‘Godfather III’ Sneaks Into Seattle : Movies: Unsuspecting audience sees Francis Ford Coppola’s anticipated film. Studio calls the response ‘outstanding.’

There were guards at every door and invitations were scrutinized like passports at the Baghdad airport, but Francis Ford Coppola’s final cut of “The Godfather, Part III” was finally shown to moviegoers Monday at a sneak preview in Seattle.

The audience for “Godfather III,” which opens nationally Christmas Day, was recruited by a marketing research company to see a film called “The Cutting Edge.” They apparently didn’t know until the movie began--or until they spotted Coppola, actor Al Pacino or Paramount chief Frank Mancuso in the back of the room--that they were being given an advance look at what may be the most anticipated film of the last decade.

According to a source at Guild 45th Theater, not even the management was aware that they were showing “Godfather III,” and they were not allowed in to see it. Security was so tight, in fact, that one moviegoer who slipped out during the screening to visit the restroom was not allowed back in.

Industry interest in the film is so keen that the Guild reported receiving calls from three of Paramount’s chief rivals the next day. The guild source, who asked not to be identified, said there were calls Tuesday from Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. and Disney, all asking how the screening had gone.

“The frustrating thing was that we did not know anyone who saw it,” the source said. “So there was nothing we could report.”

A Paramount spokesman on Wednesday confirmed the Seattle preview screening, saying it was arranged to “assess the need for any final fine-tuning.” The audience reaction, he added, “was outstanding.”

One Seattle film buff who was in attendance at the 550-seat theater offered his succinct review of the film saying that Andy Garcia is “terrific,” the other actors “good,” the story line “thin” and the running time “long.” Comparing it to the first two “Godfather” movies, which he considered “great,” “Part III” rates an “O.K.”

After the screening, Pacino and a small group gathered across the street from the theater at Murphy’s Pub for a few quick beers. Owner Chris Barnes said: “We didn’t make a big thing of it. In fact we might not even have recognized him if someone hadn’t said something.”

John M. Wilson contributed to this story.