Anatomy of a Murder

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denti alligator · #1 Post by **denti alligator** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:53 pm

Is the R1 version of this with academy aspect ratio accurate, or should this be 1:85:1?

EDIT: After watching the whole DVD I have no doubt this was meant to be 1.33:1. The framing is just right.

Polybius · #2 Post by **Polybius** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:44 am

There's a page on this at DVD Beaver. It should be 1.33:1

Polybius · #3 Post by **Polybius** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 5:07 am

He had a review there previously endorsing the 1.37 edition as being superior, both technically and aesthetically. It seems to now be missing.

cafeman · #4 Post by **cafeman** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:29 am

flixyflox wrote:Ditto some things in open matte look lousy, e.g. Fuller's Naked Kiss in the VCI R2 (and now R4) 1.33 versions, compared to the Criterion 1.78 version which just plays better.

Really? I heard the exact opposite from those who have seen both (and I also heard that the R2 has better picture quality).

#5 Post by **kinjitsu** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:16 pm

cafeman wrote:
flixyflox wrote:Ditto some things in open matte look lousy, e.g. Fuller's Naked Kiss in the VCI R2 (and now R4) 1.33 versions, compared to the Criterion 1.78 version which just plays better.

Really? I heard the exact opposite from those who have seen both (and I also heard that the R2 has better picture quality).

Not having seen Anatomy since its original release, I can't claim to know what it looked like in the cinema, however I do recall that my mother made quite a fuss at the box office when the ticket seller all but refused to sell her a ticket since I was just a mere lad. Anyhow, having recently watched the R1 DVD, I would have to agree with David in that this film looks much better at 1.33, although it's very likely that 1.37 might be accurate. It's blatantly obvious from the Beaver comparison that the 1.85 framing is severely cropped top and bottom, while the 1.33 framing is only slightly cropped at the sides, something Gary hadn't taken into consideration at the time of his review. Gary states that the R1 is sharper and I wholeheartedly must agree, but he also claims that the R2 1.85 AR is correct, and a number of UK reviewers seem to believe this is the case as well.

Polybius · #6 Post by **Polybius** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:21 am

^ In his best performance, IMHO.

#7 Post by **kinjitsu** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 2:02 pm

From HTF, 03-18-2003:

Gary Tooze wrote:Columbia Tri-Star Region 1 NTSC- Open Matte 'Anatomy of a Murder" vs. Columbia Tri-Star Widescreen Region 2 / 4 - PAL

I would, of course, prefer the correct aspect ratio that the director intended, and in this case Preminger shot it in Full frame. The "Anatomy of a Murder" Region 1 NTSC DVD image is cropped but shows substantially more than the Region 2/4 PAL disc. The Region 1 disc is shown as it was filmed in "Open Matte". I believe it was shown in the theaters in 1.85 widescreen. Now, aside from that, the Region 1 is also miles ahead in picture quality. It is clearer, sharper with better contrast and black levels. Widescreen is nice but not at the expense of distributing less information than the director filmed it in. The first capture tells the entire story; the image is hardly cropped on the vertical but severely cropped on the horizontal. Why would you want less information in your image?... and less sharp? No, this is a no-brainer. Region 1, in Open Matte and slightly cropped, all the way.

Oddly, this contradicts his little blurb at the bottom of his comparison page:

Gary Tooze wrote:Image: Columbia Region 1 - sharper - Region 2- Correct Aspect ratio

Correct AR in that theatrically, Anatomy of a Murder was (presumably) shown in 1.85? Frankly, I'm beginning to have my doubts.