The Bane of Comedies on DVD: Full Frame! (1 Viewer)

[Justin Doring]

I rented Kindergarten Cop the other day, courtesy of Netflix, and when I put the DVD in, I was extemely disappointed to discover that the 1.85:1 image had been "formatted to fix Joe 6 Pack's screen." I watched it anyway and enjoyed it tremendously; I'd forgotten just how great this movie is (not Citizen Kane great, but great for what it is). As much as I enjoyed it, however, the non-OAR presentation really annoyed me. I would have bought the DVD the next day had it been in anamorphic OAR, and The Shadow (not exactly a comedy), Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, Spies Like Us, Funny Farm, and all the Vaction movies would all be in my collection as well if they were properly presented. Why did/do some of DVD's best initial supporters (i.e. Warner and Universal) insist on putting out their comedies on DVD in full frame? Do they think that these are "lesser" films that are "not worthy" of an OAR presentation? I wish Universal would stop releasing their useless "Ultimate Editions" in their "special" cases and work on their improperly presented DVDs. The same goes for Warner Brothers. Does this bother anybody else, or am I the only one who holds 80's and 90's comedy in high regard?
------------------
"Home is where the theater is!"

 

[Patrick McCart]

Arnold would say this to Universal:
"You son of a bitch! I'm a cop, you idiot!"
------------------
Visit my DVD review site, 24 fps DVD Reviews @ http://cztoondb.tripod.com/DVD/
and
The Colorized Cartoon Database @ http://cztoondb.tripod.com/

 

[Justin Lane]

What all of the titles you mentioned have in common was they were released in the early days of DVD before a consensus was reached as to how DVD would be best utilized. Don't forget that at this same time Fox was putting the majority of their discs out on Divx

. It would be nice to see these titles revisited at this time, but I would not hold my breath especially after some of Warner's comments at the last chat.
J
------------------
Don't be a luddy-duddy! Don't be a mooncalf! Don't be a jabbernowl!

 

[Ricky f]

Arnold would say this to Universal:
"You son of a bitch! I'm a cop, you idiot!"
and then Universal would reply
" Well, we used Warner and Blockbusters research and we found full frame is the way to go "
Arnold would then reply
" C'mon Don't Bullshit me ! "

Regards,
Ricky
------------------

www.petitiononline.com/UncutDVD
[Edited last by Ricky f on October 23, 2001 at 05:24 AM]

 

[AaronMK]

Another big one is Twins.
I have probably seen this whole movie, but never straight through, and I can't bring myself to rent the P&S DVD. From what I have seen of this on TV, it is so obvious how much they cropped out to get a 4:3 image. They need to release this one OAR.
That goes for anything for which only a butchered version was released.
------------------
My DVD's
If a movie is not available in OAR, than it might as well not be available at all.

 

[Scott Shanks]

Add Parenthood to that list of butchered nonOAR comedies.

 

[george kaplan]

I understand why these early releases are like this, but I cannot for the life of me understand why they don't get revisited and fixed. Pathetic. I don't know how much it'd cost to put out a widescreen version of these films, but I'd pay $25 for the OAR versions before I'd pay the $10 they're charging for the versions that are currently out there.
------------------
13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Because the idiots at Warner Home Video think that comedies are supposed to be full frame. Someone asked them this in the chat and they incredibly asked whether there was any demand for 1.85 comedies to be issued in widescreen. No wonder Ballbuster and Walmart are calling the shots, when the studio execs are so completely out to lunch.
------------------
"This movie has warped my fragile little mind."

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Not to mention the transfer of TWINS is so bad it looks like a POOR quality VHS tape!
-dave

 

[Jim Moore]

[sarcasm on]Yes, the brilliant framing and compostion of the shots in this film makes it a must have in widescreen.[sarcasm off]

By the way, "bane" has a negative connotation but it seems that you think it is a good comedy. Perhaps I misunderstood.
[Edited last by Jim Moore on October 24, 2001 at 11:29 AM]

 

[george kaplan]

By the way, "bane" has a negative connotation but it seems that you think it is a good comedy. Perhaps I misunderstood.

I think perhaps you did misunderstand. Let me rephrase it.
"Full Frame (pan & scan, non-OAR) is the bane (a bad thing) of comedies on dvd."
In other words, it is sad that studios think they can butcher a movie on dvd, just because it's a comedy, or a kid's movie.
------------------
13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[Justin Doring]

George, thank you for clarifying the confused Jim. And yes, I would gladly pay $25 for anamorphic widescreen versions of these films.
------------------
"Home is where the theater is!"