Cheers L

If LTROI is not in OAR you will of course be waking up tomorrow with a horses head in your bed

It certainly was. I didn't mention it, because it's been screened that way before on ITV 2 (or was it ITV 4?).

Channel 5 using the same 2.35:1 print of Lara Croft Tomb Raider as BBC1 last New Year.

Personally, I think it's not a bad film, but not brilliant.

LTROI duly screened at 2.39:1. My bed duly horseless.

By the way, KING ARTHUR 'premiered' at 2.39:1 over on BBC 3, the first time the Beeb has shown it this way. If you missed it, the film is repeated later this week.

Indeedy. Watched it last night- in HD. Beatifully filmed,directed and acted. Horsebox was cancelled at 3am.

Checked out Thirst and it is in OAR as well, but haven't watched it yet.

No idea, but I can't imagine it being on ITV4 as it doesn't fit their remit.

They might show Free Willy: The Director's Cut as men would find that amusing (cue Simpsons reference )

Part of me thought that one of hte Ice Age films was in 2.35:1, but IMDB confirms they're all 1.85:1. Not sure which one I mixed it up with in my mind as I didn't know Happy Feet was 2.35:1 until ITV once showed it that way.

It bears repeating that reliance on the IMDb for 'confirmation' of tech matters is a bit of a lost cause. In the case of the Ice Age series, they got it right, but there's so much tech info on there that's demonstrably wrong (not to mention wrong-headed!), it's pointless trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. I know you know this anyway, but just in case a lesser mortal happens to stroll through here and is left thinking the IMDb is the be-all-and-end-all of tech info. The site is good for a lot of other things, but not when it comes to AR's, 3-D notations, etc.

By the way, might you have been getting mixed up with the Shrek films? The first four were 1.85:1, but the fourth (SHREK FOREVER AFTER) went scope and 3-D.

Indeed. I was trying to find out that ratio of the new Wuthering Heights film as the clip on Film 24 on BBC News was 4:3 and that's how I saw the trailer online. IMDB lists "1.33:1" and apparently the BBC2 Review Show, after Newsnight on Friday, also commented that it's in 4:3. Seems very odd.


And also for Puss in Boots, the new spinoff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55gmAtakjJ4

The goonies on GOLD was shown in 2.35.1.

And surprisingly for an afternoon showing,uncut too

Sat down to watch Romance & Cigarettes. Thought lovely, it's in the correct aspect ratio. Sadly, once the onscreen credits had finished playing over the opening scenes it switched to 16:9.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift is in 2.35:1, but it isn't out until next year! The first 3 are in 1.85:1.

I meant to say the first three were 1.85:1. In the immortal words of a certain Mr. Simpson: D'oh!

Paddy: Could I ask where you heard the fourth Ice Age film is in scope format? It doesn't surprise me if the film is wider than its predecessors, since scope has always seemed a natural for 3-D films, regardless of James Cameron's idiotic arguments to the contrary.

Didn't Watch show it recently too but in 16:9 and cut? I also think GOLD are the only non-movie channel to show The Goonies uncut during the day and in its OAR. Top marks to them

I still don't see the point in cutting PG rated films during the day. How many of us have TCM or the movie channels and see them everyday uncut. I think other channels should just show them as it was proven people don't really care that much anymore.

The short spin-off (which is also doubling as the teaser trailer) to promote Ice Age 4 called Scrat's Continental Crack-Up is in 2.35:1. I also remember reading an article on a movie website where they interviewed some of the crew who mentioned that the 4th film will be 2.35:1 and has some scenes framed at 1.44:1 for IMAX.

Oh, and The Goonies has been rated 12 by the BBFC for the hanging scene at the start. If that wasn't in GOLD's broadcast, then they didn't show it uncut! The hanging scene was removed from Channel 5's recent showing and they broadcast it in 1.85:1, the only thing in 2.35:1 was the Warner Bros. logo! Why they didn't crop that too is a mystery...!

Thanks for that confirmation, Paddy. I was aware of the short film you mentioned, but I didn't think it related to the fourth film in the Ice Age series.


Unfortunately, I think people DO care about such things - or, at least, broadcasters think they do. I noticed the word 'bastard' was muted during the afternoon screening of the PG-rated THE COCKLESHELL HEROES, and that's true of most PG-level swear words (C4's screenings of THE CHINA SYNDROME, for example, appear to have a stutter on the soundtrack, given the amount of times a certain 'S' word is uttered by people who are flapping their lips with no sound coming out of their gobs!).

More DVD stuff to avoid: Lionsgate's disc release of the 2006 film THR3E is cropped to 1.78:1 from the original 2.39:1.

It was filmed 35mm anamorphic, too, so the cropping is especially horrendous, especially since there doesn't seem to have been too much attention paid to the pan-scanning.

Thank god it was only a rental...

It was shown,i was waiting for the cut for when the policeman goes in the jail and then the film jumps outside to where there waiting for him to escape but it never happened and thats why i carried on watching to see if they cut out when Chunk says s**t when milk shake goes over him 2 mins later but again was not cut

Andrea Arnold's previous film Fish Tank was also in Academy Ratio (1.33:1 or strictly speaking 1.37:1). She obviously likes the ratio. I haven't seen her first film Red Road but I don't think it's in Academy, though.

Another recent film in the same ratio is Meek's Cutoff.

Ah, I didn't realise that was hers. I saw a few mins of Fish Tank on BBC HD a while back and turned it off, it was so dull. However, it does confirm that WH will be 4:3. She is clearly a very odd woman.

'Odd', perhaps, in the sense that few people will see such films, yet they tend to be the ones covered most on movie sites and film magazines (buried beneath the Hollywood mainstream stuff, natch). There's a place for such films, but I can't see the point of something so screamingly dull. There again, I'm not the target audience (I'm in the auditorium next door, where there's a revival double-bill of ZOMBIE FLESH-EATERS and SWEDISH EROTIC SEXATIONS!).

As for the Academy (1.37:1) ratio, I think I would have preferred the retention of this in the early 1950's, rather than the introduction of cropped 1.85:1, since the difference between 1.37 and 2.35/9 is incredibly vast, and REALLY makes a visual difference, whereas there isn't that much of a difference between 1.85 and scope, especially nowadays with an overabundance of closeups and quick cuts which work against the scope frame. Japanese and Russian filmmakers continued using 1.37 well into the 1970's, alongside scope films, and they were no more or less visually inventive than their 1.85 counterparts.

By the way, one last point about Lionsgate's DVD version of THR3E: Not only is the image cropped, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack heard in cinemas has been downmixed to 2-channel stereo. Talk about throwing away a DVD release!!

2.35:1 movies across the Freeview platform for the coming week (19 - 25 November):

Two unknown quantities in C4's annual season of Indian movies nest week: I'm fairly certain PADATIK (Saturday) is NOT scope, but I was unable to confirm the AR of JAANE BHI DO YAARO (Monday). Online clips are 1.33:1, but these could be cropped from a wider ratio. We'll find out for certain when C4 broadcasts their own print, but I just thought I'd give a heads-up.

On with the list of those films I have been able to confirm:


Saturday (19 November)

• AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (Film 4)
• BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (ITV 1)
• CAHILL: UNITED STATES MARSHAL (C5)
• CHEYENNE AUTUMN (Film 4) [Super Panavision 70 (2.21:1)]
• DEEP BLUE SEA (ITV 1)
• DREAMGIRLS (Film 4)
• ENDURING LOVE (Film 4)
• GODZILLA (5*)
• HOOK (5*)
• JAWS III [Jaws 3-D] (ITV 4)
• KNOWING (C4)
• McQ (C5)
• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (E4)
• MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM (ITV 1)
• RED SONJA (5 USA)
• SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (BBC 2)
• SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (ITV 3)
• A TIME TO KILL (More 4)
• TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA (5 USA)
• A VIEW TO A KILL (ITV 4)
• THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY (5 USA)


Sunday (20 November)

• ALEXANDER (ITV 2)
• "CROCODILE" DUNDEE (Film 4)
• FRANKLYN (Film 4)
• GREASE (C4)
• HOOK (5*)
• THE INCREDIBLES (BBC 3)
• JACK FROST (ITV 2)
• THE KINGDOM (ITV 4)
• LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER - THE CRADLE OF LIFE (C5)
• THE MEDALLION (C5)
• SCENES OF A SEXUAL NATURE (BBC 2)
• THE WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY (5 USA)
• WHITE MATERIAL (BBC 4)
• YOURS, MINE AND OURS (C5)


Monday (21 November)

• AVALANCHE EXPRESS (C4)
• THE BANK JOB (Film 4)
• BATMAN BEGINS (ITV 2)
• FAILURE TO LAUNCH (Film 4)
• THE GAUNTLET (ITV 4)
• IDENTITY (C5)
• NORTH TO ALASKA (Film 4)
• TORPEDO RUN (Film 4)


Tuesday (22 November)

• THE CONQUEROR (Film 4) [CinemaScope (2.55:1)]
• JAWS III [Jaws 3-D] (ITV 4)
• K-PAX (Film 4)
• THE NEON BIBLE (Film 4)
• SEA WIFE (Film 4)
• SHALLOW HAL (5*)
• STORM OVER THE NILE (Film 4)
• UNTIL DEATH (5 USA)
• WHITE MATERIAL (BBC 4)


Wednesday (23 November)

• 27 DRESSES (E4)
• BETTER THINGS (Film 4)
• DONNIE DARKO (BBC 1)
• THE GAUNTLET (ITV 4)
• GOODBYE LOVER (C4)
• THE HOUSE OF MIRTH (Film 4)
• MONSTERS (Film 4)
• THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS (Film 4)
• THE RINGER (Film 4)


Thursday (24 November)

• THE CONTRACT (5 USA)
• "CROCODILE" DUNDEE (Film 4)
• JULIA (More 4)
• THE KINGDOM (ITV 4)
• NOWHERE BOY (Film 4)


Friday (25 November)

• BLACK SNAKE MOAN (Film 4)
• ENTER THE DRAGON (ITV 1)
• MAX PAYNE (Film 4)
• NORTH TO ALASKA (Film 4)
• SAHARA (More 4)
• SNAKE EYES (BBC 1)
• TEARS OF THE SUN (C5)
• TORA! TORA! TORA! (Film 4)

Hellboy II in OAR i.e. 1.85:1 rather than cropped to 16:9 on ITV1/ HD. EDIT actually not quite, ratio is 1.8:1, half way there I suppose EDIT actually 28% of the way there:yawn:.

Just looked on ITV1+1. It is 16:9, not 1.85:1. Very little difference, obviously, but there are no black bars on my plasma TV.