I knew some one would bite but I'm a little sad to see it is someone else from NB.

Well, that means we have to use the old 1991 masters from now on because those are the only director-approved video masters.

Kubrick didn't live long enough to put some input into how his films should be handled on DVD. In fact, besides 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove, none of his films were on DVD until after he died.

And those two DVD's were based on much older approved transfers made for laserdisc.

It's also important to note that UCLA's new restoration prints of Paths of Glory are hard-matted to 1.66:1.

They'll probably do for 'Clockwork Orange' what they did when they did a special edition of 'Dr. Strangelove' - tweak it to 1.78 or 1.85 and say the difference is so small that it won't matter..

And the thing is, a lot of the people who complain about Kubrick being full-screen would be happy with this, even though Kubrick has stated his preference for the frames was the one which alternated between 1.33 and 1.66.

I don't see why they wouldn't be able to offer both, and let people decide for themselves, but I feel the same way about new unrated cuts on DVD...

so is the "digitally remastered" version out as a standalone or just in the SK Collection?

i have seen eyes wide shut in 1:85 on inhd and the framing looks much better imo.that version is currently in stores.

Watch the opening aerial credits sequence of The Shining and tell me that the movie was intended to be 1.33:1. You can see the helicopter blades in the top portion of the frame when watching the P&S version. This would have been masked out properly for 1.85:1. This movie was definately meant to be projected at 1.85:1.

P&S is not a synonym for full screen.

On the back of the DVDs I own in the "Stanley Kubrick Collection" line, for those interested:

2001 A Space Odyssey:Widescreen Version, presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the "scope" aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for widescreen TVs.
Barry Lyndon: Widescreen Version, presented in a "matted" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of it's original camera negative.
Clockwork Orange: Widescreen Version, presented in a "matted" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of it's original theatrical exhibition.
Eyes Wide Shut: This feature is presented in the full aspect ratio of the original camera negative, as Stanley Kubrick intended.
Full Metal Jacket: Standard Version, this film has been modified as follows from it's original version: it has been formatted to fit your screen.
Lolita: Widescreen Version, presented in a "matted" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of it's original theatrical exhibition.
The Shining: This feature is presented in the full aspect ratio of the original camera negative, as Stanley Kubrick intended.

-JP

These Kubrick titles in question (obviously not the scope stuff like 2001) are ones I could stand behind having both 1.33 and 16x9 WS versions in the same package. I think Kubrick was one of the few that was talented enough to make sure both versions looked good, and both versions should be available.

and similarly, "full screen" and "wide screen" are terms/phrases that should never be used.

Yeah, but those are more semantics. Pan and scan is a specific process that doesn't apply to open matte films. It involves actually altering the image on the fly.

Columbia's 16x9 Dr. Strangelove is 1.66:1 exactly. The preference was only for the laserdisc edition. It's just like how Apocalypse Now is always presented 2:1 on home video in order to make the best compromise between the resolution of NTSC and the amount of picture. However, in theaters, it's always 2.35:1 because there's no issue of losing resolution.

With Kubrick's films, they're not losing resolution on a theater screen. On laserdisc, a huge amount of space is wasted on letterbox bars. On DVD, you can use so much more resolution thanks to 16x9 formatting. The Shining on laserdisc, a quarter of the vertical resolution would be taken up by letterboxing bars. He filmed it safe for 1.33:1, so why not just leave them off and have picture visible instead?

The issue of having "all the picture visible on the negative" is BS, anyways. A Clockwork Orange is exactly 1.66:1 on the remastered DVD, while the open matte version on the previous master was roughly 1.50:1. Barry Lyndon has maintained an AR of 1.50:1 on both discs, but in a lot of shots, you can see the edges of the mattes, causing the top and bottom to have ragged edges.

Hell, the famous shot near the end of Dr. Strangelove is spoiled by not being matted. Kubrick probably OK'ed the unmatted transfer for Criterion mainly because they were aimed towards film scholars and buffs would would appreciate seeing the extra details.

Keeping all of the films in their theatrical AR's does absolutely no damage to the films, so why shouldn't they be on DVD like that? So we can keep Kubrick's wishes from the laserdisc era, while he had no involvement with re-doing his films for DVD?

Shame on Warner for Clockwork Orange not being anamorphic.

Yep, they've pretty much guaranteed a double dip from me if the new version is anamorphic.

off topic but how come 1.37:1 movies are 1.33:1, and not 1.37:1(on dvd)?

I know it's a tiny difference but still...

Anamorphic or not, Clockwork looks pretty damn good.

So I'm guesing I've been, as the "kids" would say "pwned" meh, just trying to be helpfull.

Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut (along with some other older Kubrick flicks) have been shown in high definition at their correct theatrical aspect ratio, on either HDNet Movies or HBO quite often.

What I would like to see is two disc sets that feature on disc 1 the theatrical OAR version of the given film and have disc 2 feature the unmatted presentation of the same film. Everybody wins.

Co-sign.

See post #12

Sorry I missed your post earlier. But, yes, with so many other releases that offer both version (heck, Brother Bear even had a modified widescreen presentation), there's no excuse for Kubrick films to be only presented open matte.

^well they won't be anymore. Warner has confirmed that all of Stanley Kubrick's films will be coming in their theatrical ratios. Just have to wait for the SE to be announced in the second wave. Keep the old disc if you want an open matte version

That was my thought too.

I came in looking for the "Join Date: March 2006".