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TCM-Abandoning the Letterbox?
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Posted by: pseudonym

The last few movies I've Tivo'd off TCM (Around The World in 80 Days
and All That Heaven Allows come to mind) have been pan and scan,
despite their original widescreen ratios. TCM almost always has shown
letterbox versions of such films in the past, unless so such transfer
was available. I doubt that is the case for either of these movies,
especially "80 Days".

So what gives? Is this a trend, or an aberration? Has anyone else
noticed this?

Posted by: vman41

This weekend, they showed a movie in 4:3 format where the guide data clearly indicated letterbox. Lately they've been showing a lot of pre-1950s
movies, so there hasn't been a lot of opportunity for letterbox. I recall occasions where they show a P&S version of the movie early in the evening and then show a letterbox version of later that night.

Posted by: pseudonym

quote:
Originally posted by vman41
This weekend, they showed a movie in 4:3 format where the guide data clearly indicated letterbox. Lately they've been showing a lot of pre-1950s
movies, so there hasn't been a lot of opportunity for letterbox. I recall occasions where they show a P&S version of the movie early in the evening and then show a letterbox version of later that night.

I've seen other networks do this (Sci-Fi, AMC), but not TCM that I recall. They've always shown letterbox whenever possible. I noticed the letterbox description in the program guide as well, and this has me worried, as I'm not a fan of pan and scan, and TCM has been one of my favorite networks for a long time.

Posted by: vman41

The TCM web site runs some forums, maybe you should ask there. Of the posts mentioning letterbox, one thread talks a lot about the "Around the World in 80 Days" airings.

Posted by: Chris Gerhard

I hope the answer is no. TCM usually shows OAR when possible and has for as long as I have been watching. TCM is far and away the the channel I record the most. They have a great selection of films and usually only show any given film once or twice in a month so repeats are infrequent and variety available to record is great.

TCM is an old movie dream channel and seems almost too good to be true, I keep expecting something to go wrong like what happened to AMC which at one time was also very good.

Chris

Posted by: rickertk

Looking through the TCM forums, for this particular movie, what seems to be the case is that of the versions they can get hold of, there is a P+S which is otherwise complete (lengthwise), and a letterboxed but cut version. It was released to DVD in May ( I think this was a complete letterboxed version), but apparently they can't get broadcast rights to that version for 6 months from the DVD release.

Keith

Posted by: SparkleMotion

The full-screen version is all that was available on laserdisc for lots of years, too, btw...I have a copy and was disappointed it wasn't available in letterbox back in the day.