The Godfather: Part II

Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

Cat.no: PFLED 37431

Cert: 18

Running time: 192 minutes

Sides: 4 (CLV)

Year: 1974

Pressing: 1998

Chapters: 33 (9/7/9/8)

Sound: Dolby Surround

Widescreen: 1.85:1

Price: £34.99

Extras : None (omitted on disc despite listing on sleeve: "Featurette : The Godfather II - A Look Back (10 mins)")

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Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Cast:

Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
Robert Duvall
Diane Keaton
Robert De Niro
Talia Shire
Morgana King
John Cazale
Mariana Hill
Lee Strasberg

With Don (Vito) Corleone (Brando) gone, Coppola's second franchise outing opts for a double header - a continuation of the Corleone family history under the leadership of surviving son Michael (Pacino) coupled with a prequel to the first film showing young Vito in first Corleone, Sicily as a boy (where he must watch the ruthless liquidation by the local Don of his own mother and elder brother in the wake of his father's killing) and secondly in prohibition era New York as a young man (De Niro) establishing himself and associates in his chosen business.

The director's parallel editing of the two strands past and present is nothing less than masterful - and while the series and Brando's name are synonymous, it's almost impossible not to admire this film more than its predecessor.

Absent Brando aside, Part II has everything that's good about the original - lavish set design and cinematography, complex family politics and characterisation (with cast members Pacino, Duvall and Keaton reprising their original roles). It also throws in Sicilian locations, period New York art direction and - in the space vacated by Brando - both Pacino and De Niro who more than rise to the occasion.

Other attractions include John Cazale (The Deer Hunter) as Michael's weaker brother Fredo and Lee Strasberg as a Miami mobster. Inevitably the piece is not without some violent sequences, but as in the original these rightly take second place to plot and character. Better film or not, this is one to see after the original as familiarity with what has gone before will considerably increase the viewer's enjoyment.

Which makes it a pity one can't say the same of Pioneer's PAL disc. Two main quibbles. The first is that there's quite a bit of speckle on the print - not annoyingly so, just more than one would expect (still, the film IS two and a half decades old). Secondly, despite what's said on the sleeve, a cock up during production has seen the omission of the documentary The Godfather II - A Look Back. (If there's room, perhaps this could be included on the disc of The Godfather Part III which Pioneer must surely be planning even as you read.)

Otherwise, chapter stops and sidebreaks all seem to be in sensible places (although side B's chapter 15, which takes place in Cuba, runs a whopping 22 or so minutes, which could surely have been broken up a little more) and the Dolby Surround remix, as in the original, lends the whole picture a nice ambience.

We look forward to a disc of The Godfather Part III with accompanying Look Back documentary. Actually, with two docs - we suggest you write to Pioneer (address found on their website listed below) to request they include The Godfather II - A Look Back along with The Godfather Part III and its accompanying documentary when they master that disc in due course.

Film: 5/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Jeremy Clarke, 1998.