MovieChat Forums > The Night Digger (1971) Discussion > TCM's Aspect Ratio

TCM's Aspect Ratio

posted 15 years ago by ChazSmith
10 replies | jump to latest

IMDb gives the aspect ratio as 1.66:1.

It's rare that I have to wonder what's up with TCM's handling of aspect ratio, since they exercise more integrity with regard to it than just about anyone else, but here's what happened last night:

Opening scene and credits were shown at 1.85:1 -- if not greater -- and then the picture went to full frame (1.33:1) for the duration of the film. I tried to convince myself that it was "open matte" and we weren't missing anything, but there was NO margin at top or bottom for that to be the case, and it was painfully obvious in many scenes that information was missing at the sides. WHY? What is up with that?

[–] teadm 15 years ago

Beats me. It was a horrible presentation of the film - the opening credits were overmatted, it was wider than 1.85!. Then they zoomed in to full frame and the picture was fuzzy, with colors that looked pale and smeared. I think the scene where Nicholas Clay is kidnapping the sleeping woman while he takes his clothes off was slightly edited to eliminate some nudity, there's a noticeable skip in the music that doesn't sound quite right. Hard to believe this was the best print TCM could come up with. The framing throughout the movie was overly tight, with some obvious cropping on both sides of the frame. I'm glad to have the movie at all, but this showing was a major disappointment, after years of waiting for this film to reappear on cable.

[–] johnnylightning76 15 years ago

Agree with the obvious poor quality TCM presented. Like above posters, I was just happy to see the film and hope it airs again.

Why hasn't this film ever been released on DVD (or even VHS)? With Oscar winner Patricia Neal, a script by Roald Dahl, music by Bernard Herrmann, and Sir Lancelot's big screen debut? Not a perfect film, but I've never seen anything like it. This would be a good project for Criterion.

I almost forgot. When I stumbled, I attached a magnetic capsule to your plane.

[–] abchulett 15 years ago

TCM does tend to be meticulous about this kind of thing, but this isn't the most common film out there and apparently the best/only copy they had available was P&S.

[–] preppy-3 13 years ago

They aired it again in 2010. It WAS edited! One instance of swearing was bleeped out (noticably) and some of Nicholas Clay's nude scene was missing. I can't understand this because, a few years ago, a lovely woman from Britain sent me a copy of it that played on TCM Britain. That one IS letterboxed, had the swearing and the complete nude scene! Seriously--what's going on here? I'd like to know why the British TCM is showing the complete version ans us Americans are stuck with a cut version.

[–] sdc100 13 years ago

It's airing today 1/20/11 at 5:30p EST. Imdb.com indicates that the US print runs at 97min while the UK version is 110 mins. TCM is showing the US version so all the flaws and missing scenes of previous airings will probably be repeated today.

Of note, Time Warner cable has TCM in standard and Hi Definition. Sometimes the two channels show the same movie in different aspect ratios.

[–] Wfs1933 15 years ago

I have seen this before on TCM one example is 2000 maniacs TCM shows this at 1.37:1 but the DVD has the correct 1.85:1 ratio

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] geode 14 years ago

It is running right now on TCM in Asia. It opened up in 1.66:1 with black around on all four sides with a visible thin lighter sliver at the top and bottom showing the edge of the telecine aperture plate in my opinion. After the credits there was an optically accomplished zoom to about a 1.37:1 ratio. It appeared to me that the original transfer was at 1.66:1 and then the zoom was done electronically.

Unlike other posters I frequently find that films are not shown in their original aspect ratio on TCM. Perhaps their Asian service is different?

Oh Lord, you gave them eyes but they cannot see...

[–] gayspiritwarrior 13 years ago

Yes, it's on right now again on TCM, and again the opening was letterboxed and all the rest is in "full screen." To answer the previous poster, yes it must be different on their Asian service, because they try very hard to have the original aspect of what they show, and they never edit. This must be the only copy they have. It's puzzling indeed, especially if better copies are available.

"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde

[–] John-367 12 years ago

I suspect that TCM, at least in the UK, have been showing a rather old telecine of the film from the days when pretty well all films on TV were panned and scanned. Thankfully, more and more films are being remastered, both for TV screenings but especially when masters for DVDs are being prepared. There are still a lot of films out there which haven't yet been remastered unfortunately. It's a hell of a lot cheaper to pull an old telecine off the shelf and screen that rather than remaster it.