Criterion Collection

Region 1 - NTSC

2.16:1 Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.33 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.99 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Criterion

Medusa

Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.16:1

Edition Details:
• New transfer of of the 161-minute American release, with English-language dialogue (including Burt Lancaster's actual voice)
• Audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie
• A Dying Breed, a new hour-long documentary featuring interviews with Claudia Cardinale, screenwriter Suso Ceccho D'Amico, cinematographer Guiseppe Rotunno, Sydney Pollack, and many others
• Interview with professor Millicent Marcus on the history behind The Leopard
• Interview with producer Goffredo Lombardo
• Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos
• Theatrical trailer
• 3-DVD Set

DVD Release Date: June 8, 2004
Keep Case

Chapters 32

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Interview with producer Goffredo Lombardo (19:33)
• About the restauration of the movie (11:13)
• Featurette: Il gattopardo - un viaggio nella memoria (20:46)
• 2 newsreels (3:01) (0:43)
• Gallery of customes, scenography and behind the scenes,
• Theatrical trailer
• 68 pages booklet (In Italian)
• 2-DVD Set (There is also an OOP LE edition which include a soundtrack CD)
 

Chapters 28

NOTE: ADDITION: (Final word)

Regarding the information on cropping of the Criterion edition of "The Leopard", I cannot tell you why it happened but I will tell you that none of the theories suggested are correct. The film was photographed in Technirama, Technicolor Corp's high quality wide screen system. Bausch & Lomb lenses were for CinemaScope, not Technirama, and there was no similarity in distortions associated with either system. The supposition that the original negative contained information on the left side that wasn't meant to be seen is also something that would pertain only to certain films made in CinemaScope, not Technirama, which used an eight perforation horizontal movement, not the old standard 35mm silent aperture. Suffice it to say that Criterion apparently goofed. Why? I don't know. They may have had justification for their cropping of the left side and that question should be put to them. If Criterion was able to make their transfer from an original negative, or duplicate negative then the aspect ratio should be 2.35:1 to 2.25:1 depending on the setup of the cameras used, and assuming that all the possible image area was recorded.

Martin Hart
The American WideScreen Museum
www.widescreenmuseum.com

**********************

Technirama was similar to VistaVision in that the frame's width was 8 perforations of a horizontally fed 35mm negative. An anamorphic lens gave the image a 1.5 vertical squeeze to make the unsqueezed image wider in projection (approximately 2.35:1). Three different kinds of prints were made from Technirama negatives: 8-perf horizontal 35mm prints (like VistaVision), 2.35:1 anamorphic 35mm prints and 70mm prints with the 2.21:1 aspect ratio. The latter prints were advertised as being in "Super Technirama." 

Obviously, the 2.35:1 anamorphic print and the 2.21:1 70mm print are not going to capture exactly the same image area. Either the 70mm will have more vertical picture area or the 35mm print will have more picture area on the sides. My guess is that either Guiseppe Rotunno simply chose 2.21:1 as the preferred aspect ratio (since 70mm was the preferred original exhibition format) or that the Italian DVD was transferred from a 35mm anamorphic print and the Criterion DVD was transferred from a 70mm print.

James M. Steffen

Firstly, it is obvious that the Criterion is far superior in image quality to the Medusa version (better colors, better contrast, better subtitles, better Extras - especially seeing as the Criterion also includes the US version- etc. etc.), but our nagging question is why is the Criterion so extensively cropped on the left edge? We have a number of theories, two of which are reported here:

Damin J Toell states that (in regards to "Desk Set"):
The disc is probably sourced from a full-aperture element, exposing picture information on the left side of the frame that is meant to be covered up by the soundtrack on theatrical prints. Even though this area of the negative is exposed during filming, it isn't meant to be seen. Other DVDs have made this mistake in the past, such as the original release of The Great Escape. Exposing the left side of the frame in such cases completely destroys the composition of the film.

or as Marshall Deutelbaum wrote to us also regarding "Desk Set":
I wonder if the decision to crop the left side may have been intended to minimize the well-known distortion of the Bausch & Lomb lenses which curved straight edges at the edges of the frame.

Personally I don't see this flaw in the lens being apparent on the left edge of any of the Medusa captures and I don't know if a Bausch & Lomb lens was even used.

The Criterion also has marginal cropping on the top edge and the Medusa has similar on the bottom edge. Both of these are negligible. I am also concerned that the Criterion is at a 2.16 ratio where the Medusa appears more true at 2.35. The Medusa has a disturbing greenish/yellow tinge to it and faces appear slightly compressed meaning ratio distortion to some degree.

 - Gary Tooze