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MGM's DVD Class Action Settlement
MrFreak writes "Apparently all of MGM's 'theatrical wide screen' DVD releases for the last few years have been the pan-scanned versions with the top and bottoms cut off. I checked this against my copy of CQ, and it's true. The list (PDF) of butchered movies includes almost every Woody Allen film, Silence of the Lambs, and Ghost World, just to name a few. If you own any of the eligible movies, you have until March 31 to either opt to exchange your copy for $7.10, or a new DVD from MGM, presumably in its proper aspect ratio." Update: 01/28 19:44 GMT by M : The above is not correct. A comment does a reasonable job of explaining; see the Aspect Ratio FAQ for background. The movies themselves have not been cut twice; they've been cut once, because they were originally formatted for television.
Does this only apply to R1 disks, or are other regions similarly faulty? Do we (e.g. in the UK) have any recourse if so? Also, will the replacement DVDs they're offering still be the dodgy ones?
Phil
I've been trying to convince my dad all these years that the widescreen versions DO contain more of a scene than the fullscreen versions - "they just cut the sides off for fullscreen! it just *looks* like it's less in widescreen!" but apparently he was right (at least in a few cases ;)
Have the UK had the same problem ? If so where do we stand or is the settlement only for the USA.
So I can replace all these DVDs I bought for about $15 each for $7.10 each? How does that make sense? And does it say anywhere that they'll re-release these in /real/ widescreen anywhere? (I've got four DVDs so far and I'm still on page 1)
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
This pisses me off as I have a huge collection of DVDs and many are MGMs. All widescreen. Are they trying to tell me I can give up the DVD I bought in exchange for some other movie that is also not fixed? WHy dont they fix the DVDs they screwed up and promise to exchanged the messed up ones for the good ones? SUre thats expensive, but dammit I paid for a wide-screen DVD and I want to get what I paid for. Not some pan-n-scan crap.
I see spaceballs is on the list and now I realize why I always thought it looked funny when I watched it. I must not have been paying close attention to my other MGM DVDs....
I wonder if they will sometime in the future fix the movies, and then try to make us pay for them when we want to exhange the crappy DVDs for the real ones.
Posted as AC for your pleasure:
MGM Class Action Settlement
ELIGIBLE DVD LIST
10 TO MIDNIGHT | 1969 | 1984 | 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
3 STRIKES | 8 HEADS IN A DUFFEL BAG | ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, THE | ACROSS 110th STREET
ALICE | ALICE'S RESTAURANT | ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN | ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN 2
ALL OR NOTHING | ALPHABET CITY | AMAZING GRACE | AMERICAN BUFFALO
AMERICAN NINJA | AMERICAN NINJA 2 & 3 | AMITYVILLE HORROR, THE | AMOS & ANDREW
ANGEL LEVINE, THE | ANGEL UNCHAINED/CYCLE SAVAGES | ANGELS AND INSECTS | ANNIE HALL
ANOTHER WOMAN | ASSASSINATION | AT FIRST SIGHT | AT FIRST SIGHT/KILL ME AGAIN
AT THE EARTH'S CORE | ATTIC, THE/CRAWL SPACE | AUDREY ROSE | AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
AVANTI! | AVIATOR, THE | BABETTE'S FEAST | BABY BOOM
BACK TO SCHOOL | BAD INFLUENCE | BAGDAD CAFÉ | BANANAS
BAR GIRLS | BARBERSHOP | BASIC TRAINING | BASKET, THE
BEAT STREET | BELIEVERS, THE | BENNY AND JOON | BENT
BEST SELLER | BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY | BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE | BILLION DOLLAR HOBO, THE
BIODOME | BIRDCAGE, THE | BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ | BLACK CAESAR
BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA | BLACK ROBE | BLACK STALLION 1 & 2, THE | BLACK STALLION RETURNS, THE
BLACK STALLION, THE | BLUE SKY | BLUE STEEL | BODY OF EVIDENCE
BORN ROMANTIC | BOUND FOR GLORY | BOXCAR BERTHA | BOXING HELENA
BREAKER! BREAKER! | BREAKHEART PASS | BREAKIN' | BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
BREAKING IN | BREATHLESS | BREATHLESS/RED CORNER | BREEDERS
BRIDE WORE BLACK, THE | BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY | BROADWAY DANNY ROSE | BUCKTOWN
BULL DURHAM | BUSINESS OF STRANGERS | CADILLAC MAN | CAMILLE CLAUDEL
CANDYMAN 2: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH | CARRIE - 25TH ANNIVERSARY | CARRINGTON | CATCH THE HEAT
CAVEMAN | CHARLES BRONSON | CHATO'S LAND | CHEECH AND CHONG CORSICAN BROS
CHERRY 2000 | CHILDREN'S HOUR | CHILD'S PLAY | CHOCOLATE
CHOOSE ME | CHRISTINA'S HOUSE | CITY OF INDUSTRY | CITY SLICKERS
CLASS | CLASS/YOUNGBLOOD | CLEAN SLATE | COCA COLA KID, THE
CODE OF SILENCE | COFFY | COLORS | COMING HOME
COMPANY BUSINESS | COOLEY HIGH | CORNBREAD, EARL, AND ME | COTTON CLUB
COTTON COMES TO HARLEM | COUCH TRIP | COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE | COURAGE MOUNTAIN
CQ | CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA | CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS | CRYBANSHEE/MURDERSRUEMORGUE
CUBA | CUTTERS WAY | CUTTING EDGE, THE | CYBORG
DARK HALF, THE | DE SADE | DEAD MAN WALKING | DEAD OF WINTER
DEATH WARRANT | DECAMERON, THE | DEFIANT ONES | DELIRIOUS
DELTA FORCE | DELTA FORCE II | DERANGED/MOTEL HELL | DESERT HEARTS
DESPERATE HOURS | DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN | DIGGSTOWN | DILLINGER
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS | DIRTY WORK | DISTURBING BEHAVIOR | DOGS OF WAR, THE
DOLL'S HOUSE | DOMINICK AND EUGENE | DONOVAN'S BRAIN | DOUBLE IMPACT
DR. NO | DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN | DUEL AT DIABLO | DUNWICH HORROR, THE
EASY MONEY | EAT, DRINK, MAN, WOMAN | ECHO PARK | EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS
EDGE OF SANITY | EIGHT MEN OUT | ELECTRA | ELMER GANTRY
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS | END, THE | ENTERTAINER, THE | EQUUS
EUROPA EUROPA | EVE OF DESTRUCTION | EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED | EXTREME ADVENTURES OF SUPER DAVE
EXTREMITIES | EYE FOR AN EYE | EYE OF THE NEEDLE | FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN, THE
FATAL BEAUTY | FATAL INSTINCT | FAVOR, THE | FELLINI'S ROMA
FIRES WITHIN | FIRST POWER, THE | FISH CALLED WANDA, A | FIVE ON THE BLACK HAND SIDE
FLAMINGO KID | FLAWLESS | FLED | FLIGHT OF THE INNOCENT | FLIRTING | FLUKE
FLUKE/NAPOLEON | FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL | FOXES | FOXY BROWN
FRANKIE & JOHNNY | FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, THE
FRIDAY FOSTER | FRITZ THE CAT | FROGS | FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
FULL MOON IN BLUE WATER | FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY, A
FUZZ | FX | FX2 | GANGSTER NO. 1 | GET SHORTY | GETTING EVEN WITH DAD
GHOST WORLD | GIRL WITH GREEN EYES | GOLDFINGER | GOOD WIFE, THE
GORKY PARK | GREAT BALLS OF FIRE | GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, THE | GREAT WALL, A
GREGORY'S GIRL | GUY THING
With the caliber of the majority movies on the list I know I have seen many of these in the bargain binat walmart for $5.50, what's to stop me from picking up a couple hundred/thousand of these and making a nice profit? Besides the obvious amount of work involved, and the fact I'd most likely have topay for shipping in both directions?
pan & scan is like raping the director
Oh, it was worse than that 'back in the day.' At least today they buy him dinner first. Lemme explain:
Circa 20 years ago I was a young Quality Control Guy working for a Major Pay TV Network. I had done some straight telecine before, for both Broadcast and Cable outlets, but that day I was approached to do my first pan-and-scan. Of course I understood the process, but I was amazed that I was being asked to do it for a particular film without any creative or studio supervision.
"But, I'm, like, just a Tech Guy!" I argued.
"Use your best judgement," the PHB shot back, adding (with a keen if accidental prescience), "Do you want to be 'just a Tech Guy' for the rest of your life?"
So I did the deed. Panned and scanned a classic flick, in some cases choosing which actors' faces appeared in certain shots, and which were disembodied off-screen voices. Of course, this was before the days of even home video, let alone DVD, so there was no danger of anyone ever buying the RobotRunAmok-Cut collaboration with an Oscar-winning director, but it did air on Pay Cable before millions of paying subscribers, most of whom had prolly never seen the theatrical version.
It was less than ten years later, and the pan-and scan process had become a Great Art. Cable Nets were flying Techs, Creatives, Lawyers, and Admin Assistants around the country for tens of thousands of dollars to do across a week's time what I did that afternoon after lunch.
I'm (reasonably) certain they're all doing a better job than I did...
As usual, Slashdot is a source of misinformation for people who do not read the comments. The argument is that these films were actually shot with 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and then cut down to widescreen for the cinema (whether anything is lost in this process is a matter of definition - the viewfinder on the camera will mark what is visible when cut, so the director is fully aware when he chooses his shots).
When these movies are transfered to 4:3 it is done by expanding the image, not pan-and-scan. The lawsuit is because MGM claimed the opposite - that information was lost. (Perhaps "see it as intended" would have been a better pitch.)
For a good illustration of this stuff, see here.
That's right. Many films have been done that way. The director composes the shot for 1.85:1, or whatever, but the camera captures extra material above and/or below the target area. Somtimes unintended things like mike booms will show up in the 4:3 version, because they were only paying attention to the 1.85:1 rectangle.
The debate, as ever, is do you simply want more picture (with less magnification), or do you want OAR -- the Original Aspect Ratio, that the filmmakers intended, regardless if it is 4:3 or 2.35:1.
If I understand the issue correctly, you don't have a butchered DVD. But you may have received false advertising that the widescreen version was "wider" or had "more picture."
I'm sure there's already a thread covering this somewhere at http://dvdtalk.com/.
"Wait a minute. Why can't MGM answer a simple question -- did they letterbox a pan-and-scan cut of a movie and try to pass it off as a widescreen movie?"
It's not clear that anyone asked that question.
The complaint is that the 'widescreen' versions of their films have the same image width as their 'full screen' versions, and the implication is that this is automatically bad.
As another poster has pointed out, if they took a movie that was matted in the theater to 1.85:1 and matted it on the DVD to match, the image width would be exactly the same as the 'full screen' version.
The irony here is that this is what a large number of people *want*. They want their movie on the DVD to be identical to what they saw in the theater. MGM may have given them exactly that.
A.
...bringing you cynical quips since 1998
1. The DVDs they list are not all "wrong" they simply lumped in all DVDs within a certain time period and aspect ratio in. For instance checking UHF which has both Widescreen and Pan/Scan on one disc you can see the Widescreen has more picture to the right and left.
2. The DVDs that are "wrong" are NOT wrong. The movie was originally shot in square format and the director cut the top and bottom off to make the widescreen version. Technically the "pan and scan" version is wrong as it shows more then the director originally intended.
>The lawsuit is actually about the fact that MGM have a little
> booklet image showing how you're missing information from
> the sides if you watch Pan 'n' Scan films. This is actually
> incorrect for most 1.85:1 films, as the 1.33:1 release isn't
> really a Pan 'n' Scan.
You bring up an excellent point.
There is a difference between
1. Taking a regular movie, chopping off its sides so it's full screen [please give me a shiny star sticker for using the proper "its/it's" in the above sentence], and then panning and scanning to get all the action. Then letter-boxing that pan-and-scan to make it look like a normal wide screen aspect ratio. In this case, the width of the resulting abomination would be less than the original release, but the same as a pan-and-scan release.
2. Taking a regular movie which is intended to be letterboxed when shown in the theater (as you described in your post). When that cut is shown on TV, it must be pan and scanned to eliminate the stuff above and below the letterbox frame. One then applies the letterbox putting it on DVD. The Straight Dope has more on this.
I assumed that's what they did #1 when I read the slashdot story. The notice.pdf file isn't completely clear on this.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
I must disagree. All regular movies are filmed onto 1.33:1 35mm film. But the original negative contains data for a 1.85:1 ratio (via use of a panoramic lense, e.g. "filmed in panavision"). The Open Matte method is for theatrically 'widescreening' negatives filmed in the unadulterated 1.33:1 format.
Given the DVD image shown on the cover, the original film has an actual 1.85:1 display ratio, not a matted 1.33:1. This film would have been displayed at theatres using a scope lens (looking at the negative itself it would appear squished horizontally, the scope lens reverses the panoramic filming lens's effect).
Personally, I do not use large corporations like MGM for distribution, it gives them too much control of my productions. I distribute them myself.
The only one instance of the filmmaker getting his way was Welles' Citizen Kane. The studio hated it, but they never got to touch a frame. Ted Turner couldn't even touch it.
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.