The Mole People (1956)

[bigshot]

I screened this last night. Decent transfer. Lots of soft optical effects and considerable negative dirt, but typical of Universal's straight transfers that they've been releasing in Europe.

I enjoyed the film a lot. John Agar was nice and bland and stiff, which worked well against Hugh Beaumont's laid back confidence. The sets and costumes were fun and there were a couple of nice matte paintings. The Mole People going down through the dirt reminded me a lot of Invaders From Mars. The prologue was the nicest surprise for me. I remember that scientist from Our Mr Sun and Hemo the Magnificent. Dr Frank Baxter. It was interesting to hear a real scientist introduce something without a lick of science in it. He looks nervous too, wiggling his fingers and twitching. Fun!

Not restored, but perfectly watchable. Worth getting.

[Erasmus Craven]

What aspect ratio? And are there any subs and extras? The German disc just has trailers and a picture gallery.

[orfy]

Originally Posted by Erasmus Craven

What aspect ratio? And are there any subs and extras? The German disc just has trailers and a picture gallery.

2 separate aspect ratios on the 101 Films dual disc:
Blu-ray is 16:9 and the DVD is the original 1.37:1 Academy presentation

No subs, audio options or on-disc extras, but it does come with a reversible sleeve and fold-out poster

[Hellhound]

Anybody know if this is region locked?

[sa5150]

Originally Posted by orfy

2 separate aspect ratios on the 101 Films dual disc:
Blu-ray is 16:9 and the DVD is the original 1.37:1 Academy presentation

No subs, audio options or on-disc extras, but it does come with a reversible sleeve and fold-out poster

Blu-ray is 16:9 , They just stretched it to fill the tv ? Or is it really 1.85

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by sa5150

Blu-ray is 16:9 , They just stretched it to fill the tv ? Or is it really 1.85

It will be cropped to either 16:9 or to the 2:1 Superscope aspect ration it would have screened in some cinemas. The accompanying DVD contains an SD presentation in the 1.37:1 ratio.

[s-hell]

The BD version is cropped top/bottom to 16:9 (1.78:1). The DVD version is 4:3 full-frame, but it's also a bit cropped left and right, compared to the BD. See the screenshots.

[RossyG]

20th Century Fox has been working on a Scope format since c.1930. By the early Fifties, they had a system that worked very well for the most part (bar the odd dose of CinemaScope mumps) and announced that all their films from now on would be Scope. It was a bold gamble that paid off. Audiences liked widescreen pictures and began to return to cinemas.

Other studios saw what was happening and joined in, cropping films just made to make them widescreen.

Even old classics were given the cropped to Scope treatment. In his Film Guide, Leslie Halliwell speaks of the atrocity that was the Gone With the Wind Scope reissue. By the sound of it, the integrity of the director’s compositions wasn’t something the studios worried about.