I was lucky enough to have seen Charles Laughton's incredible film the Night of the Hunter in a flawless 35mm print at the Ontario Film Theatre many years ago. It was part of a series showcasing outstanding examples of the cinematographers craft.
The first reel was screened in the old 1.33 ratio. The compositions looked really odd, the picture had obviously been composed for a wide-screen presentation. I complained to Gerald Pratley (he ran the organization) about it and he agreed that a 1955 movie would most definitely have been shot with the wide screen in mind. We had the projectionist switch aperture plates and lenses for the correct 1.66: ratio. At the changeover, the masking opened wider and the picture finally looked the way it was supposed to - not to mention that the movie then had the impact that the director and his cinematographer had worked so hard to achieve.
So after all this time, why hasn't MGM seen fit to release an anamorphic DVD? Talk about an oversight.
The first reel was screened in the old 1.33 ratio. The compositions looked really odd, the picture had obviously been composed for a wide-screen presentation. I complained to Gerald Pratley (he ran the organization) about it and he agreed that a 1955 movie would most definitely have been shot with the wide screen in mind. We had the projectionist switch aperture plates and lenses for the correct 1.66: ratio. At the changeover, the masking opened wider and the picture finally looked the way it was supposed to - not to mention that the movie then had the impact that the director and his cinematographer had worked so hard to achieve.
So after all this time, why hasn't MGM seen fit to release an anamorphic DVD? Talk about an oversight.
