Luchino Visconti's film of "The Leopard" was released in Italy on March 29, 1963 with, apparently, a running time of 205 minutes. There was an intermission though it likely didn't last as long as 20 minutes, but more like 10-15. My guess is the 205 minute figure doesn't include an intermission as official running times rarely, if ever, factored in that highly variable time period. The earliest review I've seen, in the April 17, 1963 issue of "Variety", critiques the print playing on April 9th at the Cinema Barberini in Rome. The write-up does, in fact, specify a running time of 205 minutes, but without mention of any intermission. The piece is largely positive, though the reviewer does complain that "at nearly 3 and a half hours running time, the film is way overlong". Even today, most European references list a 205 minute running time for "The Leopard", though it seems apparent that few filmgoers ever saw a print of that length.
At some point shortly after the film premiered, producer Goffredo Lombardo and Visconti decided that "The Leopard", though well-received by Roman audiences, was indeed too long, and cut about 20 minutes from it, so that it now ran 185 minutes. This is the version that's available on the Criterion and BFI DVDs. Besides the 185 and 205 minute cuts, there was still another version, this one running 195 minutes. It was this cut that, according to Italian news sources, screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival where it went on to win the coveted Palm d'Or. As for the English language dubbed, 163 minute version, that cut was put together by 20th Century Fox, who distributed it in North America and Great Britain. Visconti had no input regarding the editing and lousy dubbing done by Fox, and he subsequently disowned that hodge-podge after seeing it in London.
Regarding the fabled deleted footage, reportedly it includes a sequence depicting a dream the Prince has about his Italian prostitute/mistress, and a beautiful Parisian courtesan. A second deleted sequence shows a wounded Tancredi and several soldiers inside a convent where they take refuge during the Battle of Palermo. A third cut scene shows the Prince at tea with Tancredi, Conchetta, and Tancredi's General, where the General is encouraged to sing (which we later see). There were also, apparently, a few "bits and pieces" trimmed from other scenes that remain in the film, more or less intact.
Although it seems unfair to call the 185 minute version of "The Leopard" the 'full-length' one, when some audiences did see a longer cut, that editon was reportedly Visconti's "preferred version" or, as some call it, his "director's cut". The longer 205 minute version was, from what I've read, actually something of a mixed bag which Visconti was wise to trim. Apparently, the extra footage deepened parts of the storyline and characterizations, but at the same time it complicated an already complex and involving plotline. Of course, it would be great to see, at this point, what that fabled 205 minute version was actually like, but, unfortunately, from all indications the deleted footage was either thrown out or is hidden some place no one can seem to find.
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lara_guishar
19 years ago
Hey, thanks, dan1664!!!!! I've just watched this film, and your explanation about many different versions really helped. Thanks again! :)
"The self-same Power that brought me there brought you."
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LHL12
15 years ago
At the risk of adding noise and junk to the information stream, I would like to introduce some anecdotal evidence. This may well be dead wrong, but there is a small chance that this just might prove useful. I ran IL GATTOPARDO back in 2001 or 2002 in Buffalo. The print was in deplorable condition, with all the sprocket holes damaged. After attempting to repair five of the twelve reels, I sent an email to the programmers to order a different print, as I feared this one would not make it through the machines. They tried, but discovered that what I had on the rewind bench was the only circulating print anywhere in the US (except for a 16mm print that was in English and was severely cut, and hence was unacceptable). So I asked that they cancel the screening. They wouldn't hear of it, and insisted that I finish inspecting and repairing the film. Twenty-five hours later, with my fingers torn to bleeding confetti by the ragged film, I was drenched with sweat, but I had finished, just in time to go on screen. I walked downstairs for a breath of fresh air, and when the programmers saw me, they asked, 'What happened to you?' So we ran the film, which on screen looked surprisingly good, and one would not guess from the image that the print was nearly unprojectable. And miraculously it did not break! When the movie was over, a number of people in the audience sought me out to reproach me for having cut so much out of the movie. They had seen it a few years earlier at the Film Forum in Manhattan, and they insisted that what they had seen at the Film Forum was about half an hour longer than what they had just seen me run in Buffalo. I tried to explain that I had deleted only a single frame (1/24 of a second) because it was too shattered to be repaired, but that other than that, everything that Fox had shipped to us, I had shown, and that the running time of 185 minutes seemed quite complete to me, and was certainly longer than the previous US version. My explanation held no weight with these peeved audience members, who seemed convinced I was lying. I thought they were misremembering, especially after I asked them to tell me precisely what was missing. They could not recall any specifics. So I dismissed their story. Others who overheard this exchange ironically pitched in that they wished I had indeed cut it, and singled out the lengthy ballroom scene as something they could have done without. (By the way, IL GATTOPARDO was the final straw that convinced me never to take another job as projectionist. After completing the grueling process of repairing the movie, I realized that the next cinema would tear it up all over again. This was an exercise in futility, and I lost all patience with that line of work.)
A few years later Fox made a brand-new print and UCLA ran it. I attended. Again it was 185 minutes, and again several audience members were up in arms, furious that this abridgment was being falsely advertised as a restoration that was uncut. Some said they had seen a 205-minute version elsewhere in California, just within the past few years. Others said they had recently seen a 195-minute version (I think at the AMPAS Goldwyn Theatre on Wilshire in Beverly Hills). So again, I asked them to tell me precisely what they had seen at those earlier screenings that was missing in the version we had just seen at UCLA. And again, they got vague, saying that some scenes simply ran on longer, but one person mentioned that in one of the longer versions there was an explanation of why the family had chosen the serval to be on its coat of arms. I asked who had supplied the longer prints, but nobody had a clue.
Not long after that, I met a Fox Channel movie programmer (can't remember her name now) and asked her about this. This was not her area of expertise, but to the best of her knowledge the 185-minute version was all that Fox had. If there were longer prints around, she guessed, they must be in the hands of private collectors.
So there you have it. If you know the whereabouts of any version longer than the one currently on DVD, please let me know. Many thanks! [email protected]
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