UK video alert - YS and AHDN

BBC showing Yellow Sub and Hard Day's Night on Saturday afternoon.

Yellow Sub doesn't really matter, because the mono soundtrack is on the DVD, but the last time AHDN was shown on UK TV they showed the original mono version Not a tarted up soundtrack in sight! Hopefully it'll be the correct 4:3 version as well!

Fingers crossed!


Nobby

 

"A Hard Day's Night's" OAR is actually 1:66.

 

Re: Re: UK video alert - YS and AHDN

The DVD may be, but I was under the impression that had been cropped to give a widescreen appearance?


I'll let yuo know later on!

 

The 'YS' DVD is missing at least 30-45 minutes of the mono soundtrack. They goofed somehow and used a downmix of the 5.1...

Todd

 

Yup...AHDN was Full Frame...Just love seeing all of John, Paul, George and Ringo! in all their Full Frame Glory! LOL! Moaninjoan12pac got their way on that one! Gotta fill those Expensive 16 X 9'ers...Hey! Doesn't everybody have one of those?...I have both DVD releases and ALL the VHS releases which are rightly Full Frame...So, I'm set on my HDN collection!

 

Well... the BBC showed the stereo DVD version of YS.


A Hard Day's Night was mono with the enhanced soundtrack (like the DVD), but appeared to be full screen!?

Have a look...

top is DVD, bottom is TV.

I've adjusted the contrast as the DVD still was a bit dark.

 

I know it was shot in full frame, or "open matte," but its original intended theatrical aspect ratio is 1:66.

 

Missed both of these...didn't know the BBC were showing them. Ironically, me and my girlfriend were watching a VHS recording of the "Birth Of The Beatles" TV movie earlier this afternoon.

 

Yes it was shot OPEN MATTE and no it wasn't intended for 1:66, It was forced to 1:66 to accommodate the movie screen...For AHDN...I enjoy the full frame...all of it In the case of true widescreen as in 2:35...I don't approve of the butchering that comes with a P & S 1.33 version, say for instance...BRAVEHEART, the P&S is a hackjob at it's best...The opposite goes for "There's Something About Mary" that was originally FULL FRAME and lost much top and bottom info in the 1:85 DVD...Widescreen when appropriate is wonderful...When it becomes a pain in the ass to please the Moaninjoan12pacs who at any cost want their 16X 9's filled up! We all don't own a 16 X 9...and when I do It will not replace my main TV...

 

Yes,That does sound blissful! Heck, The MPI AHDN DVD would've been just as good...well almost as good.

 

In that case you should object to the 4:3 versions of AHDN as well. All home video releases of AHDN with a 4:3 aspect ratio are missing some picture on the sides, which are visible only on the new DVD.

 

I'll take the lesser of two evils..The FULL FRAME version...

 

This is wrong. You were never meant to see the extra information on the full frame discs, it was COMPOSED for the 1.85:1 aspect ratio as it was ORIGINALLY shown in the theaters. The negative was full frame only, and the positives were CROPPED in the theaters. I have no beef at all that you prefer filling up your 4:3. I own one myself. So do the vast majority of humans, so I'm not sure why the crack about Moaninjoan12pacs and their 16:9 televisions. However, the manufacturers of these DVD's are not screwing with the artistic intent of these films JUST to have them fill up 16:9 TV's. Cropped is how they were MEANT to be seen.

 

Exactly!

 

Correct. A great many films are shot open-matte, but the correct aspect ratio for viewing is whatever the director or cinematographer (or whoever calls the shots about how the movie should be seen) says it is. The mere fact that a camera negative is in a certain aspect ratio doesn't mean that the film struck from it is meant to be viewed that way; it's like saying that the song "Let It Be" should be heard with the two guitar solos going simultaneously just because they're both on the multitrack master tape.

AHDN is in 1.37:1 unmatted, but the original 1964 prints from UA had the notation "1.66" on the leaders as a guide to projectionists. And there is the statement from Paul Rutan, who did the restoration on the film and was told by Walter Shenson that, for budgetary reasons, the production had to cut back on the number of extras for the concert sequences, which was all right because the empty seats aren't visible when matted out.

I'm not saying that the recent AHDN DVD is definitive. Far from it. The bogus 5.1 remix is a travesty, and there's too little input in the extra material from people we'd want to hear from and too much from the likes of hairdressers and bit players. But it's closer to the movie as originally seen in theaters than any previous consumer release has ever gotten, and until someone sees fit to really get it right in another reissue, it's the best we've got.