THE GODFATHER COLLECTOR'S EDITION DVD Review

There isn't a great deal I can tell you about The Godfather series that you probably don't already know. This production is first class on all levels; outstanding acting, scripting, cinematography and direction are some of the elements that make The Godfather series truly timeless.

Described as quite simply the finest gangster film ever made in Barry Norman's 100 Best Films and ranked in a reader's poll for Total Film as the best picture of all time, The Godfather is available as a single release for the very first time in a superb collector's edition DVD package.

The first part of Francis Ford Coppola's multi-Oscar winning GODFATHER trilogy, adapted from Mario Puzo's novel examining the workings of the Mafia from the perspective of one family, is (along with the sequel) Hollywood's greatest cinematic achievement since the Second World War.

With a cast of relative unknowns at the time: AL PACINO (Godfather part II & III, Scarface, Heat, Carlito's Way, Donnie Brasco), JAMES CAAN (Mickey Blue Eyes, Misery), ROBERT DUVALL (Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now) and DIANE KEATON ( Manhattan , Annie Hall) and a known risk: MARLON BRANDO (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront), Coppola managed to construct a masterpiece that perfectly depicted the Mafia lifestyle without glamorising it. The rise of the young Michael Corleone, who is slowly forced to take control of the family business', is a powerful and terrifying study of moral decay, political corruption and the breakdown of the family unit. Pacino gives a performance that literally sucks the audience in and slowly reveals the personal horror of the American-dream gone bad.