There’s been some suspicion about the way some studios have shovelled back catalogue movies onto the Blu-ray format without taking the time to genuinely enhanced the picture and sound quality of the productions to make such a format upgrade worthwhile. You can aim no such qualms at Paramount Pictures with its sublime Godfather Trilogy box set, which takes arguably cinema’s most acclaimed trilogy of films (well, the first two anyway), and gives them a useful lick of paint.



The highlight of the set, as you’d expect, remains Francis Ford Coppola’s astounding trilogy itself, a studious, gripping, cross-generational tale of the Corleone family. The first two films richly deserved their many Oscar wins, and while the third is considerably weaker, it’s still not short of many impressive moments. The Godfather Trilogy is certainly one of cinema’s most impressive achievements to date.



The Blu-ray set reflects the muted palette that director Francis Ford Coppola opted for in making the films, and inevitably contrasted with a modern day big-budget blockbuster, the visual transfer isn’t going to be listed as a 1080p poster child. Yet, in perspective, this is still an excellent transfer, offering a sizable upgrade over the DVDs and making the film look and sound better than ever before. Genuine care has clearly been taken here to balance Coppola’s original intentions with high definition media, and with a solid pack of extra features to back the films up, this is an excellent box set, and set to be a very treasured one. --Jon Foster