Il gattopardo (1963)

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa (novel)
Suso Cecchi d'Amico (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

15 July 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

Luchino Visconti's Enduring Romantic Adventure

Plot:

The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860's Sicily.

Plot Keywords:

Prince | 1860s | Noble | Sicily | Aristocracy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Prince Don Fabrizio Salina
Claudia Cardinale	...	Angelica Sedara / Bertiana
Alain Delon	...	Tancredi Falconeri
Paolo Stoppa	...	Don Calogero Sedara
Rina Morelli	...	Princess Maria Stella Salina
Romolo Valli	...	Father Pirrone
Terence Hill	...	Count Cavriaghi (as Mario Girotti)
Pierre Clémenti	...	Francesco Paolo
Lucilla Morlacchi	...	Concetta
Giuliano Gemma	...	Garibaldi's General
Ida Galli	...	Carolina
Ottavia Piccolo	...	Caterina
Carlo Valenzano	...	Paolo
Brook Fuller	...	Little Prince
Anna Maria Bottini	...	Mademoiselle Dombreuil, the Governess
Lola Braccini	...	Donna Margherita
Marino Masé	...	Tutor (as Marino Mase')
Howard Nelson Rubien	...	Don Diego (as Howard N. Rubien)
Tina Lattanzi
Marcella Rovena
Rina De Liguoro	...	Princess of Presicce
Valerio Ruggeri
Giovanni Melisenda	...	Don Onofrio Rotolo
Giancarlo Lolli		(as Carlo Lolli)
Vittorio Duse
Vanni Materassi
Giuseppe Stagnitti
Carmelo Artale
Olimpia Cavalli	...	Mariannina
Anna Maria Surdo
Halina Zalewska		(as Alina Zalewska)
Winni Riva
Stelvio Rosi
Carlo Palmucci
Dante Posani
Rosolino Bua
Ivo Garrani	...	Colonel Pallavicino
Leslie French	...	Cavalier Chevally
Serge Reggiani	...	Don Francisco Ciccio Tumeo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marie Bell	...	(uncredited)
Lou Castel	...	Party guest (uncredited)
Sandra Christolini	...	Youngest Daughter (uncredited)
Franco Gulà	...	(uncredited)
Maurizio Merli	...	(uncredited)
Augusto Pescarini	...	(uncredited)
Paola Piscini	...	(uncredited)
Amalia Troiani	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Luchino Visconti

Writing credits
Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa		(novel)
Suso Cecchi d'Amico		(screenplay and adaptation) &
Pasquale Festa Campanile		(screenplay and adaptation) and
Enrico Medioli		(screenplay and adaptation) &
Massimo Franciosa		(screenplay and adaptation) and
Luchino Visconti		(screenplay and adaptation)

Produced by
Goffredo Lombardo	....	producer
Pietro Notarianni	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nino Rota

Cinematography by
Giuseppe Rotunno

Film Editing by
Mario Serandrei

Production Design by
Mario Garbuglia

Set Decoration by
Laudomia Hercolani
Giorgio Pes

Costume Design by
Piero Tosi

Makeup Department
Maria Angelini	....	wig maker
Alberto De Rossi	....	makeup artist
Amalia Paoletti	....	wig maker
Giancarlo De Leonardis	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Giorgio Adriani	....	production manager
Gaetano Amata	....	unit manager
Riccardo Caneva	....	unit manager
Roberto Cocco	....	unit manager
Lamberto Pippia	....	assistant unit manager
Enzo Provenzale	....	production manager
Umberto Sambuco	....	assistant unit manager
Bruno Sassaroli	....	unit manager
Gilberto Scarpellini	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Albino Cocco	....	first assistant director
Brad Fuller	....	second assistant director
Francesco Massaro	....	second assistant director
Rinaldo Ricci	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Emilio D'Andria	....	assistant set decorator
Ferdinando Giovannoni	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Mario Messina	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Dino Galiano	....	special effects technician (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Enrico Cignitti	....	camera operator
Nino Cristiani	....	camera operator
Giuseppe Maccari	....	camera operator
G.B. Poletto	....	still photographer
Bob Penn	....	still photographer: special magazine assignment (uncredited)
Piero Servo	....	camera loader (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bice Brichetto	....	assistant costume designer
Alessandro Gasparinetti	....	wardrobe consultant
Vera Marzot	....	assistant costume designer

Music Department
Franco Ferrara	....	conductor
Franco Ferrara	....	musical director
Nino Rota	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Stephan Iscovescu	....	script supervisor
Isa Bellini	....	voice dubbing: Anna Maria Bottini (uncredited)
Lando Buzzanca	....	voice dubbing: Serge Reggiani (uncredited)
Pino Colizzi	....	voice dubbing: Pierre Clémenti (uncredited)
Solveyg D'Assunta	....	voice dubbing: Claudia Cardinale (uncredited)
Franco Fabrizi	....	voice dubbing: Terence Hill (uncredited)
Corrado Gaipa	....	voice dubbing: Burt Lancaster (uncredited)
Carlo Sabatini	....	voice dubbing: Alain Delon (uncredited)
Alberto Testa	....	choreographer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Titanus (Rome)
• Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma (as S.N. Pathé Cinéma)
• S.G.C. (Paris)

Distributors

• Medusa Home Entertainment (2003) (Italy) (DVD) (restored) (dubbed)
• 1More Film (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Centfox (1963) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Crest International (2004) (Japan) (theatrical) (restored) (revival)
• Radio Films S.A.E. S.A. (Spain) (theatrical)
• Seven Films (2007) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release) (restored)
• Seven Films (2007) (Greece) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (cut version)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1967) (USA) (TV)
• British Film Institute (BFI) (2009) (UK) (DVD) (blu-ray)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD) (restored)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• De Agostini (Italy) (VHS)
• Koch Media (2004) (Germany) (DVD) (restored)
• Koch Media (2004) (Germany) (DVD) (special edition)
• L'Unitá Video (Italy) (VHS)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD) (restored)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Medusa Home Entertainment (Italy) (VHS)
• Mondadori Video (Italy) (VHS) (restored version)
• Titanus - Creazione Home Video (Italy) (VHS)
• Tocantins (Brazil) (VHS)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD) (restored)

Other Companies

• Filippo Haas & Figli  thanks: fabrics
• Reanda  wardrobe: Mr. Lancster and Mr. Delon
• S.A.F.A.S.  wardrobe (as Safas)

Also Known As:

The Leopard (UK) (USA)
Le guépard (France)

Runtime:

187 min | Spain:151 min (cut version) | UK:161 min (cut version) | USA:165 min (cut version) | France:195 min (Cannes Film Festival) | 205 min (premiere version) | West Germany:161 min (cut version)

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | Latin

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:M (TV rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Norway:12 (re-rating) (1985) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:U (original rating) | USA:PG (certificate #20553) | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Ariccia, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Titanus

Trivia:

The title "Il Gattopardo" literally translates from Italian as "The Serval". In France, the film was released as "Le Guépard" ("The Cheetah"), and in UK and USA as "The Leopard". The serval, the cheetah and the leopard are in fact three different species of felines.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: There is much kissing of hands during the movie. According to the book "Histoire de la politesse de 1789 à nos jours (History of good manners from 1789 till today)" by F. Rouvillois, the kissing of hands only appeared at the turn of the XXth century when the story in the movie was supposed to take place in 1860-1862, more than 40 years before.

Quotes:

Father Pirrone: Is Your Excellency here for confession?
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: Confession? It's not Saturday.
Father Pirrone: Listen to me. Come to confession.
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: There's no need. You know it all already.
Father Pirrone: The power of confession lies not only in telling our sins, but in repentance.
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: I know. I know! What would you have of me? I'm a vigorous man. I can't find satisfaction with a woman who crosses herself in bed before every embrace, and can only say "Gesummaria" afterwards. I've had seven children with her and I've never seen her navel. Is that right? I ask you. *She's* the sinner!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Sicilian Odyssey (2009)

Soundtrack:

Valzer Brillante

a film that just gets better with age, yours and its own!

I was rounding off a two year study in France in 1963 and I remember gazing at the marquee of a cinema in Paris shortly after the Cannes Festival, seeing "Le Guepard" advertised, beautiful Claudia Cardinale waltzing with handsome, courtly, Burt Lancaster. At the time, I made a mental note to see the movie but in fact, saw it for the first time many years later, on a black and white TV no less! Chopped up and edited as it was, in black and white, the film moved me immensely. I was absolutely thunderstruck by the dialogue which, when I read the Prince of Lampedusa's novel shortly after, I realized had been "lifted" verbatim from the novel in large chunks. What a novel and what a worthy and noble tribute to it Visconti has paid. I now own the Criterion three disk set of Il Gattopardo and never tire of watching what is for me, one of the great films of the twentieth century. Burt Lancaster, as the Prince of Salina, was an inspired choice for the cinematic role, though apparently he was not Luchino Visconti's choice. I think the Prince of Salina is Lancaster's finest performance.