like opulence is a thing of sheer beauty. As subject matter for an American audience I think that unless one has a knowledge of Italian history this film might just be a bit arcane for an American audience.
Burt Lancaster who was hired for American and worldwide box office clout is the lead here. He plays the head of an honored noble house in Sicily which is seeing the end of power with the end of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies which is roughly the island of Sicily with the lower half of the Italian peninsula up to around Naples. Giuseppe Garibaldi is leading a revolt against the ruling Bourbon house there. Lancaster's nephew Alain Delon has joined with Garibaldi's army purely for reasons of self preservation for himself and the family. Delon is quite the opportunist. As for Lancaster he looks over the ruins of the society he was a leader in with a dour pessimism just like Ashley Wilkes at the end of the Civil War. In fact The Leopard bears more than a passing resemblance to Gone With The Wind. For one thing it was the epic novel only published work of two authors talking about long gone societies which they were told tales about as kids.
Things take a conservative twist in Italy. The House Of Savoy which ruled the island of Sardinia and Piedmont area of Northern Italy kept itself in business and now was uniting Italy under a constitutional monarchy. One of the locals who's amassed a fortune Paolo Stoppa is in tight with these folks. Alain Delon is courting Stoppa's daughter Claudia Cardinale. A marriage between the two houses will insure financial security for Lancaster and relations and Stoppa gets the prestige of an old and honored name. Lancaster isn't crazy about Delon marrying beneath him, but he sure likes what he sees in Cardinale.
I saw an abbreviated version of The Leopard with battle footage and the some of the climactic ballroom scene cut out. Lucchino Visconti certainly had the skill to bring off a portrayal of Italy's past. His characters are interesting and certainly Burt Lancaster is most impressive as a man some 300 years behind the time and he knows it. Lancaster has some sad predictions for Italy's future and again a knowledge of how Fascism came to Italy is helpful.
The Leopard is an impressive film, but arcane for American audiences.
Burt Lancaster who was hired for American and worldwide box office clout is the lead here. He plays the head of an honored noble house in Sicily which is seeing the end of power with the end of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies which is roughly the island of Sicily with the lower half of the Italian peninsula up to around Naples. Giuseppe Garibaldi is leading a revolt against the ruling Bourbon house there. Lancaster's nephew Alain Delon has joined with Garibaldi's army purely for reasons of self preservation for himself and the family. Delon is quite the opportunist. As for Lancaster he looks over the ruins of the society he was a leader in with a dour pessimism just like Ashley Wilkes at the end of the Civil War. In fact The Leopard bears more than a passing resemblance to Gone With The Wind. For one thing it was the epic novel only published work of two authors talking about long gone societies which they were told tales about as kids.
Things take a conservative twist in Italy. The House Of Savoy which ruled the island of Sardinia and Piedmont area of Northern Italy kept itself in business and now was uniting Italy under a constitutional monarchy. One of the locals who's amassed a fortune Paolo Stoppa is in tight with these folks. Alain Delon is courting Stoppa's daughter Claudia Cardinale. A marriage between the two houses will insure financial security for Lancaster and relations and Stoppa gets the prestige of an old and honored name. Lancaster isn't crazy about Delon marrying beneath him, but he sure likes what he sees in Cardinale.
I saw an abbreviated version of The Leopard with battle footage and the some of the climactic ballroom scene cut out. Lucchino Visconti certainly had the skill to bring off a portrayal of Italy's past. His characters are interesting and certainly Burt Lancaster is most impressive as a man some 300 years behind the time and he knows it. Lancaster has some sad predictions for Italy's future and again a knowledge of how Fascism came to Italy is helpful.
The Leopard is an impressive film, but arcane for American audiences.