|
Y'know, I always thought AMC was just making it up when they said during
their promos that "some viewers feel cheated when they view a film in
letterbox format because of the black bands at the top and bottom of the
screen..." But apparently they were telling the truth -- some people
actually object to viewing a letterbox version of a film and complain to the
station when they see it (!)
This is what comes from lifting films like "Dumb and Dumber" to the status
of social acceptability folks.
How can anyone object to being shown the WHOLE picture?
Why would they ever want to see less then the whole picture? They want to
loose half the scene, just so what's left "fills the screen" of their TV set?
That is what matters to them?
And now, just to please these idiots and coddle them in their
lunacy, the manufacturers are putting a button on DVDs to
automatically cut off the left and right sections of a widescreen movie -- just
so the middle part will "fill the screen"? Unbelievable...
To think that it has come to this, after 50 years of Cinemascope and 70mm
-- and these kids growing up on widescreen. After letterbox showings on TV
have been around for over 20 years. Yet they still don't understand that is
it a *good thing* when they see a letterbox image on their TV screen?
I do believe there is no hope left for western civilization.
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004
18:04
Subject: Re: [MOPO] The Stooges in color?
Soitenly!
Hi from Joe B.
JR is absolutely right on this one. It's a frustrating
situation.
It's true that the colorization-- no matter how clever or well done--
subverts the original. But-- Three Stooges shorts or Little Rascals
shorts or Roy Rogers westerns are NOT "The Maltese Falcon," "Citizen Kane" or
"Night of the Hunter"-- films whose mood would be totally destroyed by
colorization.
So if it will encourage younger folk to see these classic funnies, I have
no problem-- particularly since a pristine black & white restoration can
be toggled back and forth (for those of us who remember Gabby Hayes fondly in
monotone). After all many young people will check out the b&w
original and maybe like it. Our friend Tom Martin's son made a very
respectable black and white film and enjoys working in black and white and
he's still in his teens.
It's the letterboxing thing that gets me. Many mainstream films are
releasing separate pan and scan and letterboxed discs so they can include all
the extras. At least when both versions are available on the same disc
or in the same set it allows for choice and those with letterbox-itis may be
converted when they can instantly see what they are missing-- particularly if
they are young.
But there's a new feature on many newer dvd players that is really
tacky! It' is an automatic "letterbox-defeat." And it's called
just that.
This is worse than pan & scan because at least p&s is planned for
and engineered. But the letterbox-defeat merely cuts out the sides and
shows just the middle of the picture without regard to anything else.
At my friend's house recently his teenaged son was showing off their new
system (purchased at Target!!) and treated me to the Pod-Race from Star Wars
Phantom Menace in glorious "mid-screen" (I refuse to call it pan and scan
'cause it Doesn't!!). It was, of course, wretched and one could barely
make out what was going on. I told him not to expect me to waste two
seconds watching a widescreen movie like that when I come to visit.
But he got "his" in a couple of minutes. He dropped in a widescreen
teen flick, put the letterbox-defeat on and within two minutes, saw the girl
of his dreams in a bikini-- disappear from the screen "off-stage-left."
You never saw a teen reach for the remote so quickly in your life!!
Joe B.
"JRS MoviePosterBid.com"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The legal argument on this was resolved long ago -- whomever
"owns" the film can colorize it if they want and there's nothing anyone can
do to stop them. Whether they should or not will be debated forever,
but there's no question that a colorized version of a black-and-white film
is something that a lot of younger viewers will watch while they would not
watch the black-and-white version. Sad but true.
Since that is the reality of the situation, I applaud the fact that
these producers are including BOTH a nicely-restored black-and-white version
and the colorized version on the same DVD. That actually satisfies
both young consumers and older purists. It's a far better solution than just
putting out a colorized version only and leaving the purists out of
luck.
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004
11:41
Subject: [MOPO] The Stooges in color?
Soitenly!
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 10, 2004
The DVD era
is resurrecting the great colorization
debate of the 1980s, and at the
heart of the matter
are Moe, Larry and Curly.
Sony's Columbia
TriStar home-video unit is releasing
two Three Stooges DVDs that allow
viewers to watch the
original black-and-white or digitally
colorized
versions. Purists consider it desecration, while
Sony
executives say the process can introduce movie
classics to
young audiences reluctant to watch
anything in black and
white.
The Stooges discs coming out today also give
die-hard
fans better black-and-white versions, the
studio
insists.
To prepare for the colorization process, Sony
did a
more extensive restoration than it had with
previous
black-and-white- only Stooges DVDs, said Bob Simmons,
a
technical specialist who worked on the project.
"The best thing
about this DVD release is it gives the
consumer the ultima! te choice,"
said Suzanne White,
vice president of marketing for Columbia
TriStar.
"They can watch the very best, the finest restored
image of
the black-and- white version, or watch the
new colorized version and
switch instantaneously
between the two." The new DVDs, "Goofs on the
Loose"
and "Stooged and Confoosed," contain four shorts
each
featuring Moe and Curly Howard and Larry Fine.
Offering a
choice does not appease colorization
critics, who include Sam Raimi,
director of Sony's
"Spider-Man" blockbusters. "I don't think they
should
mess with black and white," said Raimi, who is such a
Stooges
fan that credits on some of his movies label
extras as "fake Shemps," a
reference to doubles used
to complete Stooges shorts after the death of
Shemp
Howard, who both preceded and succeeded brother Curly
in the
act.
"I think they should just leave it as they are and try
to
preserve them as best they can," Raimi said. "I
f! eel like it's an
artistic interpretation that's not
anybody's right to make except the
director's."
__________________________________
Do you
Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing
List
Send a message addressed
to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this! message is solely responsible for its
content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its
content.
Do you Yahoo!?
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its
content.
New
and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB
messages!
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
| 
