A bit of a random comment from the Woody Allen office this week – about the release of ‘Shane‘ Blu-Ray. The Hollywood Elsewhere blog has been (rightly) decrying the aspect ratio available on the new print, and asked Allen to comment. And comment he did.
The new ‘Shane‘ Blu-Ray will be in 1.66 and not 1.37, meaning that it cuts off the sides of the screen. Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffery Wells contacted Allen through his publicist Leslee Dart.
The full statement.
Dear Jeffrey,
I wanted to add my strenuous objection to putting out an edition of Shane in any format other than the precise original.
Black bars are much preferable and years before they were acceptable to audiences I always insisted on them for my movie Manhattan rather than giving in to what may be a more commercial but is definitely an artistic degradation of how the movie should look.
The compromise of putting out two versions, an original and one commercially modified, would certainly not be acceptable to me on a film of mine. While I don’t like the idea of [this compromise happening to] one of America’s Greatest Westerns and one of its finest all-around films, I suppose it’s better than riding roughshod over the original masterpiece and losing it to attempt with version.
I hope you will consider this before an irrevocable mistake is made.
Sincerely,
Woody Allen
It’s a weird topic but an official statement is a pretty good score! And of course we agree – widescreen is the best.
Read the full article at Hollywood Elsewhere.
