MovieChat Forums > The Terror (1963) Discussion > Restored Widescreen Version?

Restored Widescreen Version?

posted 19 years ago by bok602
9 replies | jump to latest

A Halloween or two ago I was watching AMC [American Movie Classics] and saw that they were going to be showing The Terror, so I tuned in to watch it that night.

I had missed the first few minutes, so when I did tune in, I was astounded beyond words to find myself watching a bright, clean, pristine condition letterboxed version of this film.

From previous cut-rate DVDs which included the trailer, I'm aware that it was supposed to be shown widescreen, but I've never seen nor heard of such a version ever being released.

Also, up until the AMC broadcast, every single print I've ever seen -whether on TV or vhs or DVD- has been one crappy, beat-up, faded washed out print after another. This new AMC print was as glorious a restoration as I've ever seen.

Does anyone know if this print has been released? Or when and if AMC has plans of showing it again?

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] CJ_076 19 years ago

Thta's weird as AMC does not show widescreen versions of movies.

[–] bok602 19 years ago

They did. That's also how I got my widescreen version of THE BIG TRAIL.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] CJ_076 19 years ago

I only saw the widescreen version of "The Big Trail" on the Fox Movie Channel.

[–] bok602 19 years ago

AMC showed the widescreen BIG TRAIL several years back during their Film Preservation Celebration.

Then, as I said, about two years ago they showed an immaculately restored, letterbox version of THE TERROR. It was literally night-and-day how perfect a print they had was. It looked fresh and new and the image was as clear and perfect as any Golden Age Technicolor film from a major studio taken from the original camera negative -the print was that good.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] HSauer 18 years ago

They also showed the letterboxed TOMB OF LIGEIA (however that's spelled) and HAUNTED PALACE years before they came out on DVD. Apparently these were laserdisc releases and yes, AMC showed them (once or twice, at least). This was at the time they were starting to air commercials between -- not during -- their films. Then they began inserting one commercial break in the middle of each film . . . and then the bottom fell out and their whole format changed. Anyway, up until about 2001/2002 they were adamant about showing letterboxed films -- I taped many movies from AMC and lots of my tapes have a little segment they ran as filler, which featured famous movie people talking about how much you miss when you see a fullscreen presentation of HOW THE WEST WAS WON or BEN-HUR.

[–] leeestrada 17 years ago

April 6 2007
TCM will show the letterboxed version uncut

[–] zardoz-13 17 years ago

Dear bok602,
I am happy to hear someone agree with me that "The Terror" was lensed in the widescreen process. IMDB.COM says it was 1.85.1., but when I saw it as a kid in the theatre it looked more like 2.35.1. Now, some idiot on the Yahoo.Com newsgroups is trying to argue that "The Terror" has always been in 1.33.1. I told him that there were not letterboxed versions on DVD, but that TCM broadcast it in letterbox. This knucklehead is arguing instead that TCM cropped the 1.33.1 version to make it look like 1.85.1. I just wrote to him to check out these message boards.

[–] bok602 17 years ago

Zardoz,
The simplest proof for the existence of The Terror in a widescreen format (outside of catching the AMC broadcast) is to look at the trailer which some of the better DVD releases include as a bonus.

The trailer is almost always presented in a true widescreen format and not (as some have claimed) a matted version of the standard format. Nor is the current fullscreen version an "open matte," as a comparison of the widescreen and fullscreen versions will prove.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] zardoz-13 17 years ago

Ride on, Bok602! Thanks for your vote of support. I only wish that I could corral the know-it-all idiot who said it was a full-frame movie. He'd eat his shorts not.