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John Carpenter's "Elvis" on DVD: Appropriate Aspect Ratio? (1 Viewer)

Colin Jacobson

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I have the DVD that's going to be released March 2, and it uses a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Since this was shot in 1979 for US TV, I know it aired 1.33:1 originally, but it also was released theatrically overseas, where I expect it had a ratio closer to 1.78:1.

Question: was "Elvis" shot explicitly for 1.33:1 and cropped willy-nilly, or was it shot in such a way to work in either ratio? Any info here?
 

TravisR

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I don't have an answer but Someone's Watching Me (Carpenter's 1978 telemovie) had the same aspect ratio question when it was released on DVD. To my eyes, that movie looks like it MAY have been cropped rather than having been shot 1.85.
 

Bryan^H

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Someone's Watching Me was most certainly "cropped". It's blatantly obvious while watching it.
You can probably expect the same with the Elvis movie.
A great director like Carpenter deserves better than have his telefilms altered to "fake widescreen".
 

Corey3rd

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1.85 is achieved through cropping on 35mm - unless you're using a 3 perf system like they did on The Sopranos
 

MatthewA

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Did they even HAVE the 3-perf system in 1979? They had 2-perf Techniscope since 1961 but there's no way they would have used that on a TV movie.

But the big question to me is: is any picture info gained on the left and right sides or is it just a tilt and scan (anyone who has an older tape copy)?
 

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