MovieChat Forums > The Far Country (1954) Discussion > The Far Country should be offered in Let...

The Far Country should be offered in Letterbox format on DVD

posted 10 years ago by triumphirs
4 replies | jump to latest

Haven't seen this one in a while & considered ordering DVD BUT Universal Western Collection's offering is Full Screen rather than Letterbox & Full Screen which is best for those that like to see the whole scene & for those that like more close up viewing. Anthony Mann & his cinematographers used the scenery as another character whether B & W or blazing Technicolor Cinemascope & did so VERY WELL! Why wasn't this offered in Letterbox, certainly being a selling point?

All 5 Stewart/Mann films mentioned in The best of the Stewart-Mann Westerns thread are some of the best Westerns & "The Tin Star" very good in B & W with Fonda & Anthony Perkins.

Mann's "T-Men" & "Border Incident" also very good films noir.

"Man of the West" with Coop, Cobb, Dehner, Lord & Dano giving great performances & Julie London being great scenery also, but only adequate in acting, another great one from Mann. Recently got Coop's "The Hanging Tree" DVD, another great one directed by Delmer Daves.

Too Damn Bad the old movie theaters aren't around much anymore. Seeing a Cinemascope Technicolor Western on a BIG screen WAS an experience. Just not the same in a small multiplex or even on our big TV screens available now.

[–] miles_meservy 10 years ago

DVD from "James Stewart: The Western Collection" is letterboxed to 1.85. Apparently Universal made good in 2008 what they didn't do right in 2003.

[–] Vega_Lyra 10 years ago

Yes, just don't pay attention to the box. It's incorrectly labeled as being full screen. I have it in my DVD player as we speak and it's definitely Anamorphic Widescreen. Very nice picture for a DVD of an old film.

Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.

[–] cold_sky 9 years ago

Yeah I was gung-ho to watch this and it's 1.37 and grainy as all get-out.

Universal Western Collection.

So I'll slap a little note on it to promulgate my disappointment and return it to the library posthaste. 

[–] alserrano 9 years ago

Just a note: in DVD Beaver they explain that the "letterbox" was actually one example of "open matte", meaning that it was letterboxed for cinema. Meaning that the 1.37 has "more information" than the letterboxed one, which is actually cropped.

And for what I see in the screenshots, the 1.37 edition is the most detailed of the ones available and the least grainy.

That said, yes, the letterboxed version is preferred. As this is the one that has proper compositions.