Tessari's Ringo-films

I’m talking about films in general, of course no SW was shown in 4:3 in theaters.

The Academy 1:1.33 ratio ended in about 1953/1954 when the 2.35:1 Scope ratio arrived. At that point non Scope films moved to 1:1.85 in the USA and 1:1.66 in the UK and also 1:1.75 was used. My University film society had all 5 guages in order to show everything properly.

Many films were shot full frame though but the image was framed to work for 1:1.85 or 1:1.66 which is why on many TV screenings you used to see boom mics at the top of the frame because TV was using 1:1.33 and not masking off the top and bottom as would have happened in the cinema.

The Scope picture was full frame but ‘squeezed’ and then extended out properly by the anamorphic lens which is why you used to see ‘squeezed’ credits scenes on TV transmissions when they use 4:3 on the TV screen.

So, basically there shouldn’t be any spaghetti westerns filmed in 1:1.33 academy as practically nothing was filmed in that ratio anymore. Not all at in Scope though, The Great Silence is in 1:1.66 or 1:1.75 for example.

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The so called academy ratio was btw actually 1,37:1 and not 1,33:1, which was the aspect ratio of the old TVs. Not a big difference though.

But still a few films are filmed for a 1,37:1 screening, even nowadays

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I always punish films with a one star deduction for this kind of circumcision

Why that?

The filmmakers who do this have obviously a reason to do so. Just like others using b/w.

Actually a film shot for 1,37:1 was one the most fascinating film of the last years. In die Sonne schauen aka The Sound of Falling

I hate the deliberate discarding of screen space and the artistic restriction from a wide canvas to some dumb square just to come across as “artsy”. It’s a matter of taste of course. I saw too many of these and in almost all cases I hated every minute of not being able to enjoy how great these could have been in gorgeous wide panorama

I’m not the sheriff here, but this discussion is no longer relevant to the topic :wink:

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Ok, but I don’t think the reason is to want an “artsy look”. Which it doesn’t imo anyway.

I’m not keen on watching 1,37:1 films, but I don’t mind it either.