I just rented John Boorman's "Excalibur" from Netflix. Its one of my all time favs. This is one of the most beautiful films ever made. (I'm waiting to buy the SE version).

During some of the scenes I noticed the actors heads were out of frame usually at the top. People would be talking and you couldn't even see their eyes.

It got so annoying I turned it off and checked the TV and DVD setup to make sure the settings were full screen with no zoom.

I've never had this happen before so I'm not sure if its just me or the DVD but something was definitely wrong.

I believe the Excalibur DVD was misframed. Maybe someone else can back me up on that. It's just another reason why we need a SE.

Man, how could they do that to this movie?! Don't they screen the dang thing before releasing it?

Yeah, it is misframed, badly too i might add. Its a shame for such a great movie like this.

It's ridiculous~!

why dont we have any petitions for this?

I'll sign it if there is one!

I watched the widescreen version and never noticed the problem.

I don't have any links at hand but someone might know ... weren't there problems with the sound on this release as well? I seem to remember that some of the sound elements had been lost or destroyed accidentally. So the sound design that I heard when I saw this when released (1980?) doesn't exist anymore

Now I wish I remembered it better ...

I watched the widescreen version.
Watch it again and look at the scenes where Lancelot is talking to Guenevere from his horse. You can't even see his eyes it's cropped so bad.

It makes me wonder if they do this on purpose to get you to buy the same DVD twice. I would really be pissed if I bought the DVD.

You mean this scene here?




If it is an error I highly doubt they did it intentionally. The second cap is more representative of the framing in that scene overall. The first one occurs for a 'blink and you miss it' instant as they're trotting along. I doubt it's something that would cripple the enjoyment of the movie for most fans. Any other instances of misframing?

It would be nice to see a new transfer that removes much of the dirt/ damage on the film. The dvd is available for under $10. It's worth getting in the meantime since who knows when we'll see a new transfer.

Here's a thread about Excalibur and framing issues at HTF:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...=&pagenumber=2

This must have been the thread I was thinking of about the sound ... if I read the post correctly, the sound problems cropped up in post production, so were always present in the release prints. But it results in everything but the music sounding a bit harsh, apparently.

If it were that one instance I could understand but it is several. I think if it is enough for me to notice, others will as well. There are scenes with Merlin talking to Morganna and Uther and you can't see their eyes either. I'm sorry but that is really glaring and annoying when you are gauging their emotions as they speak.

I'm surprised Boorman didn't raise a stink when it came out because this DVD has one of the best director voice over commentaries for a movie I've ever heard. If he would have done it while watching the actual DVD I could imagine it going somthing like this, "Here is a great scene where Morganna tricks Merlin and they...they...cut his @$#@ head off in the shot!!!...@$#!%#$!!!! Son of a..."

Because petitions are useless. They've never done anything, they don't mean anything, and they're usually ignored.

Not trying to be harsh, but just stating the facts. Has a petition ever worked?

I agree at first I thought there was something wrong with my set but that was not the case. My guess would be that they wanted to rush this title out the door before checking for any mistakes if that is the case that is a real shame for this great movie.

Petitions have been around for decades and thousands and thousands of people work every year to get people to sign them, precisely because they can sometimes have major effects. Online petitions, on the other hand, are very close to useless because they are so easy to sign and so difficult to verify. At best, they will alert the company in question to a problem that they didn't know about or realize that people cared about, but it's unlikely that it will change anything.

BTW nodeerforamonth -- Your sig is a pile of crap. Have a nice day!

I agree with your general point (that "internet petitions" crop up for any little thing, and do little good). However, sometimes they *do* bring the studio's attention to an issue and sometimes they *do* work.

Anyone who owns a widescreen SE of Willy Wonka or Cats and Dogs owes thanks to internet petitions. And, if you can ignore the cockup that it eventually became, the same goes for people who own My So-Called Life.

This really pisses me off I never really noticed the misframing and I love this movie.