What is the DVD like ?
Is there someone out there who has seen the DVD and can tell me what the quality is like ? As of October 2006 it is still not available in New Zealand and I'm curious about whether I should send away for it or not.
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although the DVD case incorrectly lists the ratio as 16 x 9.
No, the DVD case has it listed correctly. When Eight bells Toll is in 2.35.1 aspect ratio with 16 x 9 anamorphic enhancement. If you watch the film in 4:3 mode you'll notice the actors all look too tall & thin until you 'unsqueeze' the anamorphic image by displaying it correctly in 16:9. That aside I agree with your comments. This is a solid transfer, well encoded ( the Scottish locations look breathtaking) & the picture quality is fine. Well done Carlton!
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Brinksway, be that as it may the film is anamorphic. I don't understand why in your original post you seem to be suggesting it isn't - or do you mean that on the back of the case they should have mentioned the OAR of 2.35:1 alongside the 16x9? I can see that just saying 16x9 is a bit vague.
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Yes, it was transferred from a 35mm anamorphic print...that is to say, a film photographed with an anamorphic squeeze lens, be it CinemaScope or Panavision.
Just to clarify - I was referring to a film anamorphically enhanced for DVD which means more lines of resolution are used to make up the picture (thus more detail) when displayed on a widescreen set. So in the case of Eight Bells we have a movie that was shot anamorphically then anamorphically enhanced for DVD (transferred squeezed, in other words).
We're lucky Eight Bells wasn't a non-anamorphic 2.35:1 letterbox transfer like other films of that era such as The Taking Of Pelham 123 or Thunderbolt & Lightfoot. All things considered Carlton deserve a pat on the back for doing right by WEBT.
The confusion arises when 16 x 9 is listed on the DVD case instead of 2.35:1, as some people would take it to mean that the image shape is the same as they get when a Scope film is shown on one of the television channels...that is, cropped at the sides with the height meant to match that of their 16 x 9 wide screen television screens.
Yes, although Carlton put out some nice 16x9 enhanced transfers their labeling did leave something to be desired.
The 16 x 9 shaped screen was never meant to show Scope films, because the screen shapes are incompatible. Hence the black bars at the top and bottom. As for the words "anamorphically enhanced" where it applies to DVD's. I suppose that it depends on your DVD player. Some people may have to adust the image (squeeze it up from the bottom and down from the top), while my DVD player obviously does this automatically, as it responds to the signal on the disc.
Well it should happen automatically anyway AFAIK. If you have a widescreen tv connected to a DVD player the player reads the anamorphic flag on the disc, sends the signal down the scart or whatever you're using, telling the tv to display the (unsqueezed) image.