Shane (1953)

[JGD]

I have just a quick comment on aspect ratios. I really do prefer a widescreen presentation but if it was shot 1.37 it should probably stay that way. But if it was released at 1.66 and cropped for theatrical release that is a good point too.

When I purchased "The Quiet Man" I could watch it 1.37 with black bars on the sides or my HDTV could stretch it a little left and right making it look widescreen. It is not totally objectionable but it is slightly distorted and this may bother some people.

However, for some reason I used the zoom feature and noticed that my LG Blu-ray player is capable of zooming in 2% increments. At about 112% the screen is almost completely filled or maybe it actually is. I found this a nice feature and maybe other Blu-ray manufacturers could implement this as well to satisfy everyone. This way the full resolution of the original source material is not compromised nor the AR.

This way the original film is not cropped and the studio cannot be criticized for doing so. It is also certainly easier for the Blu-ray player manufacturers to implement this digitally anyway. And if the Blu-ray transfer is descent I doubt you'll notice any reduction in sharpness either. This way the user can crop the film himself for a widescreen presentation.