Touch of Evil (50th Anniversary Edition) 10-07-08 (See Post# 14) (1 Viewer)

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

This Island Earth was 2:1.

The Killers was shot for TV as I understand. Quite the exception. Almost every American film, and certainly every major studio film, made from 1954-55 onwards were shot for widescreen

 

[Simon Howson]

Interesting. Looks like he has only been released on DVD full frame.

 

[John Hodson]

Not so; see The Beaver.

 

[Simon Howson]

The widescreen one looks like 1.85:1 to me. I doubt it will ever be released 2:1 if that was the OAR.

 

[seanOhara]

The Killers was filmed as a TV movie, and only got a theatrical exhibition when the network refused to air it.

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[John Hodson]

The last showing of 'The Tall T' I saw looked perfectly composed at 1.85:1.

 

[Patrick McCart]

It's obvious that it refers to Welles wanting to shoot in CinemaScope since all but 4-7 of Universal's 28 feature releases in 1957 were shot anamorphic. Like most 1.85:1 films shot on normal 35mm, it was certainly shot "full frame" 1.37:1, but always with 1.85:1 matting in mind.

 

[BillyFeldman]

I have to believe you're being argumentative for no reason other than to be argumentative, therefore I shall not respond beyond this one post:

Everyone here uses 1:85 when talking about 1:85:1 - so if you think you're being clever, you're not.

See the post below about the 2:1 This Island Earth and other Universal films.

The Killers was not filmed for theatrical exhibition, it was filmed for television and later it was decided to put it into theaters, where it was shown in the only way it could be shown in theaters - 1:85. So, bad example. No late 1950s film in the US for theatrical exhibition was shot in Academy ratio because 98% of the theaters could not have shown it.

Chimes At Midnight should be either 1:66 or 1:85 - full frame is not correct and just because you thought it looked fine doesn't make it right.

If you want any further response from me, try being a little less snarky.

 

[BillyFeldman]

You are so right. It appears that Simon Howson needs a little history lesson in aspect ratios.

 

[Ruz-El]

I never did buy the restored version of this, I've only seen the whatever version was issued on VHS. can't wait for the set to come out!

 

[Simon Howson]

I assume this is you in your least snarky mode? Get over yourself.

 

[James 'Tiger' Lee]

There is studio documentation dictating that This Island Earth was to be shown at 2.1. It's not some illogical assumption, its simple facts

 

[David_B_K]

Unfortunately, many have only seen the reconstructed version on DVD or TCM. I certainly prefer the reconstruction, but I saw the old theatrical version so many times over the years, that it has always bothered me that nobody sees it anymore. You almost cannot appreciate the improvement in the reconstruction without seeing the old one, with the music and credits over the opening scene.

 

[Simon Howson]

Well that makes all the DVDs defective. It also makes me wonder why Universal's DVD is 1.85:1.

 

[BillyFeldman]

I'm sure he won't believe that either. I wonder if he replies to each and every post here where someone abbreviates 1:85 - seems pretty obvious what everyone's talking about when they do it, but no, we get a history lesson in mathematics. I'm fairly certain that he didn't know what an aspect ratio was prior to the advent of DVD. I wonder if he's a teenager, because his snarkiness would sure lead one to believe he is. I guess there are always people like this on these types of boards. I see no further reason for discourse with someone like that who's being vitriolic - and for what reason?

 

[Simon Howson]

LOL! There you go again.

 

[seanOhara]

The Universal DVD of This Island Earth is 1.37:1, as are many of the films in their sci-fi box sets -- the only exception is The Incredible Shrinking Man, where the FX shots were hard matted, forcing them to do the entire film that way.

 

[Simon Howson]

The Universal PAL (region 2,4,5) version is 1.85:1 I must admit I'm finding it puzzling that Universal released this film full frame for the NTSC transfer, when many in this thread are convinced it is meant to be shown in the uncommon 2:1 ratio.

I'm happy to step out on a limb and say that if the film was released on 35mm anamorphic prints (like SuperScope) then it is probably true that 2:1 was the intended ratio. But if the film was released on flat prints, then 1.85:1 is more likely right. It doesn't make sense to me that a studio would crop a film to 2:1, but not utilise most of a CinemaScope screen's width.

But anyway, back to Touch of Evil...

 

[Eric Peterson]

Any sign of cover art yet?

 

[Simon Howson]