i got this set for my dad for fathers day. he started watching them today and was turned off by the 2.0 and 1.0 sound. is there a reason why these movies werent done in 5.1?

The reason that the movies weren't done in 5.1 is because that sound format didn't exist when the films were made. Now, if the question is really "Why weren't these dvds done in 5.1?" then one could speculate that MGM either a.) wanted to present the films as they were originally released, or b.) were too lazy and cheap to pay someone to mix a new audio track in 5.1.

You know, they recently played a new version a few months ago at the Tribeca film festival. Deleted scenes were re-dubbed in english this time.

I'm not sure if they made a new mix track for it so keep an eye out for it.

They did. It now has a new DD 5.1 track, which sounded decent to me.

DJ

Ah good. I think we'll definitely get a re-release of it somewhere sometime.

I was dissappointed that they were released in letterbox 1.33:1
Using Full mode on my widescreen tv stretched everything horizontally. I had to resort to a different theater-wide mode to view it correctly.

None of them is in 1.33:1, I think they're all 2.35:1, and anamorphic (actually, everywhere I look, fistful of dollars and GBU are listed as anamorphic, not sure about For a Few Dollars More, since I'm not home right now).

As far as the sound goes, there was no 5.1 when these cames out, so I'm fine with the sound that's on there. Hopefully the re-release of GBU which I fully expect has both as an option (although I'll probably buy it either way).

Negative. On TGTBATU is anamorphic, the others are letterboxed.

That makes more sense than just the middle one not being anamorphic (I don't tend to notice this as much as others, since my "big" TV is only 27", and my other one doesn't even do anamorphic squeeze)--either way, though, they aren't 1.33:1.

i understand that the movies werent originally made in 5.1 but cant they make the dvds in 5.1. wizard of oz is in 5.1 isnt it? and that movie is 30 yrs older

Yes, but as Julie Walker always says "mono is the only way to go with older movies, most if not all 5.1 remixes sound unnatural" Also, wizard of oz went through a major restoration and when it was released on dvd, it got a new sound mix.