John*C

Buying DVD discs but having trouble finding the Original Aspect Ratio(OAR), just go the www.IMDb.com left side and pull the ALL shade down to choose 'Titles', then pull the 2nd shade down~type the 'name' of the movie or concert, click on 'go'. Technical Specifications are on the left 'side' bar, click this~I pasted this one on as a example. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0052847/technical

Matt Czyz

Um, yeah. They're not always right. Generally, they're a good source of info, but they're hardly error-free.

John*C

Matt it seems like we are both looking for that *perfect* wave, just like back in 1966 with the Bruce Brown around the world!

Patrick McCart

IMDB is an OK source, but it has a lot of errors.

I'd strongly advise you to look at www.widescreenmuseum.com for CinemaScope, 65mm (Todd-AO, Ultra/Super Panavision), Techniscope, SuperScope, VistaVision, Technirama, and Cinerama info first. Then, it also helps to look for backup info.

For the longest time, IMDB and even the American Widescreen Museum incorrectly listed the 1959 French film "Black Orpheus" as a 2.35:1 CinemaScope film. People were actually convinced that Criterion panned & scanned a film for DVD (which I think is about as likely for Madacy to win HTF Studio of the Year). It finally took some people on newsgroups to confirm that it was a 1.37:1 Academy Ratio film.

So, don't believe EVERYTHING... make sure you do the research. IMDB.com is getting better, but it's not perfect.

Tell The Weinstein Company to release Richard Williams' animated masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler on DVD in Panavision widescreen and uncut! See and hear what you're missing from their Bitsy Award winner of Worst Standard Edition DVD of 2006 on YouTube!

Brian McHale

I use iMDb all the time, but (as has been mentioned) it is often wrong. Furthermore, the tech specs don't always specify an OAR. Maybe knowing that a movie was shot in 35 mm will tell some people what OAR it is, but I don't have enough background knowledge to derive anything from this.

Don't get me wrong, I love iMDb, but I mostly use them for their actor listings and links.

Brian

Nils Luehrmann

I second Patrick's opinion and suggestion.

IMDB is only as accurate as the information provided to it by its members. And although some of the most intelligent, experienced and informed film historians regularly submit data to IMDB, even they do not always agree with each other and as such there will always be a level of uncertainty to the accuracy of the information posted there - or anywhere else for that matter.

Complicating things further is the fact that so-called Original Aspect Ratios can be different for the same film if you consider that many films were intended by their directors to be shown with different aspect ratios then how they were shown theatrically. You also have the many examples where films were shown theatrically with varying aspect ratios and no record of the director's intended aspect ratio can be found. Thus you'll often see contradictory OAR for those films.

You could lose a great deal of your time on this Earth trying to dig up accurate information, and as such IMDB is a very useful compromise that seems to always be doing its best to be the most comprehensive and accurate resource on the net for all things relating to moving images.

Joshua Clinard

Widescreen Mueseum is useful for those Film Buffs who want to study the history of how films are technically made, but for those casual surfers who just want to know the OAR of a film, it is practically worthless. It has no database of films and their OAR's like the IMDB does.

Walt Disney Resource | Joshua's Place

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Rob Gardiner

Patrick,

The American Widescreen Museum still lists Black Orpheus as Cinemascope. When I e-mailed Martin Hart about that, he told me that he had confirmation from noted film historian Leonard Maltin. Personally, I consider Leonard Maltin to be a more reliable authority than "some people on newsgroups". Is there any hard evidence that this was not a Cinemascope film? Was it perhaps shot in two formats simultaneously, similar to Oklahoma?

Patrick McCart

Wow. I thought it was removed by now...

Well, from some newsgroup postings I've read, some people who actually saw the film said it was presented in Academy Ratio. Also, I've seen a few posters from the original release and there's no reference to CinemaScope. A 1959 French film would HAVE to have a large mention of a widescreen process, especially a film like Black Orpheus. Someone in a similar "Black Orpheus" post mentioned that there's another '59 film called "Black Tights" which is indeed a CinemaScope film.

Given the huge amount of films out there, film people like Maltin will occasionally have errors. I know that Roger Ebert mentioned that Lawrence of Arabia was an Ultra Panavision film with a 2.76:1 aspect ratio in one publication.

Tell The Weinstein Company to release Richard Williams' animated masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler on DVD in Panavision widescreen and uncut! See and hear what you're missing from their Bitsy Award winner of Worst Standard Edition DVD of 2006 on YouTube!