Criterion’s ten-year-old Rififi DVD is one of my all-time black-and-white faves. It was like seeing this 1954 classic for the first and only time…what clarity! I saw it projected at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art a few years ago when Jules Dassin dropped by for a visit, and their print wasn’t nearly as rich and detailed and super-silvery as the DVD.

So I’m thinking of buying the recently released, region-free Gaumont Bluray version when I’m in France for the Cannes Film Festival. yeah, even without English subtitles. Because the same black-and-white high will kick in, only more so. And that’s all I care about.

Amazon says this Bluray version which a 1.33 to 1 aspect ratio. The DVD Beaver screen grabs suggest this as well. If it’s in fact presented this way I can imagine how some who frequent this site might be offended. How dare they not issue it Psycho-style by cropping the tops and bottoms and whacking off a good 25% of the originally intended image? The TVs that we use today have 16 x 9 screens and that’s all that matters, right? Crop those boxy images!