The just-released Film Detective Bluray of Fielder Cook‘s Patterns (’56) has been mastered at 1.66, which is fine by HE standards. I saw it for the first time last August via Amazon Prime streaming (here’s my mini-review), and I’m sure Film Detective will understand my preference for watching it at 1.33, which is how Amazon Prime presents it. Cook directed the live TV version a year before the film came out, remember, and had therefore already composed with a boxy visual scheme. Again — I’m not saying the 1.66 a.r. isn’t acceptable. I’m just a boxy obsessive. In the realm of mid 50s black-and-white films, 1.66 is certainly preferable to Paramount Home Video’s Bluray cleavering of Billy Wilder‘s Sabrina at 1.78:1. I happen to own an Amazon streaming version at 1.33, and it’s quite beautiful.
![](/images/column/tellytor16/heflin166B.jpg)
1.66:1
![](/images/column/tellytor16/heflin133.jpeg)
1.33:1
![](/images/column/tellytor16/patterns133.jpg)
1.33:1
![](/images/column/tellytor16/patterns166.jpg)
1.66:1
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