BK tells of something that is, for me, one of the worst things that can happen in a video transfer. And that would be any kind of geometric distortion. That happened with Criterion's first batch of Dressed to Kill or whichever De Palma film it was. It was scrunched or stretched, I forget. Doesn't matter because they fixed it.
Many people are blind to these things, something I cannot understand for one minute. Have we not noticed over the years what the world around us looks like? You don't have to know a damned thing about film or video. You don't have to know what an "aspect ratio" is. Just look at the damned picture. Are those circular objects really supposed to be oval? Is the beanpole look of that actor's face and body that you've seen all your life really correct?
Hell, I still can't believe that millions of people happily watch their TV with the picture stretched to fill the screen, giving every person and object the funhouse mirror look. Many do it deliberately because "the picture MUST fill the screen!" on their expensive "widescreen" TV. But at least that's a decision, however ill-formed, that they're making for themselves. It's the people who don't notice, who can't see the problem -- even when it's pointed out to them -- that make me think I've walked into an alternate universe.
So, getting back to BK's observation about this Pink Panther transfer. Who released that? In my book, that's recall material.
