I’ve just seen the newly restored version of Frank Perry‘s Play It As It Lays (’72), and I’m fairly certain I was the only one in the theatre (Film Forum, room #4) who noticed that the film has a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. It’s very clearly masked on the sides to produce that particular rectangular shape — slightly boxier and certainly a bit taller than 1.85.

This is a highly unusual shape for an American-produced feature of that era. Certain European and British films made in the early to mid ’70s (Stanley Kubrick‘s Barry Lyndon, John Schlesinger‘s Sunday Bloody Sunday) were intended to be shown in 1.66, but things were different in the States. Beginning in 1953 the hard and fast rule on this side of the Atlantic was to shoot and project in 1.85. (The obvious exception being films that were shot in Scope or 2.39:1.)

I don’t know precisely when 1.66 was all but totally phased out in this country, but I know it’s quite the rarity these days. 1.66:1 is still HE’s all-time favorite aspect ratio.