The Leopard ( ) is a 1963 epic historical drama film directed by Luchino Visconti. Written by Visconti, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Enrico Medioli, Pasquale Festa Campanile, and Massimo Franciosa, the film is an adaptation of the 1958 novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.
Burt Lancaster stars as Don Fabrizio Corbera, an aging Sicilian prince caught up in the sociopolitical turmoil of the Risorgimento (Italian unification) during the mid-19th century, with Alain Delon as his opportunistic nephew Tancredi, and Claudia Cardinale as his goddaughter. Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, Romolo Valli, Serge Reggiani, and Terence Hill play supporting roles. The film was an international co-production between Italian studio Titanus and French studio Pathé.
The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically in Italy on March 28, 1963, and in France on June 14. It was a critical and commercial success in Europe, but reception was more lukewarm in the United States, where a truncated, English-dubbed cut was released. Retrospective reviews—of the film's longer original cut—have been more positive, and the film is now widely regarded as a classic and one of the greatest movies ever made.
In 2008, the film was included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."
Plot
In Sicily in the year 1860, Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, enjoys the customary comforts and privileges of his ancestry. War has broken out between the armies of Francis II of the Two Sicilies and the insurgent volunteer redshirts of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Among the rebels is the Prince's nephew, Tancredi Falconeri, whose romantic politics the Prince hesitantly accepts with some whimsical sympathy. Upset by the uprising, the Prince departs to Palermo. Garibaldi's army subjugates the city and expropriates Sicily from the Bourbons. The Prince muses upon the inevitability of change, with the middle class displacing the ruling class while on the surface everything remains the same. Refusing to bend to the tide of changes, the Prince departs to his summer palace at Donnafugata.
A new national assembly calls a plebiscite and the nationalists win 512–0, thanks to the corruption and support of the town's leading citizen, Don Calogero Sedara. Don Calogero is invited to the villa of the Corberas, and he brings his daughter Angelica with him. Both the Prince and Tancredi are taken by Angelica's beauty. Soon thereafter, Tancredi makes plans to ask for her hand in marriage. The Prince sees the wisdom of the match because he knows that, due to his nephew's vaulting ambition, Tancredi will be in need of ready cash, which Angelica's father will happily provide. With the blessing of both the Prince and Don Calogero, Tancredi and Angelica get engaged. Noticing Tancredi shift his allegiance from Garibaldi to King Victor Emmanuel's newly formed army, the Prince wistfully judges that his nephew is the kind of opportunist who will flourish in the new Italy.
Cavalier Chevalley, a representative from the Kingdom of Sardinia, comes to the Prince's villa. He pleads with the Prince to join the senate of the nascent Kingdom of Italy, hoping that the Prince's great compassion and wisdom will help alleviate the perceived poverty and alleged ignorance on the streets of Sicily. However, the Prince demurs and refuses this invitation, observing that, in his view, Sicily prefers its traditions to the delusions of modernity because its people are proud of their ancient heritage. He says he foresees his brand of aristocratic rulers, whom he refers to as leopards and lions, being replaced by more bureaucratic rulers, whom he calls jackals and hyenas, but that everyone, including the "sheep" of the general public, will continue to see themselves as the "salt of the earth". The Prince recommends Don Calogero would make a more appropriate senator.
The Corberas, including Tancredi, attend a great ball at the villa of a neighbouring prince, and the event marks the debut of Angelica in high society. Afflicted by a combination of melancholia and the ridiculousness of the nouveau riche, the Prince wanders forlornly from room to room, increasingly disaffected by the entire edifice of the society he so gallantly represents—until Angelica approaches and asks him to dance. He accepts and, momentarily, recaptures and presents the elegant and dashing figure of his past self, but, after the dance, he quickly becomes disenchanted again.
In the early morning, the Prince leaves the ball alone. Walking with a heavy heart through the empty streets, he pauses to let a hurrying priest pass and enter a home to deliver last rites, and then walks into a dark alley that symbolises Italy's fading past, to which he feels he belongs.
Cast
Production
Development
Tomasi's novel was a bestseller in Italy and won the Strega Prize, Italy's most prestigious literary award. In August 1960, Italian studio Titanus announced they would make a film based on the novel in Sicily the following summer on a budget of at least $2 million. The film was to be an Italian-American co-production, shot in various languages, with a combination of Italian and American stars. Ettore Giannini was preparing a script, although it was expected he would collaborate with another writer to finish it.Italian-U.S.Film Set On Garibaldi: ' Leopard,' di Lampedusa's Novel, to Be Produced in Sicily by Titanus of Rome By Eugene Archer. The New York Times 6 August 1960: 9.
Several treatments were reportedly done before Visconti became involved. "The book is seen through the eyes of a Sicilian prince who has no sense of the people", said Visconti. "The people were fooled by Garibaldi and then they were destroyed by the Piedmontese. The popular conscience was strangled by the way the Piedmont upper class tried to keep the social structure of the south just as it was."A conversation with Visconti Gilliatt, Penelope. The Observer 10 Sep 1961: 17.
In July 1961, MGM announced they had signed a co-production deal with Titanus to make the movie. Warren Beatty was in discussions with Visconti to play Tancredi, while Visconti approached Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy to play the Prince.
Visconti was told by producers that they needed to cast a star in order to ensure they would earn enough money to justify the big budget. The producers recommended that the star should be either Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Spencer Tracy, or Burt Lancaster, and chose Lancaster without consulting Visconti. This insulted the director, which caused tension on the set initially, but Visconti and Lancaster ended up working well together, and their resulting friendship lasted the rest of Visconti's life.
In November 1961, Lancaster agreed to play the lead role, with filming to start in April. Lancaster said he had been "long fascinated" with The Leopard, even before being offered the role, saying: "I think it is the best written and most perceptive study of a man and his background that has appeared for many years."Burt Lancaster Discovers a Sicilian Prince By Derek Prouse. The Christian Science Monitor July 18, 1962: 6. He said he had doubts about accepting the part because "the novel was so perfect as a novel", but, ultimately, decided to accept.Burt Lancaster: Circus Acrobat Changes Spots For 'Leopard' Waldo, George. Los Angeles Times October 21, 1962: p. 6-7. Clippings at Newspapers.com: First and second. Claudia Cardinale and Delon had made Rocco and His Brothers with Visconti.
In April 1962, 20th Century Fox announced it had bought the film's distribution rights.
Shooting
Filming started in May 1962 in Palermo. The first two weeks of the two-month location shoot in Sicily were dedicated to battle scenes. After 22 weeks of location scenes, interiors were shot in Rome.Society To Show Films In Queens: Programs of Shorts Planned for 23 May and 19 June By Howard Thompson. New York Times 12 May 1962: 15. The film's climactic ball scene, which was shot in Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi in Palermo, became famous for its duration (it runs for over 46 minutes in the completed film) and opulence.
Lancaster called Visconti "the finest director I've ever worked with." The scenes with Lancaster were shot in English and dubbed into Italian for the Italian version of the film, while most of the other scenes were filmed in Italian and dubbed into English for the English version. Lancaster was dubbed by Corrado Gaipa, and his French co-star Alain Delon was dubbed by Carlo Sabatini. Archibald Colquhoun worked as the film's dialogue director.'The Leopard' In Its Original Lair: Care and Authenticity Mark screen Version of Modern Classic By Herbert Mitgang. New York Times 29 July 1962: 69 The French version was written by René Barjavel.
By May 1963, it was reported the film had cost Titanus $5 million.
Versions
The Leopard has circulated in at least five different versions. Visconti's initial workprint was 205 minutes long, but both the director and producer felt it was too long, and the film was shortened to 195 minutes for its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Visconti then cut the film further—to 185 minutes—for its official Italian release, and considered this version to be his preferred one. In other European countries, the film was released in a 171-minute cut.
English 1963 version
Twentieth Century-Fox distributed the movie in both England and the United States, making several significant alterations. They replaced Visconti's vivid Technicolor images with the far inferior DeLuxe Color process and downgraded the film from 70mm to 35mm. Additionally, they cut several key scenes, further reducing the runtime from 185 to 161 minutes.
The dubbing was also poorly executed, with issues in the translation, the voices and the synchronization. In contrast, other Italian films of the time, such as those by Riccardo Freda and Vittorio Cottafavi, were carefully dubbed. Burt Lancaster and supporting actor Leslie French were the only ones who re-dubbed their own dialogue. Critics deemed the dubbing as awful.
The result of these changes was a significantly inferior product. As a consequence, the movie was poorly received by both critics and audiences in the US and England, unlike with the rest of Europe where it was well received.
Visconti himself had no control on any of these changes. He threatened to sue Fox, who threatened to counter-sue the director, arguing that Lancaster supervised the American cut. "I don't feel it's my film at all," Visconti said of this version. It is little surprise, therefore, that he has disavowed the English version of The Leopard and refuses to take any responsibility for it at all.
English 1983 version The 1983 print is a product of Fox's newly established 'classics division'. It is the 185-minute intermediate version approved by Visconti for international release. The Italian soundtrack has been restored, and the color has been enhanced to resemble the original Technicolor hues, which are now technically unreproducible. This version was received much more favorably by critics.
In 2004, a restored version was released by Fox.
Release
The film debuted at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or.
The 185-minute version of the film was finally released in the U.S. in 1983.
Preservation