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#WidescreenWatch: Around two years ago, and updated towards the end of 2011, I wrote an article entitled “Why films on TV in their original widescreen ratio is good for you”, and explained why the black bars are necessary when you’re watching a film at home.
Increasingly, broadcasters are showing more and more films in their correct aspect ratio, although some are still being cropped time and again, while others are getting OAR (original aspect ratio) “premieres”, even on ITV and Channel 5, the channels that normally haven’t got the first idea about widescreen! By comparison, the BBC are getting much better these days, although Channel 4 have led the way by changing policy so that almost all of their films are broadcast in the correct widescreen ratio, even if it means obtaining new prints from the distributors (all the other channels only tend to update their back catalogue when sourcing a new print, hence why a lot of films still get shown as cropped versions time and again).
For this February edition, I’ll be looking back at a number of films shown during January on TV, although I’ll first give a nod to a couple of notable films shown over Christmas in their correct ratio, such as the bizarre home-made TV movie Mr Stink, broadcast in 3D, no less; the incredible Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and directed by David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones; as well as the Christmas Eve premiere of 1995’s Lady and the Tramp (above), which was shown in the correct, but wider-than-most-films, ratio of 2.55:1.
Note that the films championed in this article, where I don’t mention the ratio, are all approximately 2.35:1. I’ll only make special mention of those which are filmed in a wider ratio or an unconventional one.
Massive thanks to Libretio from Digital Spy who painstakingly checks out which films are due to be shown on Digital Terrestrial TV in their original ratio and posts the lists weekly in the thread Channels Showing Full Widescreen Films (go to the last page in the thread for the latest info), as well as all the contributors to that thread who add their findings on a regular basis as films are aired.
Okay, so the first full week of January began and both the BBC and Channel 4 had a couple of films which used the ratio well. Channel 4 had a repeat showing of Inglourious Basterds, while BBC1 showed Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (right) as an OAR premiere – yes, the film’s been on several times before, but never in the correct 2.35:1 ratio, unlike the prequels. Another OAR premiere came in the form of 2009’s The Rebound, starring Catherine Zeta Jones.
BBC3 aired a repeat screening for Monsters vs. Aliens, a movie which premiered at Christmas 2011 and has only ever been shown correctly on terrestrial television; while Film 4 gave another airing for the 2.55:1 Cinemascope presentation of The Virgin Queen.
There was a premiere for Cemetery Junction, but sadly, whichever channel the BBC shows Bruce Willis in Armageddon, it’s always cropped to 16:9. Change the print, BBC! And the same goes for Channel 4 with their, as Libretio calls it, “horribly cropped version” of Dragoon Wells Massacre.
On to the week commencing Saturday January 12th and BBC2 premiered Oranges and Sunshine, starring Emily Watson and the fantastic Aisling Loftus, while ITV had an OAR premiere with Beowulf, and so did Film 4 with The Great Sioux Massacre.
BBC3 gave us a repeat screening of Con Air (above), while ITV’s sub-channels did the same with Unbreakable and Space Cowboys.
Alas, Channel 5 still trot out the same cropped print of Dirty Harry, and BBC1 were due to repeat the correct-ratio print of Tropic Thunder, but pulled it due to events in the news (I hate that idea!)
For the last fortnight in January, 5 USA surprised us with both Dr Who and the Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (above) in their correct ratio, these being the two Peter Cushing Doctor Who films. They also did the same once again, on Channel 5, with Pearl Harbour, and on 5* with Stargate, although ITV4 beat them with that last one previously.
Oh, and there was an OAR premiere with The Last Samurai.
Conversely, between Film 4 and Channel 4, they were still putting out terrible, cropped prints of both Reindeer Games (aka Deception) and the classic musical Annie. Meanwhile, ITV only ever have the wrong prints for The Bourne Ultimatum and the others in the series, while ITV4 once again showed a cropped print for Escape From New York. ITV2 also only ever do the same with Gladiator, despite Channel 4 managing to show it properly when they held the rights to it.
Channel 5 also fail with their 16:9 print of The Matrix, the same as ITV always did for all three films in the series, as well as with Spider-Man 3.
Repeat films being shown correctly include The Expendables (5 USA), The Simpsons Movie (Channel 4), Speed 2: Cruise Control (Channel 4), The A-Team (Film 4), Next (5*), Romancing the Stone (E4), Lesbian Vampire Killers (BBC1) and Cheyenne Autumn on Film 4 (not to be confused with the… ahem… actress, Cheyenne Silver).
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.