MovieChat Forums > Tall Man Riding (1955) Discussion > Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio

posted 14 years ago by oldblackandwhite
5 replies | jump to latest

Was this movie actually released in 1.66:1 aspect ratio or designed to be projector masked to that ratio? My beautifully restored Warner DVD shows it at 1.33:1, and there doesn't seem enough extra space at top and bottom to mask it any. It certainly was not a 1:66 further masked at the ends as some old, poor reproductions do. I have had other movies which were presented unmasked but originally intended to be shown at 1.66:1 (my mediocre copy of Dementia 13 being a case in point),and I have used the "movie expand" option on my Digital TV. This expands the picture proportionally vertically and horizontally so that it shows the picture at 1.77:1 ratio. Most unmasked movies designed for 1.66:1 look pretty good that way. With this one, however, it cut off the top of the credits and the tops of player's heads too much. So I just watched it in the 1.33:1 mode, and it looked quiet good. But it did not look as if it was designed to be masked at all.

Anyone else have any toughts on this?

He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45

[–] ronwall173 13 years ago

My Samsung monitor expands the image and only loses a little in the top and bottom, not enough to make a difference, even the credits fit. The original 4:3 seems to be anamorphic and normal at 16:9. The wide fit doesn't bloat the image too much so the actors still look normal not fat. The wide fit also doesn't blur the image.

[–] jonkennedy 9 years ago

According to the tech specs here it was shot at 1.37:1 It also lists 1.66:1. Maybe those were prints to be used on the new (for the time) wide screens theaters were intalling for CinemaScope and other wide-formats? Just a WAG.

Just saw it on TCM and they showed it in the 4:3 ratio, fwiw. I gave up on "stretching" such films a long time ago. When TCM was in SD, everything was fine, but in HD, stretching a 4:3 image to 16:9 just to fill the TV screen makes everthing unacceptably distorted to me.

[–] oldblackandwhite 9 years ago

jonkennedy: "...stretching a 4:3 ratio to 16:9 just to fill the TV screen makes everything unacceptably distorted to me."

Would to me, also. The only appropriate case to do so would be if the picture showed such extra space at top and bottom as to indicate it was designed for masking to a wide screen ratio. In which case you would use the "zoom" or "screen expand" function, which expands the image proportionately both vertically and horozonally, thus no distortion. If you use the "widescreen" or "16:9" functions, you get distortion.

------------

He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45

[–] Ambak 8 years ago

The copyright date for this on the DVD sleeve is 1950. It certainly looks to me like a 1.37:1 Academy ratio film. Did it really sit on the shelf for five years?

[–] oldblackandwhite 8 years ago

Ambak:

The copyright date on the DVD cover is indeed 1950, but it must be a misprint. The copright date in the opening credits is 1954. You have to have a maginifying glass to get the former and know how to read Roman numerals for the later.

---------

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45