MovieChat Forums > Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) Discussion > Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio

posted 16 years ago by mike-1828
2 replies | jump to latest

Interesting that IMDB has this as a standard 1.33 AR film at a time when virtually all A features were made WS. And this was an A feature in the UK, not a B as has been suggested elsewhere. I wonder whether it is another open matte print that was masked for Ws showing in cinemas. I'm going to make myself a masked widescreen version from the 4:3 DVD with Virtualdub and see how it looks!

Edit: It does mask well to 1.66:1, with no heads cut off or whatever, so I think it was indeed shot open matte aiming at WS cinema prints.

[–] whitesheik 15 years ago

Of course it was filmed for widescreen - it's very evident throughout the open matte DVD (which looks zoomed in a bit).

[–] DKieckhefer 7 years ago

I have 2 DVDs of Chase a Crooked Shadow. The UK release is in 1:1.33 aspect, and the US release (Warner Archive) is 1:1.78. Comparing the same shots, the British one clearly has extra material, so 1:1.33 must be the correct AR.

Interestingly, the American release features a charming postscript appearance by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. asking viewers to keep the secret. This is missing from the British version.