Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DVD Re-Cropping "Smallest Show On Earth"

This is topic DVD Re-Cropping "Smallest Show On Earth" in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000619

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 01-13-2008, 11:01 AM:

I just replaced my well-worn 20+year old VHS copy of "THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH" with a DVD version. For some reason, they decided to re-crop the original 1:37 aspect ratio to 1:66 on the DVD. GRRRRRRR! I HATE when they do stuff like this.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 01-13-2008, 11:36 AM:

The recommended aspect ratio for The Smallest Show On Earth would have been 1.66. Regardless of whether or not the film was printed full frame with the intention that the projector's aperture plate would crop the picture, or the old VHS cropped the sides, most British flat films were composed for 1.66 and most American flat films were composed for 1.85 by 1957.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-20-2008, 01:35 AM:

Jim, were'd you get the DVD? I need to put that on my wish list.

I have an old VHS of that show taped off of the Nostalgia Channel (which I don't think is around anymore), in 1995. Wow, I miss that channel. They used to run great B-Westerns every Saturday. Double features. I taped a lot of those, too. [Smile]

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 01-20-2008, 06:00 AM:

Tim, You can buy the DVD Region 1 from: Playusa.com.

http://www.playusa.com/DVD/Region_1/3-/110646/-/Product.html?searchstring=smallest+show+on+earth

Widescreen 1.66:1 Anamorphic.

Posted by Ray Faultless (Member # 903) on 01-20-2008, 06:46 AM:

Some months ago I was browsing the dvds in a local pound shop and found The Smallest Show on Earth. I bought it for £1. Sometime this week I will go and see if they have any more and let you know.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-20-2008, 02:05 PM:

Thanks, fellas!

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-21-2008, 02:03 PM:

Tim, I also highly reccomend "The Titfield Thunderbolt" and "Whiskey Galore"... two of the best gems of British film making that exist. Both are available on E-Bay.

The line that says it all in Whiskey Galore...""Not famine, nor pestilence, nor Hitler's bombs, nor the hordes of an invading army, but something far, far worse."

Mark

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 01-22-2008, 10:22 AM:

Plenty available on Ebay and fairly cheap too.