Now I understand why Burt Lancaster considered this is finest role. I appreciated that his words were dubbed in Italian. Slow careful study of a grand nobleman, the patriarch of his family. Long luxurious scenes of a huge party with royalty, townspeople and military resplendent in their uniforms. Women in sweeping dresses. Waltzes. Drowsy beautiful hot landscapes. A marvellous study of a time period and Sicilian upper class.
Waited a long time to see this film but it was well worth the wait.
Saw this great Italian epic for the first time last night and it is truly one of the best, it follows Prince Salina (Burt Lancaster) and his family amid the chaos of the Revolution, you will truly be blown away by superb cinematography and one of the best looking films for it's time. There is also a superb score by Nino Rota who of course scored the famous Godfather films. I can't say I understood all the history, politics etc. but it's a bit like 1900 by Bernardo Bertolucci (except maybe more coherant than that and certainly a lot less violent!) goes through a tough time in Italian history and contains many good themes. Burt Lancaster for me (even though he was dubbed in Italian) portrayed a superb character with a very good performance, he wants his nephew to succeed him that much is clear and he'll stop at nothing to make sure he makes the right choices for the future of the family.