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TRIO TRIUMPHANT

Today's NYTimes 1176 Best Film is

Il Gattopardo / The Leopard (1963)

And, we saw the right version; a restored, undubbed 185 minutes; the original Italian version. Not the hack job the American studios turned out; 40 minutes cut and a terrible dubbing job. A box office and critical failure. Read the link.

Ebert calls it a scandal and it was.

Here is the first paragraph of Ebert's loving review.

"The Leopard" was written by the only man who could have written it, directed by the only man who could have directed it, and stars the only man who could have played its title character. The first of these claims is irrefutable, because Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, a Sicilian aristocrat, wrote the story out of his own heart and based it on his great-grandfather. Whether another director could have done a better job than Luchino Visconti is doubtful; the director was himself a descendant of the ruling class that the story eulogizes. But that Burt Lancaster was the correct actor to play Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, was at the time much doubted; that a Hollywood star had been imported to grace this most European--indeed, Italian--indeed, Sicilian--masterpiece was a scandal.

I loved it too.

Burt Lancaster owns the picture and if he did not own it, Alain Delon is the heir apparent as he is, in a way, in this film. Their scenes together are so good.

Claudia Cardinale is the woman at the center.

The film is gorgeous.

It takes its time.

A whole world is inexorably slipping away under the characters' feet.

It is subtle. But not opaque.

There is nothing bad to be said about this film.

Nothing.

I will give it a 10 out of Netflix5.

Burt Lancaster is in more of the Best Films than any other actor.

That is a guess but I bet it is close to accurate.