The Godfather Trilogy Heads to Blu-ray in a Big Way

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 30, 2008

Normally we are not the kind of site who brings you every little detail about every little DVD release, or for that matter re-release, but this one is just too good to pass up. Paramount announced today that it is bringing Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Godfather trilogy to both standard DVD and for the first time, to Blu-ray on September 23, 2008.

The fully remastered versions are said to be in their original pristine glory with a bunch of all-new special features. To put it into perspective, here is a look at some of the Blu-ray features:

Disc 1:

- The Godfather feature film

- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 2:

- The Godfather, Part II feature film

- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 3:

- The Godfather, Part III feature film

- 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 (HD)

-  Cannoli (HD)

-  Riffing on the Riffing (HD)

-  Clemenza (HD)

- The Family Tree

- Crime Organization Chart

- Connie and Carlo’s Wedding Album

2001 DVD Archive:

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 Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971

Disc 4 (cont’d):

The Filmmakers

-  Francis Ford Coppola

-  Mario Puzo

-  Gordon Willis

-  Dean Tavoularis

-  Nino Rota

-  Carmine Coppola

Additional Scenes

Acclaim & Response

Trailers (HD)

Photo Gallery

Rogues’ Gallery

As you can see, this is a very impressive release. Fans of the original series have been waiting since 2001 to see a more in-depth release and early adopters of Blu-ray have been yearning to see this classic trilogy mastered in High Definition. For any avid collector or fan of great cinema, this looks like a worthy investment. The two sets will price out at $72.99 (Standard) and $119.99 (Blu-ray). But those are just MSRPs. I would imagine that someone like Best Buy is going to have them on sale opening week. As well, there is always the internet and its low-low-prices.

Below you will find a little more info on the release:

THE GODFATHER: The Coppola Restoration Blu-ray four-disc set is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Mono (except The Godfather: Part III) and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration DVD Collection, enhanced for 16:9 TVs, with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and English Mono (The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II) and English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Will you be picking up this new Godfather DVD collection?

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