Look At All These Great 1950s/1960s Films That Are DVD-less! (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

Yep! It's the 2,399th HTF "Why The Hell Isn't This/That On DVD Yet!!??" thread. Sorry, but Congress demanded another.

I'm sure fans of great 1950s dramas would concur that it'd be nice to see new SE DVDs on the shelf of 1959's Anatomy Of A Murder, as well as 1954's The Caine Mutiny.

Upcoming SE Bulletins Welcome here.

Why the current close-to-being-bare release of Anatomy is in Full-Frame only is rather frustrating, don't you agree? Was Anatomy shot at 2.35? Or was it done @ 1.85 or 1.66? I'd be interested in knowing. (Certainly can't tell from the 1.33 DVD! :frowning

Some of the 1950s/1960s DVD gaps are being filled in with the recent additions of To Catch A Thief, Roman Holiday, The Day The Earth Stood Still and Journey To The Center Of The Earth. But there is still a boatload of titles that cry out for Digital justice! Such as ......

No Highway In The Sky (1951)
The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)
Executive Suite (1954)
Dial M For Murder (1954)
The Bad Seed (1956)
The Wrong Man (1956)
Around The World In 80 Days (1956)
Julie (1956)
The Spirit Of St. Louis (1957)
Compulsion (1959)
Midnight Lace (1960)
Advise & Consent (1962)
I Could Go On Singing (1963)(Judy Garland's last film)
A Child Is Waiting (1963)

Just gander at all these excellent motion-picture experiences that are lacking a DVD treatment!!

Don't you want all of these?! Of course you do.

Any more??

 

[David Von Pein]

Let's also go back into the late 40s to include..........

The Web (Vincent Price)(1947)

and

Call Northside 777 (1948)

 

[Robert Crawford]

David,
In fairness to the studios, you can only release so many titles on dvd at a time. In April and May alone, I have preordered 65 dvd releases of classic films that were made more than 30 years ago. By the way, Send Me No Flowers is already out on dvd and I bought it last month.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Fullframe doesn't automatically mean it's pan & scan. Anatomy of a Murder is presented unmatted on DVD. For a 1959 "flat" film, that shouldn't be a problem.

In fact, nearly every film on DVD in "pan & scan" only are flat films. There are really only a handful of true pan & scan DVDs out there.

As for the titles...

WHV is working on DVDs for Around the World In Eighty Days and Dial M For Murder. I think it was mentioned that The Greatest Show On Earth is under consideration somewhere. That title needs a lot of care since it's 3-strip Technicolor...it needs to look like that!

When a film isn't on DVD, don't automatically think it's due to neglect. Many films aren't on DVD because they're awaiting thoughtfully done DVDs, rather than slop that Madacy would release. I could name dozens of films I'd like on DVD, but that's not my job. I'd rather let the studios do quality DVD editions in 2005, than buy a crappy DVD this year. Plenty of titles out now that are living proof of this "wait is great" method.

 

[Rain]

Anatomy of a Murder is definitely not 2.35:1. I believe the correct AR is 1.85:1.

I seem to recall hearing that there is an anamorphic OAR version available in another region.

For a 1959 "flat" film, that shouldn't be a problem.

I don't think that it is a safe assumption that all "open matte" transfers are purely that. It is my understanding that reframing in certain places occasionally happens.

As far as I'm concered if the DVD is non-OAR, open matte or otherwise, it's just a coaster.

 

[David Von Pein]

By the way, Send Me No Flowers is already out on dvd and I bought it last month.

Thanks Robert!

Had no idea "Send Me..." was out on DVD!
Cheap too...and 16x9 enhanced!

(Curious, though, that DeepDiscount doesn't offer it.)

 

[David Von Pein]

In April and May alone, I have preordered 65 dvd releases of classic films that were made more than 30 years ago.

Robert,
Can you possibly copy-and-paste that list of 65 titles here? I'd like to see it, to augment my own Wish List.

Thanks.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I don't think that it is a safe assumption that all "open matte" transfers are purely that. It is my understanding that reframing in certain places occasionally happens.

Well, for that time period (1953-1959), it's iffy that the film would even be 1.85:1. Columbia mattes all their flat films at a concrete 1.85:1 (whether it needs that much matting or not).

Visually, the film looks more like 1.33:1 or 1.66:1. The only way to be sure is to know what the official ratio was.

 

[Rain]

IMDB indicates 1.85:1.

Yes, they are occasionally incorrect, but given that the film was released in 1959, that ratio is more than likely accurate.

 

[David Von Pein]

IMDB indicates 1.85:1....given that the film was released in 1959, that ratio is more than likely accurate.

Thanks, Precipitation Man.

I figured it ["Anatomy"] was 1.85 or 1.66.

If no P&S'ing was done on it, I'd be tempted to get the 1.33 DVD.

Anybody else have it? (Or is asking if an HTF'er has a Fullscreen title kinda like asking: Did anybody buy the FF VHS of such-&-such film, rather than the SCE WS DVD that included a $15 rebate + Live in-home dancing girls?!)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Crawdaddy

 

[Rain]

We've been down this road before:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...my+of+a+murder

But no definitive answer was attained.

Columbia/Tristar has evidently released this film in 1.85:1 anamorphic in another region.

Someone also observed that the full frame version is also cropped at the sides in comparision to the 1.85:1 version.

And the mystery continues...

 

[Robert Crawford]

I stand by what I observed tonight!

 

[Rain]

Since I'm terribly curious now, I'm going to go see if the video store nearby has this one for rent.

Nope, no such luck. :frowning:

 

[David Von Pein]

I have no idea whether THIS PERSON speaks the Gospel re. Anatomy Of A Murder, but he claims within that web link that .......

>> "The DVD of Anatomy is curious, because it informs you that the picture is "full screen" and that it has been "modified" to fit "your screen" (assumed to be 1:1.33). But of course, that was the way it was shot — at 1:1.33 and framed so that cropping it to 1:1.85 in the theatre was fine. So one has to be careful on this subject. Other films shot in the same manner are being released on DVD as 1:1.85 only."

Of course, the above paragraph is definitely incorrect re. the "Modified" disclaimer that he says is on the DVD packaging. Because, upon further searching @ DVD Empire, we can see that Crawdaddy had it correct...at least for the Region 1 release...it says that the 1.33:1 ratio preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio.

 

[Rain]

Granted, but there is also the possibility that the DVD is labelled incorrectly. It wouldn't be the first time.

At the end of the day, I'm like Robert and tend to trust my judgment on these things. I think I've seen enough movies to have some kind of awareness as to when the AR is off.

For example, I would maintain my belief that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is correctly framed at 1.85:1 on DVD, though IMDB stubbornly maintains 1.66:1 as the correct ratio (I did try sending a correction).

Of course, I haven't seen the DVD of Anatomy of a Murder, so can't really comment further. Knowing that Robert has seen many films from this era, I certainly agree that his opinion on this has some merit.

 

[Randy A Salas]

I just pulled out the dvd from library and watched about 4-5 chapters, I believe the OAR was not 1.85:1. Matter of fact, the ratio looked to be the academy ratio of 1.37:1.

Maybe it's just me, but the answer seems fairly obvious. Just look at Saul Bass' incredible design for the opening credits.

If you divide the screen roughly in six horizontal segments, you'll note that his images rarely go into the top sixth or bottom sixth of the screen. There's just the light-gray background, which remains empty, in those areas. A few times, an image-- a flying fist, for example--goes through that area, but its always toward the central horizontal area. Only once does an image fill the screen, but, again, all the pertinent information is in the middle portion--and the imagery on the top and bottom fringe is overflow. Finally, the essential copyright information and legal type, which appear twice, are firmly placed about a sixth of the way from the bottom of the screen.

Whatever the film's OAR, it's very clear if you watch the opening credits that Bass designed them for a matted presentation. The small legal type looks kind of silly way up from the bottom of the screen otherwise, and I find it hard to believe that such a masterful designer would have infringed on his design without a good reason. Matte the opening credits, and see what I mean.

 

[Rain]

Someone brought that up in the other thread, Randy, and it's a good point.

 

[Todd Robertson]

The Bad Seed w/ both endings would be super. as far as neglect, try The Other from '72.

 

[Brook K]

I would love to have Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life, Douglas Sirk's Magnificent Obsession, all the unreleased Sam Fuller films like The Steel Helmet and the musicals mentioned in other threads like Lil' Abner.

Certain DVD's, like Night of the Hunter, display the "modified to fit your screen" tag even though they were shot Academy ratio.