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**kal** · Last edited by kal on Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:28 pm; edited 4 times in total

Click here to preorder 'Godfather trilogy' on Blu-ray from Amazon - save 50% !!

Making next-gen fans an offer they can't refuse, Paramount is boxing up the entire 'Godfather' trilogy and bringing it to Blu-ray this September with newly-restored elements and hours of bonus material.

Due on September 23 (day-and-date with a new standard DVD re-issue), 'The Godfather Collection' contains all three installments in the epic saga -- 'The Godfather,' 'The Godfather Part II,' and 'The Godfather Part III' -- each painstakingly restored by the team at Zoetrope Studios in what is being dubbed "The Coppola Restoration." Enjoying a frame-by-frame remaster under the auspices of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and restoration supervisor Kim Aubry, the project reportedly took a year to complete and was recovered using freshly-minted source materials.

Tech specs for each film include a BD-50 dual-layer presentation with 1080p video, and first-ever high-res audio tracks in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. (Optional Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English and French, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish, with 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II' also including the original English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono presentation.)

Extras on each of the three individual film discs in the set include audio commentary with director Francis Ford Coppola.

Also included in 'The Godfather Collection' is a bonus fourth disc with hours of extensive bonus material (much of it presented in full HD video). Among the supplemental content is a suite of five featurettes ("Godfather World," "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't," "...Then the Shooting Stopped," "Emulsional Rescue-Revealing The Godfather," "The Godfather on the Red Carpet"), a quartet of "Short Films on The Godfather" ("The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II," "Cannoli," "Riffing on the Riffing," "Clemenza"), a multi-part "Behind the Scenes" documentary ("The Godfather Family: A Look Inside," "On Location," "Francis Coppola's Notebook," "The Music of the Godfather," "Coppola & Puzo on Screenwriting," "Gordon Willis on Cinematography"), additional vignettes on "The Filmmakers" ("Francis Ford Coppola," "Mario Puzo," "Gordon Willis," "Dean Tavoularis," "Nino Rota," "Carmine Coppola"), storyboards, additional scenes, an "Acclaim & Response" marketing and publicity section, a "Crime Organization Chart," two still galleries, and theatrical trailers.

Though Paramount and Zoetrope plan to make the three 'Godfather' films available as standalone DVD releases, the studio has confirmed that at this date, only the 'The Godfather Collection' box set will be made available on Blu-ray. Suggested list price has been set at $119.95

Genres: Crime, Drama

Starring: Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire
Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Disc Features:
Disc 1
• Audio Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 2
• Audio Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 3
• Audio 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: "The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II," "Cannoli," "Riffing on the Riffing," "Clemenza" (HD)
• The Family Tree
• Crime Organization Chart
• Connie and Carlo's Wedding Album
• Behind the Scenes: "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside," "On Location," "Francis Coppola's Notebook," "The Music of the Godfather," "Coppola & Puzo on Screenwriting," "Gordon Willis on Cinematography"
• Storyboards from The Godfather, Part II
• Storyboards from The Godfather, Part III
• The Filmmakers: "Francis Ford Coppola," "Mario Puzo," "Gordon Willis," "Dean Tavoularis," "Nino Rota," "Carmine Coppola"
• Additional Scenes
• Acclaim & Response
• Theatrical Trailers (HD)
• Photo Gallery, Rogues' Gallery

Click here to preorder 'Godfather trilogy' on Blu-ray from Amazon - save 50% !!!

Kal

**kal** · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject:

One of my favourite sets of movies of all time (excluding #3). I watch #1 and #2 this at least once or twice a year. Here's hoping the transfer is as good as it can get!

Kal

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject:

Sweet. I think I just found a Christmas gift for my wife. Oooh, wait... Look at that - the release date is a week and some change before our anniversary - obviously, it's a sign.

Wink

I bought her the DVD box set for Valentine's day back when that came out, and this would be a fun follow-up. Yes, my wife is cool that way. I'd get major brownie points for a gift like that. She LOVES gangster stuff, and The Godfather is quintessential of course.

Thanks, Kal!!!

SC

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:40 am Post subject:

My wife would shoot me if I got her this as a gift. Wink

(She hates mob movies). I on the other hand can't get enough of them!
I'm one of the few people that absolutely loves Casino.

Kal

Gino · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:27 am Post subject:

Wow! Will definitely enjoy this, particularly by the sounds of things they took care making the transfer

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:44 am Post subject:

I've never seen any of these movies. Must be because I'm a Si Fi geek.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:09 am Post subject:

The Godfather Trilogy Remixed for Perfection
August 13, 2008

The upcoming Blu-ray release of 'The Godfather Collection: The Coppola Restoration' will feature not only a restored and remastered video presentation, but also a new 5.1 soundtrack mix thanks to the folks at POP Sound. Paramount tasked the company to remix the legendary films in order to bring the sound quality up to today's standards.

Moksha Le Blanc, POP Sound Executive Producer for Home Theater, commented, "There was a lot of clean up to get it to sound fluid in transitions-the original mono tracks were rough, with rough transitions. There was a lot of de-humming and de-clicking, as well as time alignment issues to deal with." He continued, "Essentially Paramount wanted it to sound like it had been released yesterday and we came close to achieving that."

The project, which ended up taking eight months to complete, used the original mono track as well as the original multi-track music scores to recreate the mix from the bottom up. Additionally, areas where the original soundtrack was lacking were approved upon. One scene is particular was originally ADR'ed (automated dialogue replacement) due to a noisy dolly during filming. The results were less than satisfactory, so the the team adjusted it to be less obvious.

'The Godfather Collection' is set to be released on September 23rd, day-and-date with the DVD re-release.

Click here to preorder 'Godfather trilogy' on Blu-ray from Amazon - save 36%

**kal** · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:22 pm Post subject:

Save $10 if you already own the DVD version(s):

Paramount Offers $10 Rebate for DVD Owners; New Titles Revealed
August 14, 2008 03:44 PM

Paramount Home Entertainment will soon offer DVD owners $10 via mail-in-rebate when they purchase select Blu-ray titles. These titles include 'Transformers' (Sep 2), 'The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration' (Sep 23), and 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' (Oct 21). Additionally, the rebate applies to the currently unannounced titles 'Old School', 'Stardust', and 'Zodiac'.

Kal

Gino · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:40 am Post subject:

That's nice of Paramount. Do you send in your DVD back to them or they just give you a discount? Is it only open to the US?

**kal** · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:02 pm Post subject:

Good questions Gino. I don't know. Think we'll have to wait for more information. Typically you only have to send in your UPC code, not the entire DVD (really not worth it in the case of the Godfather DVD set you could sell it for more than $10 !)

Kal

**kal** · Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject:

More info on the $10 rebate Gino - it's as I suspected:

**kal** · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject:

Heads up!

Godfather's now 50% off ($62) at Amazon for whatever reason (up from 36% off). No idea if this is permanent, but a couple of days ago it was $87!

I'm pre-ordering it now to be sure I get this price.

Click here to preorder 'Godfather trilogy' on Blu-ray from Amazon - save 50%

Kal

Gino · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:47 pm Post subject:

I've been watching the price of this, $87 2 days ago, then last night went down to $71, so I put my order through, then today I checked and it says $62, but my order doesn't reflect this. I hope they update it with their pre-order price guarentee.

**kal** · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:29 pm Post subject:

Audio/Video review:

The Video: Sizing Up the Picture

'The Godfather' films first made their DVD debut back in 2001. That highly-anticipated restoration left me underwhelmed. The source material appeared aged, with spotty prints, weak contrast and blacks that were far from consistent. Now, in a move of surprising speed, Francis Ford Coppola and his Zoetrope Studios have embraced Blu-ray, releasing this new and improved "Coppola Restoration" of 'The Godfather Collection' only three years after the format's launch. Newly-restored and remastered for high-definition (under the auspices of Coppola, director of photography Gordon Willis, and restoration expert Robert A. Harris), I found the result overall to be a very good to great improvement. Those expecting the pristine look of a modern film will still be disappointed, but it is certainly hard to imagine these films looking any better.

Coppola's approach to restoring the 'Godfather' films is immediately obvious from the first frames of 'The Godfather.' All three films are presented on their own BD-50 dual-layer disc (with the only extra taking up any precious real estate a sole audio commentary by Coppola on each film), in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encodes (framed at an open matte 1.78:1). As we will learn in the disc's included supplements (which details at length the restoration process), new prints were struck from the original negatives, and restored frame-by-frame (in a process that took over a year to complete). Though a few very minor blemishes remain -- a rare white speckle here, a smidgen of dirt there -- these sources are quite clean. Grain is apparent but consistent, and I never found it excessive or particularly distracting. Blacks easily best the previous DVDs -- they never waver -- which greatly adds apparent visual depth and richness.

Coppola's approach to brightening his films (particularly 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II') will undoubtedly be controversial. Contrast is intensified on these transfers, which does improve image clarity but also adds a hotness (particularly to outdoor scenes) that may shock those used to the previous, much more muted video editions. The use of soft filters (again, more on the first two films) is further exacerbated here, with many scenes now looking quite misty and soft. This does add a very vintage look to the transfers which is elegant, but if you're looking for razor-sharp presentation, this is not it. Colors are likewise dulled, which brings out an orange-brown cast throughout and very few instances of vivid primaries (blood, however, does have a wonderfully rich, deep crimson hue). Detail is overall good on 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II,' with the Blu-rays adding noticeable fine texture and improved shadow delineation compared to the DVD. The increase isn't revelatory, but it's substantial enough to be appreciable.

'The Godfather Part III' has always been the odd-man-out of the 'Godfather' trilogy, at least in terms of visual style. Though reminiscent of the first two, it has a far more saturated look, and lacks the more sepia-toned, "classic" veneer of the first two chapters. As such, 'Part III" is perhaps then the "best" transfer of the bunch, at least in terms of color saturation, detail, and depth. The film remains soft by today's standards, but contrast remains more consistent and there are fewer of the minor print fluctuations (with areas of the picture suddenly appearing to "flash") as evident on 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II.' Darker areas of the picture boast better shadow delineation than the standard DVD, and mid-range has also been boosted, which again brightens up the picture considerably. Sharpness is again superior to any previous video version, if not absolutely razor-sharp.

The encodes for all three pictures are very clean. Zoetrope and the Coppola restoration team have done a fine job, with no major artifacts, motion jaggies or -- thankfully -- intrusive edge enhancement. 'The Godfather Collection' on Blu-ray is undoubtedly the finest presentation of these films yet seen. Some of Coppola's stylistic improvements may remain debatable amongst purists, but overall I was quite pleased with this restoration. (Individual scores: 'The Godfather' -- 4.0/5.0; 'The Godfather Part II' -- 4.0/5.0; 'The Godfather Part III' -- 4.0/5.0.)

The Audio: Rating the Sound

To go along with the upgraded video, Francis Ford Coppola has befitted 'The Godfather Collection' with brand-new English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround (48kHz/24-bit) tracks for all three films. The results, alas, did not really deliver much improvement for me. Fidelity is improved, but you'd be hard pressed to find much that has been boosted in terms of surround presence or envelopment.

Rear channels are still underutilized. I was hard-pressed to notice much in the way of any clearly discrete effects throughout either 'The Godfather' or 'The Godfather Part II.' The sporadic bursts of gunfire deliver a bit of echo to the surrounds, but it sounds pretty hollow and tinny. The operatic segment that brings 'The Godfather' to its final act enjoys some moments of score bleed and a smattering of ambiance, but that's about the best you're going to get here. 'The Godfather Part III' is clearly the star of the bunch then, undoubtedly due to it being produced in 1990, well into the age of multi-channel theatrical presentations (both 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II' were originally monaural). Rear engagement is more consistent and pronounced, with better dynamics, improved transparency, and at least some sense of score bleed. 'Part III' is still far from the best soundtrack I've heard from this era, but it well exceeds the first two.

Where these tracks do shine is in enhanced dynamic range. Carmen Coppola's scores on the first two films finally sound lush and full, with a very pleasing warm tone and less of the brittle high-end that marred the DVD versions. Low bass still does not deliver truly deep frequencies to the subwoofer, but it supports the action well enough and is free of distortion. Dialogue is a bit better balanced as well -- I never struggled to hear any of the actors (which was a problem for me on the original DVD, which I found frustrating in terms of always have to adjust the center channel volume), and the words always sound clean and natural. The sources for these tracks has also been improved, with no dropouts, hiss or flatness. None of 'The Godfather' films come off as a million bucks here, but as with the video, this is probably the best they are ever going to sound. (Individual scores: 'The Godfather' -- 3.0/5.0; 'The Godfather Part II' -- 3.0/5.0; 'The Godfather Part III' -- 3.5/5.0.)

Kal

Clarence · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:27 pm Post subject:

My Godfather set arrived from amazon today. Thumbs Up

I was surprised that all of the movies are in a shared case... not separate single cases like HP, KB, Matrix, Natl Treasure, etc.

**kal** · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:02 pm Post subject:

Some people were wondering about the pricing issue and how Amazon guarantees the lowest price if you pre-order. I ore-ordered when it was $87.95. It dropped to $61.95. Here's the proof with an email I got yesterday:

**kal** · Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:09 pm Post subject:

Help support our forum! Purchase from Amazon.com using our links and a small percentage of your payment automatically goes towards supporting this site at no cost to you!
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The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III)

Currently on sale for only $49.99 (60% off)!

Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NTPDSW?ie=UTF8&tag=curtpalmecrtp-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000NTPDSW

No idea how long the sale is on for.

(I'm trying really hard to not make any jokes about 'them making us an offer that we can't refuse....'.) Wink

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Help support our forum! Purchase from Amazon.com using our links and a small percentage of your payment automatically goes towards supporting this site at no cost to you!