Aspect Ratio Documentation (7 Viewers)

[Worth]

I'm confused. So what was the aspect ratio after "optical soundtracks printed on the left side of a 35mm frame became the academy standard (give or take about 1933)"? Sounds to me like that would be 1.33:1 and not 1.37:1 since adding the optical soundtrack would make the frame thinner not wider. And if you're saying that 1.37:1 was adopted in 1933, why was it still referred to as 1.33:1 in the 1970s?

It's just a convention that's stuck around. It's still referred to as 1.33, just as 'scope is still referred to as 2.35, even though it's really 2.39 or 2.4:1.

 

[Douglas R]

I now have Blu-ray checkdiscs of the BFI's Woodfall set - or rather the seven discs which aren't repackagings of previous releases.

As I think we've already guessed, they are all 1.66:1.

Yes, easily predicted I'm afraid.

 

[John Hodson]

As Amazon starts to deliver the new CE of The Dam Busters, the Amazon reviewers get to work...

 

[Douglas R]

As Amazon starts to deliver the new CE of The Dam Busters, the Amazon reviewers get to work...

Oh dear. Obviously we widescreen fascists have got it all wrong

 

[haineshisway]

Read the guy's one and only other review, where he says Michael Powell's Age of Consent was shot in Cinemascope. The guy is a moron.

 

[Gary Couzens]

My first review of the BFI's Woodfall set (Look Back in Anger) is now live at The Digital Fix, and I do mention the fact that the trade press of the time indicated the ratio should be 1.85:1. I'm still working on my review of The Entertainer and will do the same there.

Another thing the BFI seem to do is to transfer pretty much all the short films which are on-disc extras in 1,37:1. That's certainly right for many of them but I'm doubtful that's correct with 35mm shorts from the mid 50s onwards which were shown in commercial cinemas. The Entertainer disc includes a 1957 film called Lancashire Coast, which was shot in 35mm Technicolor by David Watkin. That was given a BBFC certificate at the time so very likely did play as a supporting short. It's transferred in 1.37:1 but looks like it was intended to be wider - certainly the opening credits are framed for widescreen.

Another one is We Are the Lambeth Boys, which is an extra on the Saturday Night and Sunday Morning disc. It's a 51-minute documentary directed by Karel Reisz in 1959, shot by Walter Lassally in 35mm. This also was given a BBFC certificate in its day. It's transferred in 1.37:1 but looks by eye to be intended for probably 1.66:1. There's a giveaway nine minutes in when the camera operator tilts upwards to keep one boy's head in frame, something which would not have been necessary if the film really was intended to be shown in 1.37:1.

 

[Gary Couzens]

While I'm on the BFI, another one they've announced for July is It Happened Here. In this case I suspect 1.37:1 is the correct ratio.

I first saw this at the National Film Theatre in 1993, shortly before the film was released on VHS. As it turned out, this was the first public showing of the complete version, i.e. with the six-minute scene featuring real neo-Nazis expounding their philosophy which the distributors had cut back in 1965, though after the BBFC had passed the film, it seems. The NFT showed the film in 1.37:1 but given that Kevin Brownlow introduced the showing and did a Q&A afterwards, I presume he would have objected if the film had been shown incorrectly. Though how many cinemas could have shown it correctly at the time, I don't know. Its opening London venue was the Pavilion on Piccadilly Circus.

The film did famously begin as an amateur production in 16mm before becoming a professional shoot in 35mm and taking eight years to complete from beginning to end. The majority of the film is 35mm-originated, as I remember.

Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's second and last dramatic feature as directors, Winstanley, is also black and white 1.37:1, mostly 35mm-shot. There can't be many living directors whose entire filmography of dramatic features is in black and white Academy Ratio, but Brownlow would be one of them.

 

[Jack Theakston]

It's just a convention that's stuck around. It's still referred to as 1.33, just as 'scope is still referred to as 2.35, even though it's really 2.39 or 2.4:1.

I must also point out that the Academy's guidelines for 1.37-1 was a refinement of a standard that already existed, namely that drawn up by the Society of Moving Picture Engineers in 1929. Their guidelines almost matched the Academy's, and was resolved in the fall of 1929 to rectify what had essentially been a free-for-all between studios and theater chains. The plate adopted for this was measured at .800" x .600", or 1.33-1. When the Academy refined this plate to squeeze a little more lateral information out of it at .825", the ratio became 1.37-1.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

For the first time since the original theatrical release, you will see THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US in the correct widescreen version!

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE is newly restored and coming to 3-D Blu-ray on August 28, 2018: 4K scans of the original 35mm negatives by NBCUniversal and stereoscopic alignment by 3-D Film Archive!

For more information on the restoration and rare Creature memorabilia from the Archive, please visit: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/revenge-of-the-creature

The Complete Legacy Collection: https://www.uphe.com/movies/creature-from-the-black-lagoon-complete-legacy-collection

 

[Vic Pardo]

Question: what was the last black-and-white film released theatrically in the Academy ratio?

Does anyone know?

Thanks.

 

[RolandL]

For the first time since the original theatrical release, you will see THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US in the correct widescreen version!

View attachment 46882

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE is newly restored and coming to 3-D Blu-ray on August 28, 2018: 4K scans of the original 35mm negatives by NBCUniversal and stereoscopic alignment by 3-D Film Archive!

For more information on the restoration and rare Creature memorabilia from the Archive, please visit: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/revenge-of-the-creature

The Complete Legacy Collection: https://www.uphe.com/movies/creature-from-the-black-lagoon-complete-legacy-collection

View attachment 46883

Would be cool if it has a 3D lenticular cover based on that picture.

 

[Jimbo64]

Question: what was the last black-and-white film released theatrically in the Academy ratio?

Does anyone know?

Thanks.

From what I’ve read many of the last months of 4:3 pictures were projected in some sort of widescreen a/r’s due to the wider screens already being installed

 

[Bob Furmanek]

It's covered in this article: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/the-first-year-of-widescreen

 

[Mike Frezon]

Question: what was the last black-and-white film released theatrically in the Academy ratio?

Does anyone know?

Thanks.

Maybe The Artist, 2011?

 

[Worth]

Maybe The Artist, 2011?

If you're counting non-Hollywood films, they're still being made. This year's Cold War is Academy black-and-white. As for major studio films - was The Good German released in Academy or 1.85?

 

[Lord Dalek]

As for major studio films - was The Good German released in Academy or 1.85?

1.33:1 windowbox IIRC

 

[Vic Pardo]

It's covered in this article: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/the-first-year-of-widescreen

Thanks, Bob. I was looking for films produced and shown before the conversion to widescreen in 1953. The info I sought is contained in these paragraphs:

In chronological order, the final 1.37 features are: Sea of Lost Ships, The Great Jesse James Raid, Mister Scoutmaster, I the Jury, World for Ransom, Half a Hero, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, Murder Without Tears, The Moonlighter, Down Laredo Way, The Maze, Bad for Each Other, El Paso Stampede, Vigilante Terror, Hannah Lee, Son of Sinbad, Clipped Wings, Northern Patrol, The French Line, Go Man Go, The Fighting Lawman, Texas Bad Man, Bait, Captain Scarface, Hollywood Thrillmakers and Jail Bait.

Over the last five months of 1953, the only 1.37 feature produced was Roger Corman’s independent production, MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR. Ironically, the pre-production trade listings for Corman's first film (as THE SEA DEMON) indicate both widescreen and location filming in Mexico. However, the ultra-low budget production ($12K) was standard ratio and shot in Malibu in just six days.

Now, if I were to narrow it down to the last major studio b&w film in 1.37, I'm guessing from that list that it's BAD FOR EACH OTHER (Columbia Pictures). However, my next question is whether the films listed in those paragraphs were actually shown in 1.37. If not, then what are the last b&w films to be projected theatrically in 1.37?

Thanks.

 

[Thomas T]

Not in B&W but this year's First Reformed, the Paul Schrader film with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried is projected in the 1.37 ratio.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Thanks, Bob. I was looking for films produced and shown before the conversion to widescreen in 1953. The info I sought is contained in these paragraphs:



Now, if I were to narrow it down to the last major studio b&w film in 1.37, I'm guessing from that list that it's BAD FOR EACH OTHER (Columbia Pictures). However, my next question is whether the films listed in those paragraphs were actually shown in 1.37. If not, then what are the last b&w films to be projected theatrically in 1.37?

Thanks.

There's no way to know as theaters converted at different times beginning in the summer of 1953.

 

[Mark-P]

1.33:1 windowbox IIRC

Close but no cigar. The Good German was released 1.66:1, pillarboxed inside the 1.85:1 frame. However Soderbergh shot it in 1.33:1 and intended for it to be in that ratio, and subsequently the DVD was 1.33:1.