I recently bought a bunch of cheap catalog titles, one being "The Beast" (1988), about a Russian T-62 tank during the Afghanistan Invasion. Before I bought it, I checked around to see if it was in WS. DVDEmpire shows that it is a dual format disc with 1.85 anamorphic WS and standard fullscreen. DeepDiscount shows it as 1.85 anamorphic WS, Amazon shows it as 1.85 anamorphic WS.

However, I just got the thing and the back of the case says "Full screen presentation" with the little box at the bottom saying "Presented in a FULL SCREEN VERSION which has been re-formatted to fit your screen."

Now then...WHAT THE *****! I even checked the UPC # on DVDEmpire. It matches, yet this ain't the WS version. Is there indeed a WS version or isn't there.

I remember first seeing this movie on HBO, and at the time, I thought it was one of those HBO movies which typically were in standard 4:3 format. But it's a Columbia Tri-Star film. So if any of you have it, I'd appreciate a clarification on this.

I kinda feel 'icky' about having this FS movie now.

Depending on where you bought this disc, you should return it immediately! If Target is the store, forget a refund and simply give the disc to a manager after you break it in two.

Sorry about not answering your question. I'm not familiar with this title.

Got it from DDD for $6. So I had no choice but to believe their specs.

You still didn't answer my question though, is there a WS version or not?

I've got this DVD, and I'm fairly sure it is widescreen. I got it a while back, so I'll have to check when I get home to be certain.

Well either way, I'm only out 6 bucks.

The question is why does the UPC # match the DVDEmpire #, and yet not be the WS version.

Columbia-tristar has been doing this with many of their discount-price DVDs. They take a DVD that had both the WS/FS and then replace it with FS-only, without telling anyone or changing the UPC.

Sometimes, they will continue using the old cases, which describe the contents as WS & FS. I got caught by this when I picked up 'Eye of the Beholder.'

its Columbia-Tristar, they been removing the widescreen side when they cut the retail prices. looks like that is the case here.

Considering that widescreen is apparently the norm (and widescreen titles nearly always outsell their fullscreen counterparts), I don't understand why they keep the fullscreen version when rereleasing the discs with only one version.

It's already something of a niche title, why make it moreso by selling to the smaller part of the market that prefers the fullscreen versions?

Well darn, I was hoping to finally be able to see a WS version of this film.

Actually I'm quite surprised to see so many well-known modern actors in it that weren't so well-known back then.

Jason Patric, Steven Baldwin, and Erick Avari (from Stargate) as the Afghan tanker. The credit Steven Bauer as the main Afghan rebel, but I don't know of any other roles he's had. Also George Dzundza who apparently was the Chief of the Boat in Crimson Tide.

My DVD of THE BEAST is 16:9 anamorphic widescreen for sure. Don't know if there's also a pan-and-scan version on the disc as I would never watch it.

Really great, underappreciated film. The only downside of the widescreen DVD is that it's taken from a textless print so that Sony can use their eye-meltingly obnoxious yellow subtitles throughout the film. And if you've seen THE BEAST, you know there are a LOT of subtitles. If you're a fan of the film, you'll immediately know something is up because the DVD's opening title is slightly different than it was theatrically: DVD = the "E" in "BEAST" is flipped, to look more Russian, I guess. Theatrical = the "E" is normal.

In closing: RPG KABOOM TANK!

Yes, RPG KABOOM TANK.

What's pathetic is that is correct. An RPG could take out a T-62. Junk tanks, even in their hayday. No wonder Israel made a mess of them during the '67 war.

i bought this from the walmart $5.50 bin. The case says fullscreen but its widescreen. Strange

OMG!

This has never happened. OK, as I said in the original post, I recently bought a bunch of cheap ($6, $8, $9) catalog titles. Well, when we first checked our mail this morning, I got my package, which included my 6 titles. Now this evening, we checked again when the newspaper came. There was another box in the back of the mail box. I said, "What the hell is this?" I opened it....duplicate order! I checked the site to see if my order did indeed say just one copy each. It did. Doesn't appear that I was charged twice. So someone at DDD screwed up big time. So what should I do?

I'm going to call them, because I'm an honest kind of guy. But if they tell me to just go ahead and keep them, should I ebay'em?

The titles are:

• The Beast
• El Diablo
• Bat*21
• Flight of the Intruder
• Uncommon Valor
• Once Upon a Time in the West

Steven Bauer was a very popular actor at the time, doing alot of direct to video type films, was the lead in THEIF OF HEARTS for paramount, then replaced Ken Wahl in WISEGUYS, was married to Melanie Griffith.

George Dzunzda was a popular character actor, probably most memorable in BASIC INSTINCT.

Dzundza is apparently lending his voice to video games and animated cartoons. imdb shows him doing a voice in the pilot episode of Superman: TAS.

That IS really weird - the copy I bought from (and returned to) Walmart said WS/FS, and was FS only.

Well, geez, looks like this release is all over the place with regards to format then. From saying FS and actually being WS to saying both WS & FS and being only FS, and mine, which is actually labeled FS and actually being FS.

So even if I could find a copy that says WS, there's no guarantee that it'd actually be WS.

Sad.

oops

[Forget it. Reading-comprehension problem on my part]

opps, after checking again. I got the one that says ws/fs and both are present. Sorry for the confusion.