Godfather: Don Vito's Opus, The

Read the book for the first time this month, I was struck that this was the story of two Godfathers, not one. I so love this project by Wraith. He is taken a story of three movies and made it the story of two Godfathers. We get to see two (anti)hero's journeys with more focus and clarity than the original movies. I love the original movies and this project only helps me appreciate these movies in a different way: one man's rise and fall...followed by a sequel of one man's fall and redemption.

I am beyond impressed with Wraith's incredible effort. This edit is the definitive cut of The Godfather.

When a fan editor proposes taking on the monumental job of not just creating a chronological version of The Godfather movies but also proposes to restore and extend said movies with every last known frame in existence committed to film, one has to wonder... how sane is that individual?

Let me assure you, this fan editor is quite sane and arguably one the finest editor's this website has ever seen. How can I make a claim like that? Well let me tell you.

I've followed the thread in the forums detailing the process that the fan editor known as "Wraith" took on over the past two years and after seeing the results, I'm practically speechless. The absolutely insane amount of thought, planning, searching, reviewing, effort, time, and work that has gone towards creating this fan edit is unbelievable! When you look at the incredible amount of detail that is in every single frame of this fan edit, you can see this fan edit is a true labor of love.

Given the countless versions that exist on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray and many other forms of media spread across different countries around the world, not to mention the different editions produced for television, it's unthinkable how this fan editor was not only able to track down all the various sources but was also able to correlate all this material so that a master reel of frames could be established to create the longest version of this film for reference in creating this masterpiece of engineering. It boggles the mind how he was able to make time to work on this behemoth over the past two years to create this seminal work.

After sitting down to watch "The Godfather: Don Vito's Opus", I can say without a doubt that this is the best The Godfather has ever looked and probably ever will look. Francis Ford Coppola should be so lucky to have this gentleman as his collaborator. This is the seminal version of The Godfather and should be released to the public so that they could see what it could have been with the right amount of time, money, and support to do the job right. It's nothing short of phenomenal and I doubt anything anyone else will attempt will ever top this fan edit.

This movie belong in every Godfather fan's collection. Do yourself a favor and get it as soon as you can.

To be continued

These comments will be posted in both the Opus 1 and 2 IFDB pages.

I laughed, i cried i was wrapped up in the world of the Corleone family again for a while and it was a marvel. I have personally never seen a chronological edit before and shoot me down in flames i think i actually preferred it. To concentrate on the ascendance of Vito Corleone without being pulled into Michael's story in part 2 was so much more engaging. Robert De Niro is a master. The inserted scene when Fannuci is trying to marry off his daughters to Vito while helping himself to the dresses was a masterclass in acting and thank god you reinserted this scene into your Opus...just beautiful.

As i am not up to date with the scenes that were reinserted in the various cuts over the years - i can't comment fully but i did look at the supplement disc of my bluray boxset after i watched these edits to jog my memory on what scenes had been omitted from the theatrical versions, and i am thrilled that they now have full pride of place in Opus 1 & 2 . More Clemenza - what is there not to love - but far less (none) Tom Hagen in part 3 was a mistake and i wonder if Copolla regrets the decision not to pay Robert Duvall the wage he wanted.. after all i think he is integral to the story and could have been a real focal point in the culmination ..maybe even taking a bullet for the boss.

I only found a couple of things that pulled me out of the edits and that was your inserted Vegas footage, the first scene of the three looked like the cars were from the 60's or 70's . I could have sworn i see a Dodge hatchback...i maybe wrong and will take another look. I noticed a lot of loud popping and crackling during GF 3 - especially when the helicopter is massacring the Don's , underbosses and soldiers at the hotel meeting. I watched the MP4 versions - i am not sure if this is the case with blurays.

Anyway - thanks for all the hard work you put into making these - they are definitely my new go to versions and bluray's will be burned and placed on the shelf next to my Copolla restoration boxset....i imagine a new 4K set will be released for next years 50th Anniversary.

I love the chronological structure -and dare i say it - as an alternative -someone could probably turn this epic into 10 one hour episodes in a series format or am i taking it too far by saying that. It might appease a less patient audience.

Now "Drop the Gun, grab the Canolli" and contact Wraith for a copy of this masterpiece.