Newsgroups: rec.video

In rec.video, rlich@atr-19.scg.hac.com writes:

> The Magnificent Seven is one of my favorite Westerns of all-time, yet on
> videotape it loses key information without a letterbox edition (the scenes
> where Brenner and McQueen gesture silently as to the number of heroes they
> have "hired".  Anyone know of a letterbox version?

Subject: LD: "Magnificent Seven" in W/S
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1991
Organization: Hewlett-Packard/FSY Ft.Collins,CO,USA
From: rjn@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Newsgroups: rec.video

re: "You came back ... for a place like this ... why?"

Announced by MGM/UA over two years ago, the long-awaited LD re-issue of John
Sturges' 1960 "The Magnificent Seven" (tM7), in widescreen, has finally hit
the streets.

Based on Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai", tM7 launched the careers of several
actors, created a couple of now-stereotypical western characters, and
provided Marlboro with a cigarette theme for a decade.  There were also
several forgettable sequels.  tM7 was one of the first films shot in
Panavision, the process that replaced Cinemascope.  Like C'scope, Panavision
is anamorphic 35mm with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.  The wide ratio lent
itself well to the large ensemble cast and panoramic terrain.

The previous pan&scan LD of tM7 was CBS/Fox 4553-80 ($39.98), out of print
since 1988 or so, when the rights to a number of titles reverted to MGM/UA
(squabbling over title swaps may have contributed to the delay).  I once
owned a copy of 4553-80, and the cropping made the disc unwatchable.  If the
video industry had "truth in advertising", 4553-80 would have been re-titled
"The Magnificent 4-1/2".  4553-80 had only non-CX analog sound, and although
it ran just over two sides, it was all-CLV.

The current disc set is MGM/UA ML101563 ($39.95).  It is letterboxed at
about 2.1:1 (see postscript), has digital and CX analog sound (still mono)
and at a 2:09 running time is CLV with last side CAV (the package implies
all-CLV).  Side 3 has correct white flags and the program begins with the 7
returning to town for the last time.  It ends with a theatrical trailer, not
advertised or chapter-marked (sides 1 & 2 are also unmarked).  ML101563 was
pressed by PVI (as was 4553-80), and my copy arrived by mail with mild cone
warp, subsequently self-corrected in storage.

United Artists, the original studio/distributor, apparently did not take
loving care of their vault material.  I had hoped that part of the re-issue
delay was due to an exhaustive search to locate a pristine dye-tranfer
print.  Although the screen credits say "Color by Deluxe", some Technicolor
IB prints were made - I saw one in anamorphic 16mm in 1966.  Apparently none
were found.  In the color department, ML101563 is an improvement over
4553-80 - not as saturated as I had hoped, but it matches the dry Mexican
scenery.  The sound is also an improvement, but still is rough and evidently
from optical sources.

On the whole, MGM ML101563, at a typical discount price of $36, is a very
satisfactory product.  Caution:  the older Fox 4553-80 is likely to turn up
in the used bins as people trade-in for the new W/S edition.  Avoid 4553-80
unless you are looking for an inexpensive demo disc of how unpleasant
cropped Panavision can be.

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                CompuServe:  71044,2124               Ft Collins CO 80525-9599

PS: "It is letterboxed at about 2.1:1..."

Some purists complain when we don't get the full 2.35:1 or 2.4:1 of 35mm
anamorphic films.  I am generally satisfied with transfers in the range 2.0
to 2.2:1, which strike me as a reasonable trade-off in the difficult choice
between image information and detail resolution.  If and when we get HDTV, I
will become a rabid original aspect ratio fanatic.  As it happens, we often
don't see the full 2.35:1 even in a theatre.  Many multiplex houses have
2.0:1 screens, which they like to fill vertically, discarding 10% of the
image width.  A local theatre is cropping "Terminator 2" to 2.0:1 as I write
this.  The recent widescreen LD of "Logan's Run", at 2.55:1, is too wide for
my tastes (and probably incorrect, since LR was shot in 2.35:1 Todd-AO 35,
according to my references).