An open plea to MGM to STOP releasing FULL FRAME ONLY discs of WIDESCREEN titles. All members help! (1 Viewer)

[Dave H]

NO OAR = NO SALE HERE!!!!

 

[Shawn_Sek]

NO OAR = NO ROWING !!!

 

[Tony-B]

NO OAR = NO ROWING !!!

 

[Simon Caleb]

Having a 16x9 Plasma monitor I've avoided Remo Williams & Revenge of the Ninja.

No OAR = NO SALE in my house.

MGM, it's a crying shame you release perfect Midnite Movies & the amazing "The Haunted Palace" in widescreen, then undo all your excellent work with lazy full frame abominations like the above two

 

[Mark Hammon]

Why is it that GATOR and WHITE LIGHTNING were both Widescreen on Laser Disc (as a double feature package) but the DVDs were Pan and Scan. And...I believe GATOR was 2.35:1!

I will buy REMO WILLIAMS, GATOR, WHITE LIGHTNING, NO MAN'S LAND, CHILD'S PLAY, PUMPKINHEAD, and THE DARK HALF, when they are OAR!

 

[Brian W.]

I'm confused as to why a studio that -presumably- is in the business of making money, would screw their potential customers this way.

Easy... They don't have to do a new transfer for P&S. Saves 'em money on titles they don't think will be real big sellers anyway.

Sure wish they'd stop doing that, though.

 

[Mathieu Lalonde]

I'd rather buy a VHS tape than a pan&scan dvd... and that's not very likely to happen seeing as i just got rid of my last vcr a few months back...

 

[Jon Martin]

It is very possible that they had to pan, scan, and zoom to remove mics, and anything else that shouldn't have been there.

But again, pan and scan is when they add the left / right camera pans to a 2.35 widescreen film to fit in picture information, make the camera move during what was a steady shot. People who use that term when discussing a fullframe film are using it incorrectly.

Zooming in for a 1.85 isn't pan and scan. Pan and scan is a specific term.

So saying you won't buy a P&S or "pan and scam" title in this thread is using the term incorrectly since it doesn't apply to most of these films.

Pan and scan is a total reworking of the film, not just losing picture information. It is a lot different.

 

[Malcolm R]

Is anybody actually reading this thread? For at least the fourth time I'll repeat...there are widescreen transfers that already exist for some of these FS-only releases. They have been released previously on laserdisc or broadcast on cable in HD.

Widescreen transfers already exist! MGM has made the specific choice NOT to use them!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Are you sure that MGM holds the rights to those transfers? I'm not advocating the release of MAR films, but remember that just because a film has previously been released in OAR does not mean that the current rights holder has access to those materials. It would be easier on all of us if MGM would simply do all new OAR transfers, but this may not be economically feasible for certain catalogue titles.

 

[Eric Brunton]

No OAR = NO SALE

 

[Mark_TS]

Has anyone ever actually **taken the time** to ascertain if this really is the fault of MGM?

IF they have inherited the home video library of a defunct company, (as MUCH of their product roster seems to be) then they may not have the rights to the original negatives to make OAR/16x9 prints-and thus, have to settle for masters made previously.
Perhaps the owners of the negatives will not negotiate a reasonable price to strike new prints.


It is hard to believe that MGM is as EVIL as some seem to make them out to be

-they turn out too many fine editions, number one-and number two-when I hear stories of the time and money they HAVE spent tracking down the lost/rare elements (when they are able to) of some obscure budget Horror DVD release ie: PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, SQUIRM, etc. I have to wonder is some of this anger is not misplaced.....im not saying they are perfect-but why gang up on them?
Chastise them on mistakes/oversights that actuallyARE their fault...

 

[AlanBrom]

I agree with Mark. I am all for OAR only, but I can't be mad at MGM. They are still my favorite studio, and I am in awe of such remastered DVDs as PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, VAMPIRE LOVERS, SQUIRM, RAW MEAT, the Vincent Price films, etc. Most of the films I really care about have come out OAR, so I hold no beef with this studio.

 

[Michael Allred]

IF they have inherited the home video library of a defunct company, (as MUCH of their product roster seems to be) then they may not have the rights to the original negatives to make OAR/16x9 prints-and thus, have to settle for masters made previously.

They've acquired libraries of out of business companies before, yet they've made new widescreen transfers ("The Return of the Living Dead", "The Fog", "Escape from New York" and many many smaller titles.)

Besides that, if "Real Men" is open matte, why not have the director properly frame a new transfer for widescreen?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Michael's right. MGM has done new widescreen transfers for a bunch of Orion movies.

 

[Steve Christou]

So what you guys are saying is that MGM has released nearly all their DVD product in OAR, and because a couple of 'Full Frame's' have slipped thru the net they are now 'evil', 'the antichrist', and 'lets not buy MGM dvds from now on'? [shakes head]

I recently bought a whole bunch of old Vincent Price horror favorites, all in their correct ratios, thank you MGM. I suppose a favorite film of mine gets a full screen release by MGM I will get momentarily pissed, but I won't childishly start sticking "Boycott MGM" placards up outside my HMV because of it.

 

[Michael Allred]

Steve, I'm not saying that.

When a studio does something great, I will cheer them to no end. However, that doesn't mean I'll simply look the other way when they screw up.

It's not as if the handful of DVD's mentioned in his thread are the only ones MGM has goofed up, they've done this before.

 

[Malcolm R]

"Remo Willams" only $8.63 at Wal-Mart today.
It's still there.

Even at that price, No OAR = No Sale.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I suspect that a lot of these P/S MGM discs are ports of old LD/VHS transfers, and the reason why widescreen versions may not be available is that the original companies did not produce their own WS transfers. Case in point: a lot of Orion's LD releases were handled by Image, which would mean that those transfers would not be in the hands of Orion or its liquidators at the time the studio's assets were sold to MGM.
Granted, porting over old transfers is far from the best way to go with a DVD release, but it gets the product out there and allows us to vote with our pocketbooks. Petitions sometimes work, but not when coupled with the threat of a blanket boycott of a studio's output. The best solution is always going to be to reward a studio by purchasing its good product and reprimanding it by not purchasing its bad product.*steps off soapbox*

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

"Pan and scan is quite different than full screen / Open matte etc. You can't use the term when you mean the other."

Quite true.

"Any alteration to how the film was projected in theaters is unacceptable no matter what terminology is technically correct."

It's far from being that simple. Many films were shown in European theaters in one ratio, then shown in American theaters at another. For instance, some films shot in Europe at, say, 1.66:1, and projected at that ratio in Europe, were shown in the U.S. projected at 1.85:1. Warner Video released the Hammer films THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HORROR OF DRACULA, and THE MUMMY to DVD overmatted. Perhaps they were going by the incorrect U.S. projection ratio.