The Godfather (1972 Francis Ford Coppola)

Shot terrifically dark by Gordon Willis using an amber / golden colour which apparently then became synonymous with period movies.

The scene in the hospital is about my favourite, though you have to love that when Michael goes in to assassinate Sterling Hayden and Al Lettieri (heart attack 1975) the noise of the passing trains amplify the tension. Scene in which Michael decides to kill them has the camera very slowly track in on him, like the Walbrook speech in Blimp.

A great shot in the Siciliy scene shows Michael and Apollonia walking, she slightly wobbles and he steadies her, then we see about a hundred Sicilian women following then as chaperones, then finally Michael's two bodyguards come into shot - beautiful simple story-telling.

Brando having fun with cat

I'm sure I read somewhere that Pacino was pretending there was a spotlight on him all the time and he was trying to keep in the shadow.

It's a great performance from Marlon Brando (which with Coppola and Puzo's screenplay won Oscar) though similar praise also to James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton (film made stars out of all of these), John Cazale, Richard Conte, Richard Castellano (Clemenza), Simonetta Stefanelli, Abe Vigoda, Lenny Montana, Talia Shire.

Editors William Reynolds (everything from Algiers, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sand Pebbles) and Peter Zinner (Part II, Star Is Born, Deer Hunter) bring a classy, old fashioned feel to the material. Walter Murch in conversation with Anne Coates:

WM: Well, I did the sound on "Godfather I and II." "Godfather I" was edited by Peter Zinner and Bill Reynolds. And they cut the film right in half. It was Bill Reynolds up to the trip to Sicily, I think, and then Peter Zinner from there to the end. Each of them had an hour-and-a-half feature film to cut.

 AC: Did they then go back onto each other's work?

WM: No, it was completely separate.