Last night I watched an Amazon instant-download high-def version of Lewis Milestone‘s Pork Chop Hill (’59). The monchrome tonalities couldn’t have been richer and the focus was razor sharp, but it was cropped at 1.78:1. I didn’t like that because I know there was plenty of visual material above and below the cleaver lines, and that Pork Chop Hill has been shown previously at 1.66:1. So last night I ordered the 2012 Region 2 French Bluray which delivers a 1.66:1 image. I’m what you might call a 1.66 loyalist, and this is how I handle things when push comes to shove. There’s an Olive Film Bluray coming out on 1.27 that uses a 1.85:1 crop, according to online info.
(l.) Olive Films Bluray of Pork Chop Hill, streeting on 1.27.15 in 1.85:1 aspect ratio; (r.) Filmedia Bluray, released in France in March 2012 in 1.66:1 a.r.
