Since Francis Ford Coppola’s classic (well, two-thirds classic) Godfather trilogy is hitting Blu-ray in an extras-packed 4-disc edition in September (US)/October (UK), why am I therefore asking for another version on top of that?  – Coppola’s 1975 edited-for-TV version, in the usual deal with devil/network, cut out some profanity and violence but contained scenes and footage not included in the theatrical release.  – The superb Godfather epic added other missing footage in a second ‘chronological’ release in the 1980s. At 406 minutes, watching this was a cardiovascular hazard, but it is the best version of the original material that I’ve yet seen.  None of these individual versions contain all the extra footage/scenes that the sum total of all three does. Since Coppola has spent a year restoring his masterpieces for the pending Blu-ray release, the job of releasing a new chronological version is surely 85% done…? So why not spend a few months sprucing up the collected extra footage from the previous three chronological versions and splice it into a new version?  One possible impediment, from an aesthetic point of view, is that the single-tract Godfather splice with all extra scenes restored is likely to weigh in at near to twelve hours, and would have to be split over several Blu-ray discs. For the DVD release, over 4-5 discs. Thus the economies of this putative, bare-bones ‘triple-dip’ dictate that Coppola is waiting out a wider diffusion of Blu-ray players. Additionally, he knows we’re all going to be ‘Godfathered’-out after this autumn’s 4-disc set, and a pause of a year is probably indicated before limbering up another assault on our wallets. Actually, the version that I’d like is one that excludes Part III. The Godfather is a classic cinematic saga of the 1970s, a chilling and Faustian tale that should end with Pacino’s internal descent into evil. Rather than his falling flat on his face like a street-drunk in the Vatican City. It won’t happen. But it would still be worth the less memorable inclusion of Part III to see the Corleone saga unfold in a straight line again…