Cinema Paradiso (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) [DVD]

This movie is such a treasure and I have owned it over the years in a number of different formats.For those who love sentimentality, you are in for a delight as a successful movie director returns home after many year’s absence. Through interactions with his little, old mother, his fellow citizens of the little town and various sentimental items his mother has kept, he is transported back to his youth.Tornatore has captured a beautiful age where community and family were everything and life was simple but lovely too. He takes us back to a time we all look back on with an attachment and fond memories.Maestro Morricone’s score will capture your heart and have you in tears, especially the tracks the great violinist Stefan Grapelli plays on. Listen to those songs and you will realise you are listening to a maestro.The ending of the theatrical release is a real tear jerker and one of the most beautiful endings in cinematic history. It’s worth watching this movie if just for the ending alone.Cinema Paradiso is a terrific tribute to the movie industry and especially the Italian film industry.It is one of those movies you will watch a few times over the years and enjoy each time as much as the first time. Hopefully, your children and grandchildren will experience it too.

Great movie...arrived as promised! Highly recommended seller!

This new video version of the classic Cinema Paradiso worked with my video player in the Philippines. Happy with my purchase.

A classic.

Cinema Paradiso is one of my all-time favorite films. It tells the story of a successful Italian movie executive who looks back on his early life growing up in post-World War II Italy. We see him as a mischievous altar boy with a love for movies, and then as a teenager who falls in love with the new girl in town. Guiding him along the way is Alfredo, the grizzled projectionist at the movie theater, who becomes a father figure to him.This is a sentimental movie, but it is not cheesy. There is both love and heartache. A love for movies oozes from every pore of this film. In fact, it may be the best movie ever made about movies. The final sequence is one of the best scenes ever filmed--it brings me to tears every time. Cinema Paradiso is currently rated #73 on the IMDB Top 250. It won the 1990 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, as well as a slew of other awards.The quality of the Blu-ray transfer is mostly good. Most daytime scenes are richly detailed. There are a couple shots, however, that are very poor in quality. They looked like VHS. Thankfully, they were brief. Nighttime and indoor scenes vary in quality. Some are sharp, while others are grainy (although never to the point of being gritty). The sound varies as well. The dialogue at the beginning of the movie sounds like it was being uttered in a tin can. But this was soon corrected. Thankfully, the moving score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone comes through well.My old DVD version had both subtitles and a dubbed version that was actually pretty good. This Blu-ray edition has only subtitles, however; the dubbed version is missing. Nor does it have any special features other than the original theatrical trailer. Thankfully, this disc did not include the director's cut, which I hate. It adds about 30 minutes of material that wraps up the love interest portion of the film, but there is a reason that it was cut from the US theatrical release. It turns Cinema Paradiso into a different movie, and that is not a good thing.Parental Advisory: This movie is rated PG for a few instances of sexuality, mostly implied. There are a couple of very brief scenes that show upper female nudity (they are clips of old black-and-white movies) and one scene that shows bare buttocks. There is some mild violence. In a couple of scenes, a mother slaps her child repeatedly. There is also a scene where a teacher is punishing a student for poor performance in the classroom. A scene involving a fire might be intense for younger children.I highly recommend Cinema Paradiso. It is one of the best films ever made. It is a "must see." If you are considering an upgrade from DVD, the improved video clarity makes it worth it. But the loss of some of the special features, particular the dubbed version, is a bummer.

A masterpiece movie, one of the best ever made. This DVD has both the original theatre version and the so-called director's cut, The theater version is a heartwarming salute to friendship, love, and the art of film. The director's cut detracts from the excellence of the original.