Sight unseen the only problem I have with Criterion’s forthcoming Bluray of John Frankenheimer‘s Seconds (1966) is the 1.75 to 1 aspect ratio, which is too close to the dreaded 1.85. Ditto the 1.75 cropping of The Manchurian Candidate. Frankenheimer’s The Train was released a year before Seconds and the DVD was/is cropped at 1.66. Frankenheimer’s golden period runs from The Young Cannibals to Seconds, and I think all his films should all be opened up to 1.66. Frankenheimer began in live TV, remember — he was accustomed to framing his shots within a boxy a.r. It’s clear that 1.66 is the best compromise.

That aside, I don’t think much of Saul Bass‘s Seconds credit sequence — I much prefer the ones he did for Spartacus, Anatomy of a Murder, The Man With The Golden Arm, Psycho or Walk On The Wild Side. Seconds (the Bluray streets on 8.13) is the weakest of the bunch.