Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by djprobed (R) on February 25, 2004 at 12:51:44

I recently came into possession of a VHS transfer of Ken Russell's THE DEVILS, converted from a UK VHS tape which was apparently part of a special-edition series called "Maverick Directors" and is presented in widescreen. Only trouble is, the film was shot in 2.35 : 1, and the videotape is only letterboxed to 1.85 : 1, except for the credits, where the image zooms out to the correct aspect ratio.

Now, this is obviously an improvement over the pan and scan version available in North America, but I have to wonder: why the half-measure? Was there a rule in the UK that said videotapes should never be letterboxed past the 1.85 : 1 ratio, perhaps because the resulting image would be considered too small?

Is a puzzlement...

djprobed