Criterion's transfer of the 70mm negative at Technicolor was in London last year. They transferred this newly discovered element in High-Definition 24f, which would allow for equivalent down-conversion to both PAL and NTSC, so no transfer from NTSC to PAL would be necessary. BFI matched this image and the recent Italian restored soundtrack. The opticals were produced by Lee Kline from Criterion with Giussepe Rutonno, and set within the new 70mm transfer, after which BFI recieved the Pal clone of the finished HD Master.

Regarding aspect ratio, there is a lot of misinformation running around about this. The Leopard was originally shot in 35mm Technirama at 2.35:1, then blown up to 70mm Super-Technirama which has an aspect ratio of 2.21:1. This blowup results in a beautiful 70mm element but has the adverse effect of shaving off the sides by a slim margin. Since this picture was slated to be blown up to Super-Technirama, one can assume that Visconti and Rutonno framed their compositions with this in mind. So... what this means is, both the Criterion and the BFI DVD display the 70mm elements, in all the beautiful colour that gauge was capable of. If you're watching another (ex. Italian Medusa DVD) that displays a little more image on the right and left, then it's pretty clear this was made from the "restored 35mm print", containing a little more left and right, but faring far worse in overall colour, contrast, detail, grain, condition, etc...

We can dismiss the Medusa right away for its 35mm image that is faded and hazy.

The Criterion looks to have gone through a filtering of some sort and is slightly sharper than the BFI. The BFI commentary is wonderful and is a strong reason to choose this version or both this and the Criterion. I was less impressed by Peter Cowie commentary on the Criterion, but is also full of marvelous insight. Colors are accurate in both. Unless you are projecting on a large surface I think you would be happy (or even ecstatic) with either. It may be a case of personal preference and where you can get it most reasonably. The Criterion does offer the shorter release as well, if you are interested in that.