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Author Topic: 2001, A SPACE ODDYSSEY (1968) on BD is great but------ Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 07-24-2009 09:58 PM                        I was fortunate to see Stanley Kubrick's 2001, A SPACE ODDYSSEY during it's road show single projection Cinerama engagement and in 70mm at least three times during revival showings. Because I have the movie on a laserdisc and DVD, I never thought about buying it again on Blu Ray until I heard how good it is by some of my friends who have it and various reviews on the internet. Before buying it, I thought it might be better if I rented it first from Blochbuster and I did. I fully concur with all of the positive comments about the movie on Blu Ray except the aspect ratio that was used on the BD release. I am sure 2001, A SPACE ODDYSSEY was photographed in Ultra Panavision to simulate the extreme wide picture that was the norm with three strip Cinerama. Ultra Panavision has a 2.76:1 aspect ratio but the image on the Blu Ray seem to be cropped to the standard 70mm 2.20:1 ratio and the picture does not look normal. A good example is the scene in the space lounge when the American scientist meets his Russian colleagues after he lands at the space station early in the movie. There is a shot when all of them are suppose to be visible but the woman on the right and the woman on the left were cropped out and all that was visible were their legs. Except for the incorrect ratio, the picture quality on the BD is wonderful and look exactly the way I saw the film in Cinerama and standard 70mm. The sound on the Blu Ray is also great. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-25-2009 01:10 AM                     I don't know. The Ultra Panavision format uses anamorphic lenses with a minor squeeze to fit a 2.7:1 image into the 2.20:1 frame. Some of the usual optical artifacts of anamorphic photography end up present in the image. Same thing goes for anything shot in Technirama (the anamorphic version of VistaVision). 2001: A Space Odyssey looked very much like normal spherical 5/65 photography to me. For the Cinerama version I'm wondering if the tops and bottoms of the image were simply cropped to create the wider aspect ratio image. If certain things look cropped in the Blu-ray version that makes me wonder if the BD version is just an extraction out of a larger frame.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-25-2009 09:48 AM                     Claude...I can assure you, 2001:A Space Odyssey was shot and premiered SPHERICALLY. No Ultra-Panavision. In fact, the double tag of Super Panavision 70 and Cinerama were on some of the promotional items for the film. I've shown it many times in 70mm...including at the Uptown theatre (site of the premiere and its anniversary showings...I worked the anniversary...too young to work the premiere). As I recall, in that scene, there are times when all are composed in the frame and times when they are not. The dialog would move about too to try and locate people. 2.20 is the correct ratio. Steve  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 07-25-2009 03:30 PM                        Thanks, Steve I did some research and you are right, The film was indeed photographed in Super Panavision 70 and not in the wider format. I could have swore the picture was much wider when I saw it during it's Cinerama engagement. It stands to reason why so many spherical 70mm movies were released under the Cinerama banner. They only wanted to capitalize on the Cinerama brand name like they are doing now with Digital IMAX. The first single projection Cinerama film, IT A MAD, MAD,MAD WORLD was indeed photographed in Ultra Panavision but many others were not. Some of the single projection Cinerama films I remember seeing during it initial road show run includes THE SONG OF NORWAY, GRAND PRIX, CUSTER OF THE WEST, THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE", KARTHOUM, CIRCUS WORLD, KRAKATOA, EAST OF JAVA and ICE STATION ZEBRA. A few of these such as KARTHOUM and THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE were photographed in Ultra Panavision but the others were probably shot in Super Panavision. I guess I can now buy 2001, A SPACE ODDYSSEY" in Blu Ray knowing it is in the proper ratio. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-25-2009 04:35 PM                     I would...and probably will. It is certainly my favorite film of all time. I think Logans Run was one of the last films to "steal" an old name ... I think they used Todd-Ao or Cinerama though it had nothing to do really with either of those formats.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 07-25-2009 04:47 PM                        Steve, LOGAN'S RUN was photographed in Todd AO 35 and blown up to 70mm and released by MGM. Because Dolby Stereo was introduced about that time, there were 35mm prints with encoded stereo tracks. Warner Home Video announced LOGAN'S RUN will be released on Blu Ray this fall and I am planning to getit because it has been one of my favorites -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-25-2009 04:59 PM                     I remember the 1980 movie Flash Gordon doing the same thing. Its end credits stated "filmed in Todd-AO" even though the photography was obviously 35mm anamorphic.  |  IP: Logged John Lasher Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Newark, DE Registered: Aug 2001 posted 07-25-2009 08:35 PM                        Dune was also filmed using ToddAO 35mm anamorphic lenses, which you can still rent from Clairmont Camera in Hollywood, New Mexico, and Canada.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-25-2009 09:19 PM                     Yeah, that sounds right...Todd Ao 35. And that means? Like IMAX...whatever we want it to mean though to those that should know...it should mean 70mm and 30fps...(Oklahoma! and Around the World in 80 Days). Steve  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-25-2009 09:58 PM                     Steve, To apply a further blow to the glory of Todd-AO and 30 fps they also made Standard Def type anamorphic video camera lenses(LOL). At least it was back to 30fps for that format.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-25-2009 10:40 PM                     I think the last bit of glory for the Todd-AO format was Baraka using the term in its credits. But the camera used to film Baraka was a custom machined piece of equipment, not an old camera associated with previous Todd-AO 70mm production.  |  IP: Logged Julio Roberto Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 938 From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain Registered: Oct 2008 posted 07-25-2009 11:20 PM                    If I had gotten a dime for everytime I had to explain the difference between "Filmed in Panavision" and "Filmed with Panavision cameras and lenses" ....  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-25-2009 11:50 PM                     quote: Claude S. Ayakawa LOGAN'S RUN was photographed in Todd AO 35 and blown up to 70mm and released by MGM. Because Dolby Stereo was introduced about that time, there were 35mm prints with encoded stereo tracks. Warner Home Video announced LOGAN'S RUN will be released on Blu Ray this fall and I am planning to getit because it has been one of my favorites I added a post on the "Logan's Run" comment in the "Yak forum" under the "eBay junk" about the Bauer U2 that is up for sale .. ..and it was with these machines that I did see "Logan's Run" in 70mm back in the summer of '76 ... an now glad that Warner's gonna release "LR" on BlewRay and I do agree with Claude: it was also one of my favorites - just one of those oddities of releases that only gathered the special crowd. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-26-2009 01:40 AM                     I think it is pretty cool, at least in a strangely weird sort of way, that Logans Run was filmed in the Fort Worth, TX area. I had a sort of "WTF?" reaction when I learned that.  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-26-2009 02:49 AM                        it used to be that one of the blessings (for someone like me who doesn't watch movies on video) of a dvd release was that a new print would be struck. does this mean that logan's run will be available in 35mm again? when it was shown recently around here, only a 16mm flat print could be located. not that i'm a great fan of the film.  |  IP: Logged

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