Italian nobleman Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s great, posthumously published novel The Leopard, about a Sicilian prince watching his world ebb away with the coming of Garibaldi and the unification of Italy in the late 19th century, is a fascinating, sad saga of a man straddling two worlds—neither of which, he admits, he feels at home in.

Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film is a worthy, gorgeous adaptation of the 11th Prince of Lampedusa’s only novel. A truly leonine Burt Lancaster plays Prince Don Fabrizio Salina, who watches as the world of the aristocracy is replaced by that of the emergent middle class. Alain Delon is his nephew, Tancredi, whose marriage to Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), daughter of a crass, shrewd businessman, epitomizes the transition. The film is lush and colourful, and Criterion’s new Blu-Ray version is almost too much to look at: with its widescreen compositions and deep detail, I sometimes didn’t know where to point my eyes, particularly during the film’s epic, nearly-hour-long ballroom scene. The package contains both the restored original Italian-language 185-minute version and the 161-minute, English-language cut released in America. Also included is an hour-long doc about the making of the film. It’s a beautiful set, appropriate for this fascinating, intelligent and moving film that conveys a perfect balance of poignancy and detachment.

Carol Reed made 20 films before the one he’ll always be remembered for, The Third Man, and Night Train to Munich, now out on DVD, is a curious one. Made in 1940, the film is a thriller involving a Czech scientist captured by the Nazis; what makes it really interesting is the fact that it serves as a sort-of sequel to Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, sharing screenwriters Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat and a couple of supporting characters. It’s relatively minor compared with some of his better-known works, but a fun little period espionage movie nonetheless, with Rex Harrison and Margaret Lockwood swinging into action on trains, gondolas and submarines.