Sony Pictures continues to drop existing widescreen transfers

Joshua, I think Disney has released a number of their older live action titles with modified aspect ratios this year. Whether P&S or open-matte I'm not certain, but some are definitely cropped.

The Boatniks
That Darn Cat!

there are several more.

Apparently there is a scene where some of it is backwards (people on the left are on the right, etc.).

Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to find out what the original aspect ratio of most of those Disney films are. There have been endless debates, but nobody seems to have any undisputed documentation in most of those cases.

The one Disney dvd that is without a doubt pan & scan, is Blackbeard's Ghost, which you can easily tell by watching it. The others are much fuzzier, and in most cases you don't get the telltale signs such as people's faces cut off, or talking to someone missing, or chopped off credit sequences, etc.

That is true, but Blackbeards Ghost was released around 3 years ago.

Some of those films may be open matte, but that does not mean for certain that it is a modified aspect ratio. Some of those films, such as Darby O'Gill and the Little People, and possibly others were originally shot for TV, and then brought to the theaters later.

The transfer, though, seems to have been made in the early 1980s.

Remember, Sony is *the* company which sent a couple lists to retailers explaining how they planned remove the widescreen versions from their currently released discs! This is quite different from intially (Warner) releasing P&S as a *test* bargain line.

To be sure, Sony is "dumbing-down" some of their DVD product in preparation for Blu-Ray. Don't believe me? Check the extras listed on the back of the now P&S only The Mirror Has Two Faces!

RandallV,

please share about those extras...what do they reveal?

dave

Let's see: English 2-Channel or 5.1, Additional Languages: Spanish, French, Subtitles and Scene Selection!

Scene Selection - OH JOY! I'm in Heaven.

Looks like VHS on a shiny little disc to me.

Just wanted to point out that the Josie and the Pussycats DVD is open matte, not pan and scan.

I was watching it on TV and noticed the framing differences so I queued up the widescreen DVD and compared it. It was definitely just open matte.

Still no excuse for removing the widescreen, but not as bad as pan and scan.

Wow, Randall! Do we even get one of them fancy black boxes, too?

OMG! Yes we do still get the nice black boxes that hold our DVDs. I should chastise you for mentioning Sony/MGM possibly replacing the keepcases with something cheaper! I buy CDs from Europe and many are sold in a cardboard sleeve - no jewel box!

Well, I spoke too soon last time- Apparently this thread hasn't gone on long enough, and not enough ill will has been generated towards the company, so the "Aspect Ratio Update" is back up on their site, with a new notice dated August 19th with the same wording as last time. Latest victims this time around include:

The Cable Guy
Dogma (I assume the special edition will still be available)

The Juror
Karate Kid Part III (VERY strange as this was only in widescreen on ALL formats, including VHS on its first release, and Karate Kid II and Next Karate Kid are now widescreen-only)

The Man From Laramie
Muppets From Space (This has already been available for a couple years with both formats at $9.99 list, available in the $6 range at a lot of stores)

The Professional (Superbit available?)
The Replacement Killers (Superbit available)
Seven Years In Tibet (Superbit available)
Tortilla Soup
Two Moon Junction

These will have the "Fullscreen" versions dropped:

The Assignment
The Big Hit
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dancer, Texas Pop 81
The Glass House
Indian In The Cupboard
Karate Kid Part II
The Next Karate Kid
Poetic Justice
Run Lola Run
Single White Female
Striking Distance
Welcome To The Dollhouse

Again, no rhyme or reason to which titles are affected, and not all of them seem to have the list prices dropped either. They seem to be pushing people to the higher-priced Superbit discs to get the widescreen versions, but again some other titles are essentially going out-of-print for all practical purposes.

This...alongside the MAR-only releases...seems to be the most frustrating thing about this situation.

Sheesh. Do they just draw the titles out of a hat or something?

Clearly there must be a large outcry from Karate Kid fans to get Part II in widescreen but Part III in P&S. Very logical.

I noticed this morning at TARGET that GUARDING TESS has dropped the Widescreen side and has awful new cover. Also MONEY TRAIN. Both were in the $5.50 section.

Muppets From Space has a new cover too. They painted the big moon in the background bright green. That makes about as much sense as dropping the widescreen version of the film, so I guess it's fitting.

I would certainly consider having personally handled and projected release prints of most of the 1960's and 1970's Disney live action pictures to be a pretty concrete source.

The great majority of them were hard matted IB Tech prints at 1.75:1.

So, it's a pretty safe bet that most of the non-ws releases are P&S or at least, have the edges cropped, at least when compared to the theatical release prints.

Ted

Maybe. The problem, for me at least, is that some films, such as Blackbeard's Ghost are clearly pan & scanned. It's so obvious that there's no way you could miss it. Then on some of the others, there are no shots like that. Most pan & scanned films I've seen are pretty obviously so. But many of the Disney films just don't have the telltale signs of being pan & scanned. That doesn't mean they're not, but it's easy to see why people aren't certain.

I've got two questions RandallV:
1. What good does "dumbing-down" do for Sony in view of Blu-Ray?
2. Is "The Mirror Has Two Faces" P&S or open-matte?
Thanks.

Even with OPEN MATTE films when you have a Anamorphic Television it sucks. I Hate those black bars on the sides!

Ira,

I'm quite sure I don't need to explain the obvious with regard to Sony and their Blu-Ray format.

The Mirror Has Two Faces is most likely open matte. I don't have any information from Columbia/Tristar specifically citing the aspect ratio. Sorry.

All the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVDs I currently own are WIDESCREEN only, and here they are:

Easy Rider 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the 2-disc Collector's Edition
The Big Chill 15th Anniversary Edition
St. Elmo's Fire
Steel Magnolias
Ghostbusters 2-disc Double Feature Gift Set

Not one of those above titles EVER had a full-frame version. I strongly support widescreen-only DVD releases, no matter what movie studio it is. Take Paramount Pictures, for example; they issued a whole lot of their movies on DVD in widescreen only. I strongly suggest all other movie-based home entertainment companies do the same.