VOTD: ‘On the Waterfront’ Featurette Offers Explains Classic Film Ratio Differences and Uses
Posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 by Russ Fischer
We’re long past the time when the arguments over aspect ratio is among the most loudest parts of the discussion of a home video release. Widescreen TVs have become standard, and the old pan-and-scan transfers that cropped the sides of a film to fit classic televisions without letterboxing are increasingly a thing of the past.*
But for older films, questions of presentation persist. Criterion is taking the relatively unusual step of packing three presentations of On the Waterfront onto the film’s new Blu-ray and DVD release: you can see the movie in 1.33, 1.66, and 1.85 ratios. A new featurette explains not only the reason for that decision, but the relative virtues of each aspect ratio. It’s a great video that compresses some important film info into just a few minutes. Read More »
