Originally Posted by PhilH36:
“Another UK oddity with the Die Hard films was that the full screen/4:3 VHS release of Die Hard 2 was a 15 whilst the widescreen version was an 18.”
That's because the BBFC passed a cut version for cinema at 15, then allowed an uncut widescreen version at 18 for VHS release (alongside a censored 15 full-screen print). Ferman put a stop to this pretty sharpish, deciding that films passed with cuts for cinema (ie. cut for category, in order to reach a wider audience, rather than censorship
per se) could no longer be restored for video, using a completely self-serving argument that the cinema rating created an expectation amongst audiences - particularly parents - for the video print that would be compromised if different versions were allowed from one platform to another. It was an outrageous assertion, but perfectly in keeping with Ferman's ridiculous notion that the BBFC was some kind of moral arbiter, and that the working classes
must be protected from the worst excesses of Hollywood action cinema of the time. Gawd gimme strength...
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER and THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS premiered across the C4 platform at the original 2.39:1 yesterday, as expected, but E4 ran yet another cropped/reframed version of ALASKA. I'm sure that one has played on Film 4 at the original ratio.
DEVILS OF DARKNESS was shown on BBC 2 the other night at 16:9, but it looked like a 1.37:1 print windowboxed within the 16:9 frame, with huge mattes at either side and tiny slivers at top and bottom. It looks like this was the same print used by Odeon Entertainment for their letterboxed 4:3 DVD, since it contained all material excised by the BBFC in the mid-1960's and subsequently restored for home video. I was hoping jzee would be able to confirm the actual ratio of the presentation, but I've never seen a film shown like this (to such an extreme) on TV before. Maybe they thought such a scrappy 1960's screamie - broadcast in the middle of the night - would go completely unnoticed?...
Just for the record, DOD was released on DVD in the US at 1.85:1, but the amount of cropping suggested the actual ratio was probably 1.66:1.