Dr Strangelove SE (1 Viewer)

[guille verdun]

best Kubrick film ever!! great news!! Peter Sellers rules in this film!

 

[george kaplan]

I hope that aspect ratio info is wrong. The current dvd has varying aspect ratios including 1.33 and 1.66, as it was filmed. If it's now all 1.33, then it's basically a p&s job.

 

[Haggai]

I don't know if I'd read too much into that, George. There's occasionally some matting within the 1.33X1 frame on the current release to re-frame things to 1.66X1, or whatever other ARs Kubrick was using, but I doubt that the release info above is implying that there's anything different about that on the upcoming disc. It's probably just an indication that it isn't a 16X9 enhanced widescreen disc.

 

[John Hodson]

I think it's a great ensemble piece, but Sellers is, I agree, remarkable. Don't you just love watching Peter Bull's face as he struggles to avoid cracking up at Seller's Strangelove?

Unless there's a huge, huge improvement on what is already a pretty good release I don't think I'll double-dip this time.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I now watch the film in 14:9 mode (1.55:1) - is this evil of me? I don't think so; the framing looks good in this ratio. The grotty mattes in some shots have always bugged me.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Just to be clear, Mr. Kubrick never approved any transfer of this film that contains the bogus disclaimer before the opening credits.

Also, I will be very upset if this disc contains improved video, yet contains only 5.1 soundtracks and no original mono. Mr. Kubrick specifically rejected anything beyond mono on all his films except the ones in 70mm and his final film, Eyes Wide Shut.

 

[george kaplan]

That's my guess too. Here's hoping we're correct.

 

[Tim_Stack]

DTS? I gotta hear this track. Why in the world would this movie need DTS, or DD 5.1 for that matter? Only the gunfire on the office and the bomber flying would need this...everything else is dialog. We'll see.

 

[Mark_TS]

if they dont use the restored print-then im not buying!


PS: any reviews of the Japanese Superbit?

 

[Anthony Clifton]

If the original mono soundtrack isn't included, I can't justify buying this title yet again.

 

[ArthurMy]

I guess I'm the only one who'd like to see the film the way I saw it projected in the theater: 1:85. That's the ratio it was shown in when I was a kid and that's the way I'd like to see it now. Heresy, I know, but Kubrick knew how his film would be projected and obviously framed it knowing that. What he thought years later is meaningless to me because it's all revisionism. I don't want to see The Shining full frame either, because a) it wasn't projected that way, and b) it looks rancid with all that extraneous head room that was never seen in the theater.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Arthur,

That is certainly legitimate. However, I understand the circular lighting fixture and the elaborate ceiling in the war room are matted out when shown at 1.85.

 

[ArthurMy]

If that's true (I'd have to watch the film and then use the zoom feature to see), then they (Kubrick and cinematographer) knew that it would not fully visible when projected in theaters which, after all, were the only venues where the film was going to be shown until it ultimately made its way to TV. Mr. Kubrick had no clue that twenty years later videotapes of his film would be for sale. Therefore, since he knew what the projected ratio would be (1:85 here, and most likely 1:66 elsewhere), I must assume when he looked through the camera he knew what the frame would contain (since there were most certainly ratio marks in the viewfinder of the camera). Again, I'm only saying I'd like to see the film the way I saw it time and again in the theaters. That was, after all, the OAR as seen by audiences all over the United States.

 

[Jean-Michel]

My memory's a bit fuzzy but I seem to remember seeing this theatrically a few years back (five or six years IIRC) and I remember noticing the shifting ARs. That would obviously have required the 1.66:1 segments to be hard-matted. Does anybody know if any prints were prepared in this way or are my synapses misfiring?


Supposedly the script was included without Kubrick's approval. When he found out he had it removed from future pressings. Not sure if that was ever officially confirmed or just a rumor, though.

 

[Kevin M]

Columbia had a roadshow of seven (or more) movies about four years ago that came to the local art house and this was one of the films, the AR was not 1.85 but the alternating ratios that the LD & DVD have, it was basically shown in academy ratio with black areas on the top and sometimes bottom but generally it stayed at 1.33.1 for most of the film...now whether this is reflective of it's original exhibition I can't say...I wasn't born yet.