WATCH PARTY: The Leopard (1963) Luchino Visconti @ Mary Pretlow Library

Figure we'll follow up Rocco with this director's most famous movie, The Leopard (1963). This will be a first-watch for me, although hopefully I can read the book before checking out the movie!

We'll be in the large room, Meeting Room 2, to the right of the entrance.

RUNTIME: 185 minutes (Italian subtitled version)

RATING: PG

SYNOPSIS (via Criterion): Making its long-awaited U.S. home video debut, Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) is an epic on the grandest possible scale. The film recreates, with nostalgia, drama, and opulence, the tumultuous years of Italy's Risorgimento—when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. Burt Lancaster stars as the aging prince watching his culture and fortune wane in the face of a new generation, represented by his upstart nephew (Alain Delon) and his beautiful fiancée (Claudia Cardinale). Awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, The Leopard translates Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel, and the history it recounts, into a truly cinematic masterpiece. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the film in two distinct versions: Visconti’s original Italian version, and the alternate English-language version released in America in a newly restored special edition.

BLURBS:
"The Leopard was written by the only man who could have written it, directed by the only man who could have directed it, and stars the only man who could have played its title character." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"The Leopard is the only film I can think of that is about the aristocracy from the inside. We're brought to respect values that are almost completely foreign to our society. That's not a small thing for a movie to accomplish." - Pauline Kael

"Among several masterly setpieces, the long ballroom scene, with its sinuous movement and hundreds of extras, is an imperishable glory." - Anthony Quinn, Independent (UK)