The Leopard

I was given the blu-ray of this as a gift recently and what a lovely, thoughtful present that proved to be. The photography is glorious - the light is brilliant. Visconti delivers a truly captivating period piece but with none of the shallowness of many other costume/historical dramas. It features a magnificent performance from the gently aristocratic, classy Burt Lancaster as a Sicilian Prince coming to terms with the absorption of his kingdom into the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. The trials of love, war, the lavish and the poverty are all expertly and delicately portrayed and I really did get a sense of the fragility of the times. Alain Delon and Rina Morelli are superb, as is Claudia Cardinale and Nino Rota provides some sumptuous orc...

Elegy for the Aristocracy

Luchino Visconti's 1963 masterpiece, Il Gattopardo, does not merely narrate the historical transformation of an era; it is also a death hymn for a class. On the hot, dusty soil of Sicily, as the elegance of an age slowly turns to embers, Visconti invites his audience to history's most sorrowful ball.

Prince Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster) is the representative of a glorious past: with his nobility, wisdom, and dignity, he is both the honor and the last scion of his lineage. However, the world's order is changing. As kings, revolutionaries, and the nouveau riche take the stage, the aristocracy represented by Salina is in a state of elegant collapse. The Prince knows he cannot stop this change; he cannot slow ...