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The Dartmouth
July 12, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

DFS to show revamped 'Godfather'

The dark legacy will be revitalized this Sunday in Spaulding Auditorium when the Dartmouth Film Society presents "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration" (2008). Each frame of this restored version has been painstakingly retouched to match the glow of the original theatrical screening. Sunday's presentation of the film that launched the epic saga will offer the audience a viewing experience that is unmatched by previous DVD releases.

The massive restoration project to repair the damaged 35-millimeter prints of all three films was completed under the supervision of Paramount Pictures film preservationist Richard Harris and Coppola himself, according to a September the New York Times article. After much consultation with the trilogy's cinematographer Gordon Willis and photographic technology historian and cinematographer Allen Daviau, the restoration team brought back the colors of the first-generation release prints using digital technology.

"By all accounts, the original negatives of the first two films were so torn up and dirty that they could no longer be run through standard film laboratory printing equipment, and so the only option became a digital, rather than a photochemical, restoration," The Times reported.

Paramount Home Entertainment released the three restored films on high-definition Blu-ray and standard DVD in September 2008. The version of "The Godfather" to be screened by DFS, however, is the 35-millimeter print version obtained directly from the distributor, which has better resolution and crisper images, according to DFS director A.J. Fox '09, a member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.

"The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration" will mark the end of the DFS winter series, "SINema."

"There is no better film that depicts moral sin," Fox said. "We thought choosing this film would be a nice punctuation to the topic."

Over the years, 35-millimeter prints become scratched and grainy, but the print booked for Sunday's showing is in pristine condition, having been in circulation for only a few months, Fox said.

He also noted that the meticulousness of this reconstruction was greater than that of a typical restoration, and the resulting high quality will highlight Coppola's original visual composition " the use of browns, blacks and shaded grays " which was widely emulated in later mafia films.

"I think Coppola himself would agree that he hasn't directed a film as great as 'The Godfather' since the 1970s," Fox said. "You can say that most of his genius was front-loaded toward the beginning of his career. I haven't yet seen the restored version myself, but if it is as amazing as expected, it would be of more value than Coppola's current work or most recent movies."

"The Godfather" not only encapsulates the cultural and political tensions of the 1970s, but also grants the audience a humanistic and emotionally rich story, based on Mario Puzo's 1969 novel of the same title. Coppola revolutionized film culture by directing one of the first art films in the ultra-violent gangster genre and by proving that a dirty story could be told in romantic grandeur, according to Fox.

Indeed, the multi-contextual film refuses to become outdated. The restored version, with its surround sound and crystal clear images, may serve as a compelling reminder of why this film tops best movie lists time and time again.

"Watching 'The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration' will be an experience that is 100 percent removed from when you watch the movie on television or on your laptop," Fox said. "Imagine the generation that grew up watching 'Star Wars' on VHS seeing the films in the theater for the first time. The format and scope will be beyond your wildest dreams."

This opportunity to view a landmark in American cinema in all its scrupulously restored glory is an offer you should not refuse, even if you are already familiar with the plot and, of course, the classic quotes spoken in the dramatic, breathy voice of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone.

"The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration" will play in Spaulding Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 8.