(1963; Il Gattopardo in Italian, English-dubbed version) Mercifully the American version of this adaptation of Giuseppe Tomas di Lampedusa's nostalgic, historical novel, with musical score by Nino Rota, directed by Luchino Visconti with exquisite attention to costumes and period details of Sicily in the 1860s, was cut by nearly 30 minutes to 161 minutes, and yet though very lovely, it is tiresome. It's a tale of the impact the unification of Italy had upon an aristocratic family dedicated to the Bourbon monarchy.

News of Garibaldi's landing at Marsala and a body found in the orchard portend "bad times," in the words of the Jesuit priest, Father Pirroni, at the villa of Prince Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster, who speaks for himself, fully capturing the character). The Prince visits with his handsome, ambitious nephew, Tancredi Falconeri (Alain Delon), who declares enthusiastically: "Great things are happening," though his uncle is less sanguine of coming events. "If we want things to remain the same," says Tancredi, "some things will have to change."

Father to seven children, husband to a religious wife (who crosses herself every night in bed), Princess Maria Stella (Rina Morelli), of whom he says, "Fire and flames for a year, ashes for thirty years," the Prince of 45 years refuses to make confession to the priest, saying the Church in its eternal mission would sacrifice its people for self-preservation. "Ours is a country of arrangements," admits the Prince, in need of adapting to the times; however, Sicily, a colony for too long of other countries - "a land of violence" and vanity - and its Sicilians "will never want to improve."

For the battle to liberate Palermo, Tancredi (not a traitor, insists the Prince, in following the times) joins Garibaldi's red shirts under the tricolor flag against the blue-uniformed Royalist soldiers; wounded in the eye, he's promote for valor to captain. In love with Tancredi, the Prince's daughter Concetta (Lucilla Morlacchi) turns understandably jealous when her beloved takes the beautiful Angelica (Claudi Cardinale), the mayor's daughter, a commoner below her station, for his wife; the Prince participates by making the proposal on behalf of his nephew to Don Calogera Sedara (Paolo Stoppa), covetous of the illustrious antiquity of royal heritage, because a man of great ambition requires both wealth and vivaciousness from a marriage, neither of which his timid daughter can provide.

On October 22nd, 1860, the mayor announces a unanimous vote from the plebiscite for unification under King Victor Immanuel. However, when his guest, Cavaliere Chevelley (Leslie French, also speaking his role), offers the Prince a place in the Senate, as a representative of a "free part of a free state," he declines - proud truths versus conscience: "We were leopards and lions, jackals and sheep will take our place" - recommending instead Don Calogera, a man without illusions but who can create them when useful.

Concetta feels abhorrence when she hears Tancredi state that Italy needs "order and legality," using all means, the harshest if necessary, to prevent a return of anarchy. "There had to be a change or two," the Prince consoles his hunting partner, who predicts the end of the House of Salina, "so that everything else could stay the same."

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
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