No question that the Criterion
No question that the Criterion Collection's high-def transfer of Robert Bresson's
Au hasard Balthazar 1966) is one of the most beautiful ever seen. But I don't get the
website claim that says the image is "presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1." Looks more like
1.75 to 1 to me, and damn close to 1.85 to 1. Consider the shot below (top) of the opening image from Warner Home Video's DVD of Stanley Kubrick's
Barry Lyndon, as it appears on my own TV.
This, according to the
info provided by WHV, is a 1.66 to 1 image, and my trained eyes have understood the same for years. The bottom shot is from Criterion's
Balthazar disc, and if you look back and forth between the two, you'll notice the
Lyndon is
a little bit taller. How can these two differ if Criterion and Warner Home Video say they're both 1.66 to 1?
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 26, 2006 at 1:22 PM
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