The Comfort of Strangers

[MichaelB]

Michael states that the film was never shown at the aspect ratio the DoP framed or approved and that the DoP framed for both ratios. But his argument is based on assumption rather than evidence.

I did no such thing; I merely said that it was very likely indeed that provision would have been made for 1.85:1 framing given that it was all but universal practice in mainstream cinemas in the US in particular.

And it's not a "flimsy argument" to flag up a clearly misframed shot - although, again, I was careful not to be absolutist about this in my original post.

(I do sometimes wonder why I bother to qualify my comments when these qualifications end up being ignored in the responses! Still, at least in this case people can easily read what I actually wrote, so it's better than, say, selectively quoting or downright misquoting me without offering a link to the original, which has also happened round these parts.)

[Pepsi]

I've had the UK BFI blu ray for a while and in all honesty, I think i'll stick with that going forward. It may have a dated master but I really like the 1.85:1 ratio

The BFI master is an typical old master that is also zoomed-in. Even tough it's techincaly 1:1.85, it's not. From the screen caps you can clearly see, that on the both sides are missing information if you comapre it to Criterion.

If 1:1.66 is a problem, take the Criterion Blu-Ray, and adjust your TV or projector to 4%-6% overscan. Then you probably get the 1:1.85 image, cropping the top and the bottom. It's clearly shot 1:1.85 in mind, but if someone prefer the 1:1.66 ratio it's OK.
If the film is shot with panavision lenses, the negative could be something approx. 1:1.20, cropping it into different viewings.