There are some on top, the ratio was 1.80:1, still long way from 1.85:1 though.

I did watch Fish Tank and quite liked it. On the other hand, I have watched Zombie Flesh-Eaters as well. Glad to see I'm not the only person pedantic enough to put that hyphen in.

So many films (especially big-budget Hollywood ones) are in Scope nowadays that it's a surprise when one isn't - e.g. the new Fright Night, which is 1.85:1 (3D). The 80s original was in Scope.

There are plenty of European arthouse filmmakers who used 1.37:1 into the 70s and beyond, Eric Rohmer for example. I've just watched (for review) four Theo Angelopoulos films from the 70s and they are all in Academy. Then there were all the Dogme 95 films - mostly shot on video, though at least one (Mifune) was 16mm. I'm wondering if digital projection may make non-standard ratios more viable in commercial cinemas - you'd project it in 16:9 with black side matting.

Talking about soundtrack downmixes, another example is Artificial Eye's DVD of The Tree. The ratio is correct (Scope) but the soundtrack on the disc is 2.0.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure currently on ITV1 in OAR. It's immediately being followed by Free Willy 3, so there's a possibility of 2 widescreen showings on the trot

Free Willy 3 not transmitted in 2.35:1 but I've noticed it's not on Libretio's list, so perhaps it wasn't made in 2.35:1 even though number 2 was

Wouldn't dream of leaving it out!! I know that most Fulci fans prefer THE BEYOND, but for me, ZFE is not only the perfect exploitation movie title (there's no way you could mistake the film for an absurdist treatise on the complexities of modern urban ennui, not with THAT title!) but also Fulci's most perfectly-realised film: A beginning, a middle and an end, with lashings of eye-splitting gore along the way, brilliantly brought to life by makeup effects maestro Giannetto De Rossi - not a CGI effect in sight! Take that, Andrea Arnold!


And so many of those same Hollywood films have no business being any wider than 1.85:1. In fact, the vast majority of them aren't any wider than 1.85 - take a look at the compositions, and most are simply 1.85 with the top and bottom shaved off.


If there's a Dolby Digital (ie. 5.1) logo in the closing credits, then Artificial Eye really should know better.


Yep, the third film was strictly 1.85:1, all the better for a quick play-off in cinemas and then straight to DVD obscurity.

By the way, not only did Bill & Ted waltz across our screens at the original 2.39:1 for the first time ever on terrestrial TV this afternoon (with Keanu Reeves at his comic best), but SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET did exactly the same on BBC 2. All the better to appreciate the spectacular scenery (not just Brad Pitt - the Himalayas, too! ).

I missed the ITV broadcast yesterday. Wish I'd seen it for myself as it's a great film (even though I've got it on DVD and also as soon as the widescreen VHS came out).


Don't all companies just use a general Dolby Digital logo, which could even indicate a DD2.0 soundtrack?


I've seen Bill & Ted on C4 in 2.35:1 a few years ago.

No, that would be too confusing. In the mid to late 1990's, Dolby began labelling a number of films as Dolby Digital SR, regardless of whether the film was 2.0 or 5.1, and even regardless of whether it was given Spectral Recording enhancement! This caused immediate controversy, since it was often wholly misleading to cinemagoers and industry projectionists (people would seek out a 5.1 auditorium, only to find that a film they'd thought was in 5.1 had actually been mixed 2.0, despite the credit at the end of the film). Their fingers burned, Dolby backed off from this practice and now labels everything precisely (2.0 films - a rare thing these days - are labelled simply 'Dolby' or, in even rarer cases, 'Dolby Surround'). Some of those mid-1990's films are still labelled incorrectly, though.


Don't remember that one.

Grease currently playing out on Channel 4 in OAR...

FWIW The Tree had Dolby Digital and DTS logos in its closing credits. So a 5.1 track should have been available, especially considering the film dates from 2010.

Dolby SR was a 2.0 format. The first cinema digital sound (5.1) system was Cinema Digital Sound. It's not used any more, but films which did use it included Dick Tracy and Terminator 2 and Edward Scissorhands - all at limited venues as special prints had to be prepared which didn't have an analogue optical track available as a fallback option. I saw all of the above in the cinemas when they came out, but I'm pretty certain I only heard them in Dolby SR.

Dolby Digital arrived in cinemas in 1992 with Batman Returns, DTS (now known as Datasat) in 1993 with Jurassic Park and SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) the same year with The Last Action Hero. All are 5.1 and upwards and have analogue optical tracks available just in case things go wrong.

Nothing new in that. I saw loads of Scope films in the 1980s which were designed to be cropped - basically composed in 4:3 with dead space (or at least, non-speaking characters) at the sides. For really blatant examples, see almost anything directed that decade by Blake Edwards.

There's always been the odd scope film which didn't really take advantage of the wider frame, particularly after the introduction of CinemaScope, when directors who weren't fussed about the wider image were basically forced into using it. The recent screening of THE COCKLESHELL HEROES on BBC 2, in all its scope glory for the first time on terrestrial TV, demonstrated an utter lack of sympathy for the wider frame, with most of the relevant material gathered into 4:3 'blocks' within the image - and this was a movie produced in 1954!

I'm not familiar enough with Edwards' work to assess his use of the scope frame (he used it extensively throughout his career), but there are still plenty of fine examples of 'lateral composition' up to around 1990. Take a look at anything by Lucio Fulci, for example, or THE FINAL CONFLICT and (especially) DePalma's DRESSED TO KILL.

But when VHS became so successful toward the end of the 80's (ie. Hollywood had discovered its potential as an all-encompassing cash-cow), and films were cropped on THAT format, directors simply 'protected for TV'. The number of scope films dropped dramatically, all over the world, and was only revived with the introduction of Super 35, which allowed for the 're-purposing' of images in post. And most films shot in S35 or HD look like they're nothing more than 1.85 or 1.33, cropped down to 2.39.

Notable exceptions include films from China and (especially) India, where S35 has been adopted in a big way, and their scope compositions are usually quite beautiful.

By the way, WHITE MATERIAL premiered on BBC 4 at the original 2.39:1 ratio last night. Another S35 film, though - crap compositions.

I watched Horrible Bosses over the weekend (not great like the hype would have you believe - review here if you want to see why: http://dvdfever.co.uk/?p=3250) and that didn't need to be in 2.35:1. Most straight-forward comedies don't.

I loved 1991's The Hard Way as that had a lot of action in it and John Badham made a great fist of that, but most comedies may as well be in 1.85:1.

I never understood why American Pie 3 was in 2.35:1 but the others were all in 1.85:1. The new one looks as if it is also in 1.85:1. Maybe a different director?

The Gauntlet was on ITV 4 last night in 2.35:1. Probably the only film on TV last night I remember seeing, let alone being broadcast in it's proper ratio, apart from The Bank Job on Film 4.

Just had a flick through most of them on IMDB and they've ALL had a different director, which is unusual. Some of them even have TWO directors. How many does it need?

2.35:1 movies across the Freeview platform for the coming week (26 November - 2 December):


Saturday (26 November)

• BATTLE OF MIDWAY [see: Midway]
• DAMIEN: OMEN II (Film 4)
• FAILURE TO LAUNCH (Film 4)
• THE FINAL CONFLICT (Film 4)
• FLASH GORDON (ITV 4)
• G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (C4)
• THE INCREDIBLES (BBC 3)
• I, ROBOT (E4)
• JACK FROST (ITV 2)
• LAST OF THE DOGMEN (C5)
• MIDWAY (ITV 4)
• MURPHY'S WAR (Film 4)
• THE OMEN (Film 4)
• RED SONJA (5 USA)
• THE RINGER (Film 4)
• SAHARA (More 4)
• THE SCORPION KING (ITV 1)
• THE SINGER NOT THE SONG (ITV 4)
• SINK THE BISMARCK! (More 4)
• STORM OVER THE NILE (Film 4)
• UNTIL DEATH (5 USA)


Sunday (27 November)

• 27 DRESSES (E4)
• ALIEN³ (Film 4)
• APPALOOSA (Film 4)
• BATTLE OF MIDWAY [see: Midway]
• BLOOD WORK (C5)
• CATWOMAN (ITV 2)
• "CROCODILE" DUNDEE II (Film 4)
• THE FIFTH ELEMENT [Le Cinquième Élément] (C5)
• LONDON TO BRIGHTON (BBC 2)
• MIDWAY (ITV 4)
• MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING (C4)
• THE RIDDLE OF THE SANDS (Film 4)
• THE SINGER NOT THE SONG (ITV 4)
• STORMBREAKER (Film 4)
• THUNDERBALL (ITV 4)
• TORPEDO RUN (Film 4)
• TRAINING DAY (ITV 4)


Monday (28 November)

• ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (C4)
• DANCER IN THE DARK (Film 4)
• SEA WIFE (Film 4)
• SHALLOW HAL (5*)
• SNAKES ON A PLANE (Film 4)
• THUNDERBALL (ITV 4)
• YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ITV 4)


Tuesday (29 November)

• 23 PACES TO BAKER STREET (Film 4)
• BASIC INSTINCT 2 (Film 4)
• THE CONTRACT (5 USA)
• DRAGONFLY (BBC 1)
• FEAST OF LOVE (Film 4)
• FLASH GORDON (ITV 4)
• MAX PAYNE (Film 4)
• NED KELLY (ITV 4)
• STORMBREAKER (Film 4)
• THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (ITV 1)
• THE WOODLANDERS (Film 4)
• YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (ITV 4)


Wednesday (30 November)

• THE 51st STATE (Film 4)
• DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (ITV 4)
• ENTRAPMENT (Film 4)
• I, ROBOT (E4)
• JOURNEY TO SHILOH (ITV 4)
• THAT TOUCH OF MINK (C4)
• THREE KINGS (ITV 2)


Thursday (1 December)

• "CROCODILE" DUNDEE II (Film 4)
• DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (ITV 4)
• THE HOUSE OF MIRTH (Film 4)
• INSIDE MAN (ITV 2)
• KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE (C4) [CinemaScope (2.55:1)]
• NONE BUT THE BRAVE (Film 4)
• TORA! TORA! TORA! (Film 4)
• TRAINING DAY (ITV 4)
• TRANSFORMERS (Film 4)


Friday (2 December)

• BLACK HAWK DOWN (C5)
• THE CROSSING GUARD (BBC 2)
• THE DaVINCI CODE (5*)
• EVER AFTER (E4)
• FEARLESS [霍元甲] (ITV 1)
• FRANKLYN (C4)
• LAST OF THE DOGMEN (C5)
• MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED & FABULOUS (ITV 2)
• MURPHY'S WAR (Film 4)
• NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (ITV 4)
• SINK THE BISMARCK! (More 4)
• THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES OR HOW I FLEW FROM TO LONDON TO PARIS IN 25 HOURS 11 MINUTES (Film 4) [Todd-AO (2.21:1)]

Enter The Dragon is currently on ITV1 in OAR. Whether or not it's the James Firman approved version or the uncut version I don't know.

Meanwhile, Snake Eyes is on BBC1 in OAR.

Not here it isn't?

Sorry; you're quite right. Think I need new glasses

If you see a sequence where Bruce uses nunchukas (chainsticks), it's the uncut version.

Didn't see that, missed the Chuck Norris bit as well.

ITV has been running the uncut version of ETD for some time now, since it's been 11 years since the BBFC lifted its ridiculous prohibition on 'exotic' weaponry (I still haven't forgiven Ferman for this rampant idiocy, especially the fact that he was able to get away with it for a quarter of a bleedin' century!!). It looked like the same scope version I saw on ITV 4 earlier this year, so it probably contained the nunchaku sequences. There would be no reason to edit them out for this particular showing.

The opening credits of SNAKE EYES were in scope, but the print switched to 1.78:1 at a certain point. This was especially egregious, since De Palma is one of the few US directors who makes full use of the v-e-e-e-r-y w-i-i-i-d-e screen, with no concessions to TV whatsoever. In other words, a real filmmaker, not a TV hack masquerading as a filmmaker (cough! - Peter Jackson, James Cameron - cough!).

More DVD stupidity:

You'd think a film starring Denzel Washington (who also directed) and Forest Whitaker would get a shot at a theatrical release in the UK, right? Not so THE GREAT DEBATERS, which went straight to video over here. Shot in 35mm anamorphic (Panavision), it was decided by the idiots* over at High Fliers to crop the DVD version down to 1.78:1. I switched the bloody thing off after about 20 seconds and have sent it back to my rental service, unwatched.

*'Idiots' is too loose a term for the idiots at High Fliers. Because of the restrictions on language here, I can't say what I really feel about this malarkey. I've seen too many films over the last few months cropped and compromised on home video by small distributors who seem to think they can get away with such stupidity because no one will notice, or care. And a film like TGD is hardly likely to warrant a major re-release anytime soon, so we're basically stuck with what we've been given. It makes my sodding blood boil.

I watched my recording of AVALANCHE EXPRESS yesterday, taken from the recent screening on C4, and the scope frame really DID make a difference to the film (it's been screened a number of times recently on other channels, always cropped to buggery). I enjoyed it a hell of a sight more than another scope film, G.I. JOE: RISE OF THE COBRA, also screened of late on C4, which seemed braindead by comparison. Not that AE was ever in danger of winning an Oscar, but it was still a great deal more watchable than the synthetic G.I. Joe rubbish, which made NO capital of its scope frame whatsoever (both films were shot in 35mm anamorphic).

I only mention AE in passing because I was surprised to find that the film is not available on DVD in the UK, which makes the scope screening on C4 all the more invaluable.

I was surprised GI Joe wasn't shoved into an early evening timeslot like a lot of premieres on C4 lately (even if some of them are cut) as it looked like a kids film rather than a 9pm one.

That will probably happen soon enough. There are some films which they absolutely refuse to show in a post-watershed slot, thereby requiring significant cuts (EYE OF THE NEEDLE springs to mind) on every single screening.

Making matters worse, there's no consistency from film to film: The 2004 remake of FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX is routinely scrubbed clean of PG-level swearing for a pre-watershed slot (it's had a small number of uncut post-watershed showings, too), whereas the same level of profanity is almost always left intact for pre-watershed screenings of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and COACH CARTER, the latter of which contains an eye-watering amount of such language.