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The Leopard Overview:

The Leopard (1963) was a Drama - Historical Film directed by Luchino Visconti and produced by Goffredo Lombardo and Pietro Notarianni.

Academy Awards 1963 --- Ceremony Number 36 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Costume DesignPiero TosiNominated
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The Leopard BlogHub Articles:

Revisiting the shades of fear in ‘The Leopard Man’

By Toni Ruberto on Aug 12, 2023 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

We’ve all been there. There’s a noise behind us. A rustling of bushes. Or a movement in a dark street corner. Is someone there? We casually walk a little faster while telling ourselves it’s just our imagination – or is it? Yes, we’ve all been there (admit it, guys) and t... Read full article

The Leopard Man (1943): A Work of Sound and Shadow

By 4 Star Film Fan on Oct 23, 2019 From 4 Star Films

It’s fitting that a pair of castanets act as our entry point into the latest entry from Val Lewton’s RKO unit. Not only do they instantly grab our attention, but they foreshadow the auditory nature of the film and, in the cultural context, provide a little shorthand for where our setting... Read full article

The Leopard Man (1943)

on Oct 31, 2014 From Journeys in Classic Film

Val Lewton was well-known for taking ludicrous titles and crafting a narrative from there. In the case of Cat People or I Walked With a Zombie, the acting and storyline mined those titles for psychological significance. But you can’t expect lightening to hit every time, and thus you get films ... Read full article

The Leopard Man features "one of the greatest horror sequences ever filmed"

By Rick29 on Oct 29, 2014 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

The accolade in the title of this review comes from director William Friedkin, who knows a little about creating horror (The Exorcist) and suspense (the chase scene in The French Connection). Of course, I didn't need Mr. Friedkin to tell me what I already knew. I saw The Leopard Man as a kid and tha... Read full article

The Leopard Man (1943)

By Beatrice on Oct 4, 2014 From Flickers in Time

The Leopard Man Directed by Jacques Tourneur Written by Ardel Wray and Edward Dein from the novel Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich 1943/USA RKO Radio Pictures First viewing/Netflix rental Val Lewton had to use the titles the studio gave him but he used them to make atmospheric gems about our primal f... Read full article

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The Leopard Quotes:

Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: [to Father Pirronr] You're used to naked souls. You should know that naked bodies are far more innocent.
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: I belong to an unlucky generation, astride between two worlds and ill-at-ease in both. And what is more, I am completely without illusions. Now, what would the Senate do with me, an inexperienced legislator who lacks the faculty for self-deception, an essential requisite for wanting to guide others. No, I cannot lift a finger in politics. It would be bitten off.
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: We were the leopards, the lions, those who take our place will be jackals and sheep, and the whole lot of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - will continue to think ourselves the salt of the earth.
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: You know what is happening in our country? Nothing... simply an imperceptible replacement of one class for another. The middle class doesn't want to destroy us. It simply wants to take our place... and very gently.
Prince Don Fabrizio Salina: Sleep, my dear Chevalley, eternal sleep, that is what Sicilians want. And they will always resent anyone who tries to awaken them, even to bring them the most wonderful of gifts. And, between ourselves, I doubt very strongly whether this new Kingdom has very many gifts for us in its luggage. All Sicilian expression, even the most violent, is really a wish for death. Our sensuality, wish for oblivion. Our knifings and shootings, a hankering after extinction. Our laziness, our spiced and drugged sherbets, a desire for voluptuous immobility, that is... for death again.
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The Leopard Facts
The title "Il Gattopardo" literally translates from Italian as "The Serval". In France, the film was released as "Le Guépard" ("The Cheetah"), and in UK and USA as "The Leopard". The serval, the cheetah and the leopard are in fact three different species of felines.
The painting that the Prince (Burt Lancaster) comments on in the ball scene is Greuze's 'Death of the Just Man'.
Marlon Brando was considered for the role of Prince Salina.
Darryl F. Zanuck, whose studio put up financing for the film, did not want Burt Lancaster to wear a mustache. Zanuck, himself, wore a mustache.
Such was Luchino Visconti's attention to detail that Claudia Cardinale had a period embroidered handkerchief tucked into her purse, a prop that was never seen on camera.
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