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original aspect ratio & original length released in theaters

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Darkhoarse820:

--- Quote from: archiezappa on June 08, 2008, 03:19:45 PM ---Thanks for the info on the aspect ratios.  I was wondering about that.  Very interesting.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, really.  I was curious how the older stock footage would be handled in newer shorts.  It's a shame it can't be done properly, though, but I understand.  It's the same with HD type shows.  when a commerical is not HD, it fits differently on the screen than the actual HD quality picture.

thephotoplayer:

--- Quote from: BeAStooge on June 08, 2008, 02:58:44 PM ---Film collector/historian/preservationist/etc., Bob Furmanek is an expert on this topic. In regard to the Stooges' films, some months ago, he provided these comments on the Home Theater Forum website...
"Composed for widescreen"... Does this mean that it was shot in 1.37, but the image was composed for 1.85 to accommodate 35mm widescreen prints?
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I know Bob and he knows what he's talking about (he's run every stooge short in 35mm a number of times).  You can take what he says to the bank.

When studios shot their flat pictures (not so much anymore), they'd compose the image in the viewfinder that had lines for the widescreen section of the image.  As with all other films, the "widescreen" portion is done in the projector with an aperture plate that masks the unwanted part of the image off-- in effect, cropping it.  But the image on the film itself is a full-frame 1.37 image, left there for various reasons (theaters not wide, overcut aperture plates, and eventually TV).

Columbia was pretty on-the-ball about the whole thing.  They started shooting all of their films this way in the Spring of 1953, and made a big deal about how SPOOKS! was one of their first shorts not only to be in 3-D, but widescreen as well.


--- Quote ---Was STOP, LOOK & LAUGH handled the same way?
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As I recall, all of the old footage in STOP, LOOK & LAUGH was optically framed down in the printer, so that when the film was being shown widescreen, nothing was cropped that shouldn't be.  You'd end up with these big black bars on the top or the bottom.  Same thing was done with THE WORLD OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO and many of those silent-era Robert Youngston films.



--- Quote ---All the 1960s Columbia features were shot in 1.85?
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Absolutely.  In fact, if you don't run them wide, there are a number of gaffes that arise that shouldn't be seen, like IN ORBIT, where you see the exterior of the space-ship set ends about 10 feet up, or where Joe has that spring mechanism at the party at the end of the film, you can see the mechanism pulling it.  Similarly, when the giant picks up Moe in MEET HERCULES, run full-ap, you can see the harness pulling him up.

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