A number of recent posts have pondered what the Olive DVD and Blu-ray of Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar might be like. DVD Beaver has reviewed the Blu-ray, answering many of our questions along the way.
• The Sedona, Arizona scenery appears behind the titles, which is how it played theaters.
• It’s presented 1.33:1, which is how it’s often seen, though it was shot for cropped widescreen presentation (up to 1.85). If it bothers you, the zoom feature on your HDTV should take care of that.
• It includes the “appreciation” by Martin Scorsese, who loves the film.
As you can tell here, frame grabs from it are quite impressive. Order with confidence, folks!
From the evidence of that frame grab, I’d say that Paramount should have spent the money on a correct widescreen master before sending it to Olive.
Agreed. Doesn’t look it would’ve taken much.
The first thing that catches your eye in that picture is the CHANDELIER — not the actors, who are positioned too low in the frame. I’ve seen some other frame grabs from the JOHNNY GUITAR Blu-ray and they all have the same problem. Too much headroom and footroom (especially headroom). Open matte has become the bane of my home movie viewing experience — though I guess it’s not as bad as those new Fox Cinema Archive discs which are pan and scan transfers of Cinemascope movies! I am really on the fence about getting JOHNNY GUITAR now. :(
JOHNNY GUITAR began filming several months after Republic began composing for widescreen. The correct aspect ratio is 1.66:1.
Bob, thanks so much for all your help with sorting out the Republic widescreen issue. It’s been one of the real mysteries of my book research.
Here’s another one — is it true that The Bounty Hunter did NOT play 3-D?
That’s correct, it was released flat only. By the time it was released, the 3-D boom had died.