The Leopard

Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) is one of the treasures of 20th century cinema. Based on the renowned novel of the same name by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, it chronicles the tumultuous years of the Risorgimento, when Garibaldi’s red-shirts swept through the Italian provinces, uniting them under a single flag - and king - for the first time. Burt Lancaster stars as Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, an ageing Sicilian aristocrat who, from his family palazzo, senses that the old order cannot continue for much longer. His hopes for the future of the nobility reside in an advantageous marriage between his nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) and the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), daughter of a vulgar nouveau riche mayor. Sumptuously designed and costumed, The Leopard’s depiction of the opulence and squalor of 1860 Sicily is one of cinema’s true masterpieces, crowned by Lancaster’s com­plex, enigmatic portrayal of the title character. (Madman Entertainment)