If you loved "The Godfather" trilogy, then do yourself a favour and buy this incredible DVD box-set. For sheer volume of quality entertainment, it's in a class of its own.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture All three films look better on DVD than previous tape or TV outings. The first movie does contain some grainier moments, but the difficult-to-trasnfer scenes look impeccable (the opening shot of Brando, when he is almost merging into complete shadow, is grainless).

Sound One of the pleasures of this box-set is that all three films get equal attention. All come with Dolby 5.1 mixes that, while subtle in effects, do wonders for Nino Rota's memorable musical scores. As "Part III" was recorded in stereo, it has a more dynamic feel to it than the monaural "Part I" and "II", but real care has been taken to make the three tracks as enveloping as possible.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The box-set comprises five discs: four for the films (as "Part II" spans two DVDs), and a disc of extra features. Each of the movies comes with a commentary by Francis Ford Coppola.

"Part I" Audio Commentary Coppola opens his commentary by stating how he is proud of his tradition of naming the author on each of his films as part of the title. As he points out, he doesn't have to, but likes to. As he does with the commentaries for the sequels, he reveals structural details, like the opening shot he planned for the first film of a high shot of the party, which instead got absorbed slightly later. "A friend" had reminded him that "an unusual opening can be good". Who this friend is we don't find out, but it was perhaps not Paramount executive Bob Evans, whom he had a number of disputes with, as he recalls.

Coppola describes himself as a then 30-year-old without a lot of confidence, who had "no indication that this film would become a classic". He expands upon this point, to remind any budding film makers to stick by their convictions, and how such a difficult experience as this film would later be seen as one of his crowning achievements. While he didn't lose his head, one horse certainly did, and as Coppola states for the record, it was from a dog food factory, a fact that quelled a lot of the protests from animal lovers at the time of the film's release.

"Part II" Audio Commentary In his commentary for the second movie, Coppola, as he does with the other films, offers a detailed guide to the actors behind the smaller performances that weave into the epic tapestry that is the trilogy. Again, he talks about story structure, but this time within the context of how the film was re-edited in chronological order for TV, which produces for him a less satisfying experience. Interweaving the stories was a task he knew would be difficult, but one he was more than happy to attempt.

"Part III" Audio Commentary Another theme that runs through Coppola's commentaries for this trilogy is to discuss the shooting locations, and the set dressings used to evoke the different periods of time. He's also openly honest about facts that other film makers would undoubtedly not be keen to admit. He wanted, for instance, to call this third film "The Godfather: The Death of Michael Corleone", but Paramount overruled him. This they could do because, as Coppola says, his power was by then diminishing in Hollywood.

Special Features Disc

The Godfather Family: A Look Inside To coincide with the release of "The Godfather: Part III", this 70-minute documentary was produced. Apart from Brando, there are interviews with all the major cast and crew, and a lot of behind-the-scenes material, including a makeup test for Brando where he stuffs his cheeks with Italian cheese to produce the famous look he sported in the film. As anecdotes are related, nearly everyone is able to fit in their own impersonation of Brando.

Coppola sums up he experience of making the first movie by calling it "non-stop anxiety and wondering when I'd get fired". He could hear crew members whispering that the film was junk, but persevered anyway and the rest is history.

On Location Production designer Dean Tavoularis is our host for this six-minute featurette in which he visits some of the locations used for the films and compares scenes from them with how the streets look now.

Francis Ford Coppola's Notebook Prompt books are more often to be found in the theatre but, for the first film, Coppola made himself one by taking all the pages out of Puzo's novel, gluing them onto sheets of paper and then scribbling an immense amount of notes. It's quite a tome he's produced, and explains why he's so clear in the commentaries about how everything fits together between the three films.

Music of "The Godfather" In this section you'll find two short featurettes. The first is a tape recording of Rota describing and playing some of the music he was planning for "The Godfather", which is then set to extracts from the film. All the incidental music, such as dance arrangements and period tunes, were arranged by Carmine Coppola, and for the second featurette, Francis talks about his father's work on the three films.

Coppola and Puzo on Screenwriting Even before Coppola was going through the nightmare of making the first film, Puzo had equal difficulty in getting a publisher to accept the novel. This was despite the fact that the publisher of his earlier book, "The Fortunate Pilgrim", had asked Puzo for a novel that would revolve around the Mafia. This seven-minute featurette also has Coppola and Puzo discussing what will happen with "Part III".

Gordon Willis on Cinematography The knives were out for everyone associated with "The Godfather". Gordon Willis was initially criticised for his decision to use overhead lighting that turned Brando's face into a spooky web of shadows, but Willis confirms that for many of the scenes, he wanted Brando's eyes to be hidden, to increase his menace.

"The Godfather" Behind-the-Scenes There's more behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews to be found in this eight-minute featurette, made at the time of release.

Additional Scenes - "Godfather" Chronology There are an incredible 34 additional scenes from all three films to be found in this section of the DVD, which cleverly arranges them in the periods relevant to the history of the trilogy, from 1892 to 1979.

The Family Tree This quite daunting feature allows you to explore the biographies of characters both big and small in the entire trilogy.

Acclaim and Response The Oscars the first two films won certainly helped vindicate Coppola for his bloody-minded attitude, and in this section you can see clips from the Oscars ceremony, as well as his personal introduction for the first US TV airing of "The Godfather".

Additional Special Features Also on the DVD are the trailer for the three films, a large photogallery, a rogues gallery of the films' bad boys, and storyboards for "Part II" and "III". Plus you'll find an Easter Egg in the language set-up of this disc.

"The Godfather" Technical Details:Chapters: 23
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Technical Features: Scene selection, animated menus, multiple languages and subtitles, and English captions for the Hearing Impaired.

"The Godfather: Part II" Technical Details
Chapters: 30 (two discs)
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Technical Features: Scene selection, multiple languages and subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.

"The Godfather: Part III" Technical Details
Chapters: 25
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Technical Features: Scene selection, animated menus, multiple languages and subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.