The Godfather Trilogy: Extended Editions in HD by hal_over_9000

[hal_over_9000]

All the scenes from the AMC HD extended version of the first film are now inserted back into the film. The quality is in full hd and sourced for the Coppola restored blu ray. This is the first time these scenes have been edited back into the original film in a full hd cut. Scenes that were not restored in the AMC extended edition but were still deleted from the originial film are also included in this edit and brought to 1080p using SuperResolution.


The scenes inserted include:


– Vito catches Sonny looking out the window
– Tom informs Vito that Genco will not live through the night
– Vito visits Genco in the hospital
– Woltz gives Janie a pony at her birthday party
– Tom see’s Janie and her mother at Woltz’s house
– Brief scene of Connie and Carlo fighting
– Tom returns from Woltz and speaks to Vito and Sonny / Vito orders Luca to California
– Michael and Kay in hotel bed speaking with Tom on the phone
– Michael hangs up the phone with Sonny and sends Kay back to the hotel
– Sonny gets a call about Vito’s shooting
– Sonny informs his mother about the shooting of Vito
– Sonny calls Luca
– Michael and Teresa Hagen / Michael sits in with Sonny / Tom returns home
– Clemenza showing of car and making plans about Paulie
– Clemenza having lunch
– Michael visits Italy with his bodyguards
– Michael visits Vito’s old home
– Connie gets phonecall for Carlo / Connie and Carlo fight
– Bonasera complains to his Wife after getting phonecall from Tom*
– Michael after Apollonia’s death
– Michael and Vito talk
– Extended Tom and Michael scenes

Subtitles changes - Note: none of the subtitles i added are hard coded, they can be turned off.
Added subtitles to the wedding song
Add subtitles to Paulie and Clemenza's conversation
Added subtitles to Michael and the Turks conversation.




Original Movie Run time: 2:57:09
Extended Edition Run Time: 3:21:34
Time Added: 24 minutes





4/16/2015

It took much longer to edit then the first part, but now i am proud to also present:

The Godfather: Part II Extended Edition

I have now completed my edit of the second part of the saga. As with the first part, all of the extended footage from the amc broadcast has been reinserted back into the original uncut film. As of now, this is currently the only cut in existence of Part 2 with the extra footage that retains the original flashback narrative structure, all other fanedits and original broadcasts have instead gone with a chronological cut. I wanted to maintain as much as the original film as i could with these fanedits so i kept this film in the flashback narrative instead as the filmakers intended the audience to see it.

Added scenes include:


-Ciccios men come for Vito
- Fanucci talks to Theater owner about Italian opera / threatens his daughter*
– Vito see’s Fanucci attacked by youths / talks to Genco
– Vito walks home
– Vito and Clemenza have breakfast (extended)
– Clemenza takes Vito to see Gunmaker
– Fanucci and Vito take a drive
– Vito, Clemenza and Tessio talk (extended)
– Vito listens to Signora Colombo about her apartment and dog (extended)
– Vito and landlord (extended)
– Vito and landlord at Genco office (extended)
– Vito meets and names Hyman Roth
– Vito’s family greeted at the train (extended)
– Extended Italy Trip / Vito kills two men
- Fredo and his wife.
– Frankie and Fredo talk
– Michael and Sonny’s daughters
– Michael and pictures of Apollonia’s killer
– Anthony wanders around, see’s men waiting
– Frankie and Anthony talk
– Frankie at dinner table
– Al Neri visits Casino owner
– Bodyguard car bomb

Added subtitles to the song young Vito sings in the beginning.
Added subtitles to the dinner conversation during Anthony's communion.



Original Film run time: 3:22:06
Extended Edition Run Time: 3:47:51
Time Added: 25 Minutes

Trailer:

Commentary Tracks: I have recorded a Commentary track for part 1 and will do another for part 2 when its released. Its pretty uninteresting overall and kind of awkward but i basically just go into detail about what i did for each scene editing. If you want the track, pm me and i'll send it to you because i recorded it after putting the dlc together and don't want to repackage it.

 

[JDubyew]

What an excellent idea. Looking forward to this.

 

[marin888]

An Offer We Can't Refuse
Cheers!

 

[sgp1428]

It always seems (and i may be wrong) that any extended versions of the Godfather franchise always follow the chronological path aiming to tell the most complete story from 1901 onward. I quite like the idea of extending the original Godfather film only.....

Do you plan to submit this to the FE Academy?

 

[hal_over_9000]

It always seems (and i may be wrong) that any extended versions of the Godfather franchise always follow the chronological path aiming to tell the most complete story from 1901 onward. I quite like the idea of extending the original Godfather film only.....

Do you plan to submit this to the FE Academy?

You are right, all other cuts of the godfather series (fanedit or official) with the extended footage have always been in chronological order. For these fanedits though, i wanted to preserve the film structure as they were original intended to be viewed by the filmmaker, so for my edit of part 2 i added in the extended scenes but kept the flashback narrative. This allows the two films to stay as their own.

And i have submitted this to the FE Academy.

 

[sgp1428]

You are right, all other cuts of the godfather series (fanedit or official) with the extended footage have always been in chronological order. For these fanedits though, i wanted to preserve the film structure as they were original intended to be viewed by the filmmaker, so for my edit of part 2 i added in the extended scenes but kept the flashback narrative. This allows the two films to stay as their own.

And i have submitted this to the FE Academy.

I'll give this a go for sure, good news too that you plan to do the same with part 2 thus keeping the flashback narrative. Seems strange to think that watching the films in their original structure almost feels like a new viewing experience with so much focus on chronological edits......Cheers.

 

[TV's Frink]

Welcome to the site, hal_over_9000. Just a heads up, the forum you posted this in (Extended Editions) is for completed edits by approved editors. I have moved this thread to the Pending Approval forum until it is reviewed by The Academy.

Good luck

 

[rodneyomcc2]

So when it is finished how do I get a copy of the Godfather from you, would really enjoy this.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

So when it is finished how do I get a copy of the Godfather from you, would really enjoy this.

If this is your first time here please read Using This Site. It's full of useful information that will get us all off on the right foot. This site has many rules in place to protect itself and its users. Should you ever need a reminder look no further: General Rules and Own the Source Rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to an admin for further details.
​

 

[rodneymcc]

Yah I read it and it gave me nothing. More confusing than just providing a simple answer to a simple question...how do we get this movie. It doesn't have to be free either, just direct me somehow...All supposed download sites and links are no longer active or reliable...

If this is your first time here please read Using This Site. It's full of useful information that will get us all off on the right foot. This site has many rules in place to protect itself and its users. Should you ever need a reminder look no further: General Rules and Own the Source Rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to an admin for further details.
​

 

[rodneymcc]

Yah I read it and left more confused than informed...How about a simple answer to a simple question...How do we get this movie. It doesn't have to be free either, just direct me somehow...All supposed download sites and links are no longer active or reliable...

 

[TV's Frink]

Yah I read it and left more confused than informed...How about a simple answer to a simple question...How do we get this movie. It doesn't have to be free either, just direct me somehow...All supposed download sites and links are no longer active or reliable...

If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to an admin for further details.

Consider this a warning.

 

[marin888]

All the scenes from the AMC HD extended version of the film are now inserted back into the film. The quality is in full hd and sourced for the Coppola restored blu ray with full 5.1 surround. This is the first time these scenes have been edited back into the original film in a full hd cut.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full HD, Full 5.1 surround..?....


Your intention to make extended edition is excellent.
But in deleted scenes audio goes out of sync, bitrate is too low...

File size : 3.33 GiB
Bit rate : 2 297 Kbps
Width : 1 904 pixels
Height : 1 072 pixels
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.047

Audio
Format : AAC
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels

 

[hal_over_9000]

All the scenes from the AMC HD extended version of the film are now inserted back into the film. The quality is in full hd and sourced for the Coppola restored blu ray with full 5.1 surround. This is the first time these scenes have been edited back into the original film in a full hd cut.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full HD, Full 5.1 surround..?....


Your intention to make extended edition is excellent.
But in deleted scenes audio goes out of sync, bitrate is too low...

File size : 3.33 GiB
Bit rate : 2 297 Kbps
Width : 1 904 pixels
Height : 1 072 pixels
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.047

Audio
Format : AAC
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels

I have now created a version 2 of the first part addressing these issues. Deleted scene audio has been re synced and exported at a higher bitrate. The full hd and 5.1 sound promised is also now included.

Thank you for the feedback. Please let me know if you notice anything else wrong.

 

[marin888]

I need info extracted from MediaInfo https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo

Info from your first edit:

Reveal message

General
Complete name : TheGodfatherExtendedEdition.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 3.33 GiB
Duration : 3h 19mn
Overall bit rate : 2 389 Kbps
Writing application : Lavf55.34.100

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3h 19mn
Bit rate : 2 297 Kbps
Width : 1 904 pixels
Height : 1 072 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.047
Stream size : 3.14 GiB (94%)
Writing library : x264 core 142 r2389 956c8d8
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=2297 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 3h 19mn
Duration_LastFrame : -15ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 183 MiB (5%)

 

[TM2YC]

I've just finished previewing this excellent edit. It was a total pleasure to see an extended cut of the best movie ever made . But in short, it's not ready for approval yet. Here are my notes on the issues that need fixing, some suggestions on how to fix them and some general thoughts I hope you'll find useful:

My first watch of The Godfather was as part of the "Saga" VHS, back in 1992. So a lot of the deleted material in this 'Extended' edit feels at home for me, when viewed as part of the film. It was a pleasure to see it all in HD, uncropped in the original-ratio and presented as part of the individual films. Sadly the extra scenes carry AMC-HD TV watermarks but this is unavoidable unless an editor was prepared to erase them frame-by-frame (Or to ruin the shot's composition by cropping them out). This is going to be a fanedit to treasure for sure. But first there are a few issues that need ironed out.

There are still some audio sync problems in the encode. They seem reduced from the first version I saw (Where the AMC-HD scenes were all out of sync) but some of the Blu-Ray scenes also seem a little off. e.g. During the classic opening slow pull-out on Bonasara, I swear his lips aren't moving with the speech by just a fraction (I have confimed this by comparing your edit to the source. There is about a 4 frame delay on the audio). Once you start seeing it, it becomes really distracting. The AMC-HD scenes of Sonny at 00.55.10 and 01.07.40 are way out of wack, for just two examples. I think you need to to line up your source in the timeline against every edit and check the audio and video streams are still where they should be. Assume every edit is out of sync and check it. So I won't detail any of the sync problems in the following...

00.27.43 - This transition to the hospital is wierd and glitchy. There is a strange rapid fade and flash frame going on. It starts to fade to black, then the hospital corridor suddenly appears and the fade continues. It needs to be much smoother and slower, that or just a hard cut.
00.38.09 - Another glitch where a fade begins on Brando's face but then suddenly before the fade can finish, the shot of Woltz's mansion pops in and seems to wobble in an odd way.
00.40.08 - Keeping the fade back in on Brando is wierd. It's obviously one second later than the deleted scene but at least a whole night has passed when the horse is killed. This scene discussing the heroin deal, should be brought forward to link up with the earlier scene about Woltz.
00.58.38 - There is another rapid fade to black just before a hard cut as Sonyy puts the phone down. I'd just do a hardcut on the sound of the phone being dropped, no need for any black frames.
01.05.19 - Sudden jump in audio as you cut to the AMC footage. This needs smoothing out.
01.08.01 - A mess of glitchy fades and cuts between Tom kissing his wife and meeting on the couches.
01.12.05 - Another glitchy fade as we move from the car pulling out, to it parked
01.13.55 - Glitchy fade as we move from car backing out to stock footage
01.55.36 - Wierd double-fade on Dom Tomassino as we move to another AMC clip.
01.56.32 - Glitchy fade and jump in audio as we cut to the long shot of Michael and his bodyguards
01.57.24 - Big jump in the audio here on the long shot of the square and then a glitchy fade just after
01.58.15 - Another audio jump and wierd fade as we move from the old lady to the road.
02.13.17 - Something strange happens here as Conni moves from one room to another. Several frames appear to run twice as she exits the firt room and then exits it again.
02.14.05 - Massive error here as Carlo appears to teleport from right to left as several frames are missing.
02.21.33 - This transition from Vito to Bonasara isn't right. It cuts very fast to black and then fades up fast too. Also the sound in the Bonasara scene is nowhere near the video.
02.22.29 - Another glitch as we cut to the elevator
02.34.36 - As we fade away from Corleone's car two shots fade in on top of one another before one vanishes. Also the placement of this scene is totally wrong. The next scene with Michael and Kay contains obvious exposition dialogue e.g. "I've been back a year...", "I'm working for my father now Kate", "He's been sick" etc. Plus that is the first time we see Michael dressed in the familiar Mafia uniform. So to just to drop us into the Don's retirement in the garden before any of these things are explained doesn't work. Michael is making threats about retaliation when as far as we know he's still a civilian. I'd insert the garden scene where Michael raises the outstanding Barzini issue, just after the Kay proposal scene and before the office meeting where Michael begins to lay out his plan for revenge against Barzini.
02.35.50 - Another glitchy fade from Michael and The Don, to the schoolyard and Kay. Also the sound drops out for a second.

Not every edit is wrong but the majority are in some way. I suggest going through every edit one by one and checking them. It would also be a good idea (If at all possible) to always cut between the two sources on an actual original edit, rather than cutting mid shot, even if that means using a few frames more of the AMC-HD source.

The rest are my personal suggestions for improvements. Ignore them if you wish...

00.30.47 - Genco to plane transition was quite abrupt IMO. It would have worked better to have a slow fade to black on Genco to prepare us for the sudden loud music. Also it would have helped transition us out of the intimate emotion of the death bed, to the jaunty Swing music and Hollywood sunshine.
00.40.08 - Keeping the fade back in on Brando felt odd to me. It's obviously one second later than the deleted scene but at least a whole night has passed when the horse is killed. This scene discussing the heroin deal could be brought forward to link up with the earlier scene about Woltz. However, you might try having Brando's speech about Woltz play over the Woltz footage, better implying that they are two events being shown together for narrative reasons, exactly like when Brando is talking about the Heroin deal, and we see the Heroin deal at the same time. The way it is now the audience will asssume we've moved forward in time, only to be snapped right back a minute later.
00.58.56 - It would be my preference to hard-encode the subtitles in the rest of the edit to match the distinctive style and colour of the subs at this point in the AMC-HD scene between Sonny and his mother ("Santino. I'm in the kitchen cooking"). This is the exact same subtitle style as the official Blu-Ray. Coppola clearly took care to get the text to look just right. It would be good to replicate that.
01.13.55 - It might work better to play the dialogue here over the silent shot of the car backing out from the deleted scene (So the dialogue flows from one scene to the next). This is only stock footage anyway so wouldn't be missed if you trimmed it a little.

I don't think 10GB is enough for a 3hr20minute 1080p full-frame movie of this quality. Too much detail and texture is lost. 10GB would produce a fine looking render at 720p, less sharp but still keeping all the details and grain in the beautiful images. But for 1080p you need to go higher to get any benefit IMO. However I suspect the slightly-compressed AMC-HD scenes don't warrant a full 1080p treatment and would look just as good at 720p, while the Blu-Ray scenes would blend nicely at that resolution. I'll leave this up to your judgement, as it's totally watchable like this and I know large filesizes put some people off.

In conclusion this is going to be one of my favourite edits, when it's been polished. I'm also looking forward to seeing what you do with GF2, as that film's complicated non-linear structure will be harder to extended (I imagine). If any of my notes aren't clear or if I can help in any way, let me know .

 

[hal_over_9000]

There are still some audio sync problems in the encode. They seem reduced from the first version I saw (Where the AMC-HD scenes were all out of sync) but some of the Blu-Ray scenes also seem a little off. e.g. During the classic opening slow pull-out on Bonasara, I swear his lips aren't moving with the speech by just a fraction (I have confimed this by comparing your edit to the source. There is about a 4 frame delay on the audio). Once you start seeing it, it becomes really distracting. The AMC-HD scenes of Sonny at 00.55.10 and 01.07.40 are way out of wack, for just two examples. I think you need to to line up your source in the timeline against every edit and check the audio and video streams are still where they should be. Assume every edit is out of sync and check it. So I won't detail any of the sync problems in the following...

Will work on this for sure, going back to the source footage again to get everything synced back up.

00.27.43 - This transition to the hospital is wierd and glitchy. There is a strange rapid fade and flash frame going on. It starts to fade to black, then the hospital corridor suddenly appears and the fade continues. It needs to be much smoother and slower, that or just a hard cut.
00.38.09 - Another glitch where a fade begins on Brando's face but then suddenly before the fade can finish, the shot of Woltz's mansion pops in and seems to wobble in an odd way.
00.40.08 - Keeping the fade back in on Brando is wierd. It's obviously one second later than the deleted scene but at least a whole night has passed when the horse is killed. This scene discussing the heroin deal, should be brought forward to link up with the earlier scene about Woltz.
00.58.38 - There is another rapid fade to black just before a hard cut as Sonyy puts the phone down. I'd just do a hardcut on the sound of the phone being dropped, no need for any black frames.
01.05.19 - Sudden jump in audio as you cut to the AMC footage. This needs smoothing out.
01.08.01 - A mess of glitchy fades and cuts between Tom kissing his wife and meeting on the couches.
01.12.05 - Another glitchy fade as we move from the car pulling out, to it parked
01.13.55 - Glitchy fade as we move from car backing out to stock footage
01.55.36 - Wierd double-fade on Dom Tomassino as we move to another AMC clip.
01.56.32 - Glitchy fade and jump in audio as we cut to the long shot of Michael and his bodyguards
01.57.24 - Big jump in the audio here on the long shot of the square and then a glitchy fade just after
01.58.15 - Another audio jump and wierd fade as we move from the old lady to the road.
02.13.17 - Something strange happens here as Conni moves from one room to another. Several frames appear to run twice as she exits the firt room and then exits it again.
02.14.05 - Massive error here as Carlo appears to teleport from right to left as several frames are missing.
02.21.33 - This transition from Vito to Bonasara isn't right. It cuts very fast to black and then fades up fast too. Also the sound in the Bonasara scene is nowhere near the video.
02.22.29 - Another glitch as we cut to the elevator
02.34.36 - As we fade away from Corleone's car two shots fade in on top of one another before one vanishes. Also the placement of this scene is totally wrong. The next scene with Michael and Kay contains obvious exposition dialogue e.g. "I've been back a year...", "I'm working for my father now Kate", "He's been sick" etc. Plus that is the first time we see Michael dressed in the familiar Mafia uniform. So to just to drop us into the Don's retirement in the garden before any of these things are explained doesn't work. Michael is making threats about retaliation when as far as we know he's still a civilian. I'd insert the garden scene where Michael raises the outstanding Barzini issue, just after the Kay proposal scene and before the office meeting where Michael begins to lay out his plan for revenge against Barzini.
02.35.50 - Another glitchy fade from Michael and The Don, to the schoolyard and Kay. Also the sound drops out for a second.

The problem with the moving up the scene discussing the heroin deal is that it is intercut with scenes of the Corleone's meeting Sollozzo so that would mean i would have to push the Woltz scene until after the Sollozzo meeting which wouldn't work because they receive flowers from Johnny in that same scene for getting the movie part from Woltz. The way the scene plays out in my edit current is how the amc cut is done and the only way the footage can be Incorporated because it must take place before the Horse head scene and before the Sollozzo meeting. I did take your advice and have Vito's speech play over the Woltz footage.

The Vito and Michael garden scene was placed there because thats where it was placed in the amc edit. After reading your comment, i looked into the original screenplay and found that it also places this scene before Michael and Kay's reunion. What you say is true about this scene and its probably why it was deleted from the theatrical movie in the first place, but for the edit i'm going to keep it at its current place to follow the original structure as much as possible.

As for all the other transition and editing problems you mentioned, i'll look into those and make sure to fix them for version 3.

 

[hal_over_9000]

Before i start editing on version 3, i thought i'd consult with people here for an opinion on an idea i have for this edit

I recently found this fanedit idea of the original star wars trilogy using SuperResolution to restore older footage. This immediately made me interested in what i could use this for in the Godfather Extended Edition.

While the AMC version of the saga includes most of the deleted scenes, there are still a few deleted scenes and extended scenes that weren't part of the AMC saga but are included in ModernKnifes fanedit. Because these scenes are much lower in quality compared to the AMC and theatrical footage i didn't add them to the Extended Edition. However after experimenting with SuperResolution, i think i can now bring them to passable HD quality.

Example:

ModernKnife's Version:http://i.gyazo.com/379467f21deba41c8044d278053ff099.png

Extended Edition super resolution: http://i.gyazo.com/16d7bdc89781f56758af75f1f1fb8139.png

While these shots will still be noticeably lower in quality compared to the AMC and theatrical footage, the resolution would not change like Modernknife's does. These scenes are also brief enough that i think the quality wouldn't be to big of a deal.

If i add these scenes into my edit it would be a COMPLETE version of the godfather part one with ALL deleted scenes added back in.

 

[TM2YC]

The problem with the moving up the scene discussing the heroin deal is that it is intercut with scenes of the Corleone's meeting Sollozzo so that would mean i would have to push the Woltz scene until after the Sollozzo meeting which wouldn't work because they receive flowers from Johnny in that same scene for getting the movie part from Woltz.

That's not what I meant, I probably didn't explain it well enough. I might have a go at re-editing that bit to show (Rather than tell) what I mean.

The Vito and Michael garden scene was placed there because thats where it was placed in the amc edit. After reading your comment, I looked into the original screenplay and found that it also places this scene before Michael and Kay's reunion.

I suspected that might be the case. Out of interest, could you post the link to the screenplay you mention.

Extended Edition super resolution: http://i.gyazo.com/16d7bdc89781f56758af75f1f1fb8139.png

That image you posted is heavily squashed from 4:3 to 16:9. Always maintain a shot's original aspect-ratio. If you were to include these scenes you'd have to present them pillarboxed at 4:3, or cropped down to 16:9.

Personally, I'm not keen on having such low quality material is this otherwise fantastic looking HD presentation. However having all the deleted material is a strong argument. Maybe upload some test clips so we can see how big the jump in quality is?

 

[TM2YC]

Something like this...

(Password: fanedit.org)

Having the Don speak a little over the fade into Woltz's mansion helps with the idea that we are seeing future events. I had to loop the first establishing shot of the mansion to give enough footage to be able to fade the Don in over the top slowly enough. This way it fades in and then later fades out on the same long shot of the mansion, giving a touch of symmetry.

By the way, I just realised after years of watching this, that the series of slow fades towards Woltz's bedroom window are a homage to the opening of Citizen Kane. Appropriate as Woltz's mansion exterior was filmed at William Randolph Hearst's estate and WRH is the basis for Kane and his estate the basis for Xanadu. Which is the focus of the shot being refrenced. Groovy .