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This Week's Dvds
Topic Started: Mar 2 2006, 04:59 PM (54,783 Views)
marlin lee
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Received This Island Earth. This is another of those titles which was released before DVD really became popular and has been out of print for some time.
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SuperRog
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I was thinking of getting that but the online reviews I read weren't overflowing with praise on the presentation. I will likely rent it eventually, though.

I received a movie from the 1930s today, the comedy Twentieth Century starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. The quality of this release isn't exactly of archival quality itself, but is probably the best we'll get unless the movie gets a major restoration job.
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marlin lee
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The print of This Island Earth is decent with some specks. Although the packaging has a 2006 copyright date I wonder if this isn't just a rerelease of the earlier DVD. It doesn't have a chapter menu which is highly unusual for a current studio release. Heck it's unusual for any release.
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SuperRog
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Is it in widescreen, though? I also heard it's not in the correct aspect ratio.

I got a phone call yesterday...from an express mail delivery service. I guess it must be for a DVD (I can't think ofo anything else I have coming) but I'm surprised anyone's using an express delivery service for such an item...they couldn't find my apartment yesterday so they'll try again today. I'm now curious to see what I have coming. Maybe somebody's willed me $100,000? :lol:
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Laughing Gravy
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There's a controversy about what the actual ratio for This Island Earth should be; Universal Home Video claims that the film was shot 1.37:1 and I believe them.

I have the new Gojira release, and I'm thinking about the new Criterion Playtime and Seven Samurai (upgrade). Sadly, the NY Times reports that the new "Special Edition" of All the King's Men is just a reissue of the five-year-old DVD with a new promo for the upcoming release, and that the old transfer/print wasn't too hot to begin with. Too bad.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Paul
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Sep 6 2006, 10:43 AM
There's a controversy about what the actual ratio for This Island Earth should be; Universal Home Video claims that the film was shot 1.37:1 and I believe them.

Well, there's no doubt it was shot 1.37:1, but everything I've been reading about this release on various online fora seems pretty convincing that by 1955 the expectation that films shot flat would be matted to widescreen in projection - and hence photographed with that in mind - was well-nigh universal ...heh. It's not a gigantic deal to me - I'll be able to watch it without gritting my teeth - but it would still have been nice if they'd letterboxed it.
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Laughing Gravy
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There are examples around the Internet of how the film looks full-screen vs. how it looks matted, and an awful lot of picture gets blocked out when you mat it.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Paul
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Sep 7 2006, 07:17 AM
There are examples around the Internet of how the film looks full-screen vs. how it looks matted, and an awful lot of picture gets blocked out when you mat it.

I've seen those, as well as the 1.85:1 and 2:1 comparisons posted on the Home Theater Forum, and I think the 2:1 looks a bit too tight. But I think that matting either way not only improves the compositions over full-frame, but gives the film as a whole a more - oh, maybe I'd say grand or epic quality. Not that it is a particularly grand or epic film, mind you, but unmatted it seems rather more ordinary in comparison.

As for blocking out a lot of the picture - well, coming from a still-photography background, I have to say that cropping a negative is one of the all-important tools in the photographic art, so the mere loss of image real estate has never bothered me. It's what's left in that counts.
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Laughing Gravy
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I don't disagree with you, of course, and I guess I'm spoiled because with my wide-screen set, it's a simple matter to "mat" the film myself. But I guess my point is that the film is NOT pan&scan, and I don't have a problem with the full-screen presentation.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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JazzGuyy
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The Savant over at DVDTalk has a lot to say about the aspect ratio issue in his review of the film.

I remember seeing this in the theaters when I was a little kid. I remember it is "academy ratio", i.e. not matted. I suspect that this was one of those movies shown all kinds of ways, depending on what the theater that showed it was equipped for. An awful lot of smaller theaters still couldn't support widescreen films when this came out. New screens and probably projector lenses weren't cheap.
TANSTAAFL!
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panzer the great & terrible
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So, Rogmeister, we're all wild with curiosity. What was it????
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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SuperRog
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Well, I'm embarrassed about it now because it had nothing to do with DVDs or even entertainment...It was a set of forms dealing with my retirement account I had to sign. Oh yes, they couldn't find my apartment the second day, either, so they left them with a total stranger and that guy called me to come pick them up. Why they left them at that particular address, I'll never know...
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SuperRog
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I'm off to a good start as I received 3 titles today...

High Anxiety, Mel Brooks' comedic tribute to Alfred Hitchcock.
Lassie: Flight of the Cougar is one of those cheap 3-episode Lassie discs. In this one, they edited together to be one movie-length adventure.
Steelers: Road To XL featuring all of Pittsburgh's NFL playoff games. How 'bout dem Steelers? ;)

Speaking of Lassie, her new movie started on Sept. 1 but the DVD has already been scheduled and will be out on November 14.
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Laughing Gravy
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That new Lassie picture, which is faithful to the original book, got great reviews but seems to have played in only limited cities.

I did pick up the Criterion Playtime, plus This Island Earth. The Fox Laurel & Hardy, Vol. 2 should be in my mailbox today or tomorrow.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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SuperRog
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I wanted to see the Lassie movie myself (it could've been the first time I'd have been in a movie theater since last October) but it never showed anywhere around here.
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