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Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

#61
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12/2/08 at 7:34pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need

Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyFeldman
I think that was the purpose. How soon do we lose this awful black stuff on the site? I understand someone's paying to have it be The Dark Knight, but I really don't like it.

Go to the bottom of the screen; skin chooser.

A couple more:

Casanova's Big Night
Paramount
April 17, 1954

Young at Heart
WB
December 1954

Divorce American Style
Columbia
June 21, 1967

The Prince and the Showgirl
WB
June 13, 1957

Marjorie Morningstar
WB
April 24, 1958
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#62
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12/2/08 at 8:40pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need

Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyFeldman
I think that was the purpose. How soon do we lose this awful black stuff on the site? I understand someone's paying to have it be The Dark Knight, but I really don't like it.

Look at the bottom of your page, and you'll see "skin" where you can try some other color combinations that might suit you better.
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#63
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12/3/08 at 6:08am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Quote:
Originally Posted by James 'Tiger' Lee
Aren't we thinking more of films not released in their correct ratio here?

That was what this thread was initially, but I think that changed during posts 47-52, at which time non-anamorphic presentations were brought up (which were in correct aspect ratio), and the title of the thread was changed to include "anamorphic if need be".
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#64
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12/3/08 at 12:52pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Is 1955's DIABOLIQUE in its original ratio? I watched it last night via TCM (from Criterion's print) and it was 1.33:1.
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#65
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12/3/08 at 5:25pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Elliott
Is 1955's DIABOLIQUE in its original ratio? I watched it last night via TCM (from Criterion's print) and it was 1.33:1.

Pretty sure it is - France was slower to go widescreen - perhaps Jack or Bob know more on this, though. It may have been shown in the US in 1.66 or 1.85 because many theaters couldn't show Academy by that time. However, since it played art houses, maybe it was shown correctly.
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#66
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12/4/08 at 12:24am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

LES DIABOLIQUES is 1.37-1.

-J. Theakston

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#67
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12/4/08 at 11:40am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

I thought so - actually, do you know what the first French widescreen film was? Not scope, but 1.66 or 1.85? Breathless is obviously Academy, so would it be after that?
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#68
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12/4/08 at 1:46pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

The typical French ratio was 1.66-1 or 1.85-1, depending on who was footing the bill, but primarily 1.66-1 during the '60s.

-J. Theakston

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#69
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12/4/08 at 1:56pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Theakston
The typical French ratio was 1.66-1 or 1.85-1, depending on who was footing the bill, but primarily 1.66-1 during the '60s.

This I know - I phrased my question poorly - what was the first film made in France in 1.66? Breathless was in 1959, I think, and that was Academy, so would it have been after that? If so, I'm just wondering which film it was? Or would it have been pre-Breathless?
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#70
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12/4/08 at 11:01pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Louis Malle's Lift to the Scaffold (L'ascenseur pour l'échafaud) was made in 1958 and is 1.66:1. It's released as such on Optimum's Region 2 UK DVD.
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#71
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12/4/08 at 11:13pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Thanks to Billy and Jack as I didn't think Criterion would screw that film up.

So I'm guessing many foreign films were released in America under the wrong ratio? Or were theaters, outside those showing Hollywood blockbusters, still able to show 4:3?
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#72
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12/5/08 at 2:54pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Most theaters could run multiple ratios up until the late '50s/early '60s. Art houses, that would run foreign films, could run multiple ratios, since they were also running repertory films, too.

Many Italian, French and British films by the early '60s I find were composing for 1.85-1 in case they were picked up by an American distributor, even if they weren't being shown that way in Europe.

-J. Theakston

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#73
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12/5/08 at 2:58pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Warner needs to re-release a better version of Roman Polanski and Harrison Ford's FRANTIC. The current DVD is a mess, porting a crappy transfer that wasn't even good enough for LaserDisc.

Two letterboxed titles that need better anamporphic transfers are OUTLAND and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1..2..3

Harry
My DVD Collection

A fugitive moves on, through anguished tunnels of time, down dim streets, into dark corners. And each new day offers fear and frustration, tastes of honey and hemlock. But if there is a hazard, there is also hope. - Closing narration to THE FUGITIVE, "Death Is The Door Prize".
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#74
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12/5/08 at 7:20pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Funny Farm
Running on Empty
Memphis Belle (not 16x9)
Yours Mine & Ours (original)
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#75
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12/5/08 at 8:20pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

And let's not forget DEATHTRAP or THE WITCHES.
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#76
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12/6/08 at 6:21am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Unavailable OAR:
Tom Sawyer (1973, United Artists) — 2.35:1, OAR from Amazon download
Casey's Shadow (1978, Columbia) — 2.35:1, OAR from Amazon download
84 Charing Cross Road (1984, WB) — 1.85:1
Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird (1985, WB) — 1.85:1, supposedly OAR on iTunes!
Matilda (1996, TriStar) — 2.35:1

Need anamorphic reissues:
I Want to Live! (1958, United Artists) — 1.66:1
Inherit the Wind (1960, United Artists) — 1.66:1
The Happiest Millionaire (1967, Walt Disney) — 1.66:1

Disney's list of shame:
Pan & Scan Releases - Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD

A more comprehensive list that may be out of date but is still useful:
Widescreen Advocate - We Believe in OAR

STOP THE MADNESS! STOP THE BUTCHERING AND ABANDONMENT OF TV SHOWS ON DVD!

My DVD List at DVD Aficionado, Now Featuring Blu-Ray

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#77
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12/7/08 at 8:25pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

I agree with all of the ones mentioned above. Here's my list which includes some previous mentions
titles with 16:9 have been done in widescreen on dvd just non-anamorphic

-Frantic needs a widesscreen dvd release badly,
-Funny Farm
-Lionheart (van damme) being re-released in a set as fullframe...still no new transfer.....everyone should contact universal and tell them to do a widescreen transfer

- Nothing But Trouble
-Guilty By Suspicion
-Spies Like Us
-Caddyshack II
-Boiling Point
My Blue Heaven
-Man With Two Brains
-All of Me
-Tango and Cash (16:9)
- Madigan (16:9)
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (16:9)
-Yours Mine Ours
-Fortress
-The Sicilian
Heavyweights
-Blank Check
-Operation Dumbo Drop
-Ernest Goes to Jail
-Ernest Scared Stupid
-First Kid
-Man of the House
-Honey I shrunk the Kids
Honey I Blew up The Baby
Three Men and A Little Lady
-Farewell my Lovely
-The Villain
In Country
Action Jackson
-A Goofy Movie
-Cant Buy Me Love
Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Strongest Man in the World
-Follow Me Boys
Tom and Huck
Clean and Sober
Deathtrap
Fearless
Wagon's East
An American Tail
An American Tail Fievel Goes West
Balto
Colossus Forbin Project
Iceman
The Shadow
Death Becomes Her
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#78
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12/9/08 at 4:18pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Mean guns needs a NEW 2:35.1 DVD, all thats availible is a fullscreen bare bones edition, most of the films shot in Full-2:35.1 scope by Albert pyun are only fullscreen, you can tell too, everything looks so zoomed in, which is why i hate fullscreen versions of widescreen films.

Another one that NEEDs a widescreen release is Sidney J. Furie's Under heavy fire/Going back, only the last 10 minutes is in the origianal 1:85.1 aspect ratio
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#79
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12/9/08 at 6:14pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Theakston
Most theaters could run multiple ratios up until the late '50s/early '60s. Art houses, that would run foreign films, could run multiple ratios, since they were also running repertory films, too.

Many Italian, French and British films by the early '60s I find were composing for 1.85-1 in case they were picked up by an American distributor, even if they weren't being shown that way in Europe.


Thanks Jack. Everyone knows Chaplin was against sound films so I'm curious if any director's were against a wide ratio. If a director was against the wider ratio I guess he really didn't have any say if he was working in Hollywood.

Both DON'T LOOK BACK and GIMME SHELTER are 4:3 so is this because they were basically art movies or would the director's ratio be matted when played theatrically? I'm sure there are many more cases where the director wanted 4:3 but might not have had the option so I personally don't see this any different than a director wanting 1.85:1 but the studio releases it open matte on DVD.
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#80
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12/9/08 at 8:15pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Elliott
Thanks Jack. Everyone knows Chaplin was against sound films so I'm curious if any director's were against a wide ratio. If a director was against the wider ratio I guess he really didn't have any say if he was working in Hollywood.

Both DON'T LOOK NOW and GIMME SHELTER are 4:3 so is this because they were basically art movies or would the director's ratio be matted when played theatrically? I'm sure there are many more cases where the director wanted 4:3 but might not have had the option so I personally don't see this any different than a director wanting 1.85:1 but the studio releases it open matte on DVD.

Don't Look Now, presuming you are talking about the Nick Roeg film, is a widescreen film - always was, always has been, and always will be, and the DVDs reflect that.

Chaplin had his own studio and was his own boss. He was a very particular case and you cannot compare other directors to him. Directors, no matter how much they are though of as "auteurs" today, were working for studios and the studios were paying for the films and called the shots.
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#81
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12/9/08 at 8:21pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Oops, my bad but I meant DON'T LOOK BACK, the Dylan doc.

On your second point, there are hundreds of movies made outside of Hollywood that had the director's calling the shots 100%. MANIAC, REEFER MADNESS, SEX MADNESS, CHILD BRIDE and on down the line. But the point was that there might have been many directors who wanted their films to be 4:3 but were forced to shoot them 1.85 just so the studio could sell something.
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#82
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12/9/08 at 9:52pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

DON'T LOOK BACK was shot in 16mm as basically an art film that played art theaters, so yeah, the aspect ratio on that film is 1.33. However, I've never run a 35mm print. It's possible the film was pillarboxed in a 1.85-1 area, but I doubt it. Same situation with GIMME SHELTER. So 1.33 would be the correct ARs for both.

Widescreen is simply a standard. No one HAS to adhere to it. But you're right-- if they don't, most people are not going to book their film. There are instances of film-makers using the Academy aspect ratio, but generally, even amateur film makers get the hint when they look through a camera's viewfinder.

And let me put it into rather unromanticized terms... if a studio is paying you thousands of dollars to do something, you're going to do it their way (within the confines of what a director needs to be doing), otherwise you'll find yourself quickly replaced and a notice in the trades the next day that you've left due to "creative differences."

-J. Theakston

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#83
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12/10/08 at 8:25am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Coppola wanted One From The Heart in Academy - and I think it was shown exactly once that way - at the Chinese, if I remember correctly, and I don't remember if they had to do some jerryrigging to do it. But everywhere else it was widescreen all the way, and I think we know he covered himself for that. But again, that was for his own studio Zoetrope, and he had the control - until he had to have a studio release it - then the studio had control and, of course, could not book the film in any other way other than widescreen. But I can't think of any others of a similar ilk.
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#84
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12/11/08 at 9:46pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Scorcese wanted to shoot NEW YORK NEW YORK in academy, but had to compromise.

I've been working my way through my collection and found another one today which is not OAR......GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW (1959).
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#85
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12/12/08 at 8:52am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

And Attack Of The Puppet People.
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#86
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12/12/08 at 12:35pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Village of the Giants is according to one review not only MAR but also stretched

I think it'd be good also if people can test discs to see if they stand up to a zoom. This can differentiate genuine open matte dvds from zoom jobs
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#87
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12/13/08 at 12:20pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

The three Blood Island films and Brain of Blood

First two Quatermass films
X The Unknown
Moby Dick
Reptilicus
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#88
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12/22/08 at 3:44pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

I wish they would release the 3 Gidget films in widescreen. The current release is all fullscreen, the original Sandra Dee film is a particularly bad pan/scan.
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#89
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12/23/08 at 9:51am
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Ditto on GIDGET (should be 2:35-1)

Other films I'd like to see properly letterboxed:

THE SWORD OF LANCELOT (1963, Universal, may be in PD Hell by now)
HOMICIDAL (1961,Sony, previous DVD was full frame)
GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN (1962, Sony, should be 1:85-1?)
BLOOD AND ROSES (1961, Paramount, needs to be preserved)
THE SLAVE (1963, MGM)
THE MINOTAUR (UA, 1961, there's a gorgeous PAL DVD, but no English)
THE ALAMO (UA, 1960, full-length restoration)
GETTYSBURG (I want the longer director's cut on DVD)
SHOCK TREATMENT (Fox, 1963)
RED SKY AT MORNING (Universal, 1970, never been on home video)
WAR OF THE ZOMBIES (AIP, 1965)
THE DEAD ONE (1961, proper 2:35-1)
THIEF OF BAGHDAD (MGM, 1961, 2:35-1)
I could go on (singing), but you get the idea--there are many films from the early 1960s that are still only available in full frame, and I would like to see these films restored.
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#90
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12/23/08 at 12:54pm
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Re: Films that need DVD Releases with their Original Aspect Ratio, anamorphic if need be!

Homicidal has a German DVD that's correct ratio.
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