SOURCE: "Motifs of Image and Sound in The Godfather," in Journal of Popular Film, Vol. II, No. 2, Spring, 1973, pp. 115-35.

In the following essay; Vogelsang analyzes the importance of visual and aural clues in foreshadowing the transformation of Michael Corleone's values in The Godfather.

Introduction

Out of the darkness, the blacks and whites of Sicilian gangster society (the black screen, the black and white credits, the fade-up from black to the undertaker), we have a three-hour glimpse of the Corleone family, fictional creations, a vision of Italian underworld life in America.

The first line of The Godfather, "I believe in America," is spoken by a man for whom the American system of justice did not work. The story he tells Don Corleone, and the visual and aural components of the opening scene, incorporates most of the film's major themes. This scene foreshadows and details in miniature the conversion...