Imdb says 1.85.1. The British R2 dvd appears to be full frame and open matte. Does anyone know why this is and if it's incorrect?
I tried to watch it but the framing just seemed wrong and I'm sure I saw the boom in some shots. So annoying, I wish studios would check the goddamn AR before releasing a film.
Yep -- sadly all of the UK DVD releases of Topaz, Torn Curtain, The Birds, and Marnie are all either pan&scan or (in the case of Topaz) full frame 4:3 tranfers.
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Do you know if the US dvds are in their correct aspect ratios? If so, I'll get them.
It should be illegal to release films in the wrong aspect ratio. Especially Hitch's. I'm serious....
The US DVDs are 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen if you buy the Universal Masterpiece Collection set. The previous US single DVD releases of Vertigo and Psycho were both letterboxed widescreen (not anamorphic).
Although most (all?) of Hitchcock's films from "Rear Window" onwards were shot to be shown in a widescreen format (i.e wider that 1.33:1), in most cases it was down to the projectionist in the cinema to decide just how much of the top & bottom of the frame to matte.
All VistaVision films were shot with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and Paramount specified a preferred matted projection ratio of 1.85:1. There's some more info on this site:
http://widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingvv1.htm
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