Rock Around the Clock (1956) (Sony Pictures)

[MifuneFan]

Sony Pictures will be releasing the musical film Rock Around the Clock (1956) on Blu-ray (MOD/Pressed) on October 24th. This release will include a new commentary track with Kim Newman, and Barry Forshaw.

Rock Around the Clock Blu-ray

Synopsis:
Showcasing some of the best loved bands and songs of the early rock n' roll era, this film was a sensation with teens when it debuted and raised quite a few eyebrows from their perplexed parents who just didn't "get it."

Special Features: Audio Commentary with Writer/Journalist Barry Forshaw and Novelist/Critic Kim Newman

[Jack Webb]

Hopefully Twist Around the Clock is coming as well.....so I can dump my "older than dirt" DVD set!

[Jobla]

I was a 16mm college film programmer back in the mid 1970s. Sight unseen, I booked both ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK and TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK to play as a double feature.

What I didn't know was that the two films have almost the exact same screenplay. The second film simply uses the word "twist" rather than the word "rock." The audience laughed all the way through TWIST, with the dialog being virtually identical to the ROCK film they had just viewed.

[Deciazulado]

Rock Around the Clock Blu-ray

[ravenus]

Site review is up - LINK

The reviewer keeps insisting that the 1.85:1 transfer is cropped from 1.37:1 OAR.

Rather than return to the original film elements and create a more faithful master, Rock Around the Clock is presented at 1.85:1 (like its 2007 DVD predecessor) rather than 1.37:1, as it was originally projected in theaters in 1956. You would never know it, though, as the resulting widescreen presentation doesn't offer many visual clues that portions of the top and/or bottom of the image has been cropped out of existence. A good deal of thought has gone into the 1.85:1 framing of each sequence, which is a relief. That said, it's still disappointing that Sony didn't use this as an opportunity to right matters, or even to present both a 2007 1.85:1 version and a new 1.37:1 remaster of the film on a single disc.

Is this a known fact or just an assumption. I would imagine widescreen movies were gaining rapid traction in the 50's to combat the TV menace, and this could have been intended to be projected in widescreen from an open-matte 4:3 source, like 1955's Marty. I doubt Sony's team of restoration specialists would make such an obvious blunder as an erroneously cropped image.

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Site review is up - LINK

The reviewer keeps insisting that the 1.85:1 transfer is cropped from 1.37:1 OAR.


Is this a known fact or just an assumption. I would imagine widescreen movies were gaining rapid traction in the 50's to combat the TV menace, and this could have been intended to be projected in widescreen from an open-matte 4:3 source, like 1955's Marty. I doubt Sony's team of restoration specialists would make such an obvious blunder as an erroneously cropped image.

Reviewer is totally wrong. In 1956 the film would not have been shown in the US as 1.37:1. How a reviewer can be so ignorant about the early years of wide screen I don’t know.