Todd-AO Or CinemaScope
Dear Gary, I hope you can clear this up for me. Once upon a time (two or three years ago) I had the Todd-AO LaserDiscs of Oklahoma! and South Pacific. Now, I’ve been into DVD for well over one-and-a-half years and avoided getting those titles on the newer format because I noticed on the boxes they are in CinemaScope, and seeing a clear improvement in clarity with Todd-AO, I stayed away from them. Well, I love those musicals so much that I purchased Oklahoma! to give it a try. To my surprise, the opening credits state “Todd-AO” and not the “CinemaScope” printed on the box. The image looked superb, leading me to believe the box is wrong. Which is it? Also, I haven’t purchased South Pacific yet, but is it the same story? I have Logan’s Run on DVD, which is in Todd-AO, but it doesn’t look nearly as good as the musicals. In fact, when I watched Logan’s Run a couple months ago, I was rather disappointed in the way it looked. Why is that? I thought Todd-AO was supposed to be the best cinematic medium ever developed. When you compare the two Oklahoma!’s, you can see the improvement, or am I just kidding myself?
Rich Levitan, Weare, New Hampshire
Research Editor Michael Coate comments:
Are you suggesting that the information printed on a DVD jacket might be incorrect? No! That can’t possibly be! If you are a fan of Oklahoma!, as you seem to be, you made the right choice in purchasing the DVD version rather than continuing to watch the LaserDisc, though the LaserDisc was quite good in its day. As it turns out, both 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment DVD releases of Oklahoma! and South Pacific (both reviewed in Issue 38, May 2000) appear to have been created from the masters prepared for the LaserDisc releases a few years ago. Since those versions were sourced from original 65mm elements, the DVD editions are indeed the Todd-AO versions. As for the packaging, the poster art that appears on the back jacket of Oklahoma! was likely taken from either that film’s 35mm CinemaScope general release or from a re-release. At least one other home theatre/DVD publication (which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) reviewed the Oklahoma! DVD and criticized it for being the CinemaScope version! Did that particular reviewer actually watch the DVD or just notice the same CinemaScope blurb on the poster featured on the back jacket? In checking our copies of the two movies, I don’t see any CinemaScope notations on South Pacific, although the CinemaScope blurb is clearly visible on Oklahoma! in the upper left hand corner. However, in the “Bonus Features” (as Fox calls it) section on the jackets, both titles are listed as being in widescreen format with a 2.20:1 aspect ratio. That was a correct notation on their part and should clue consumers in as to their Todd-AO status. Notice the jackets didn’t say they were in “anamorphic widescreen format.” Neither of the DVDs are in anamorphic widescreen because they weren’t re-transferred specifically for DVD. Should they be at any time in the future, an additional improvement in image quality should become apparent assuming the same original 65mm elements are used—provided their condition hasn’t deteriorated in the interim. Another classic Todd-AO production, The Sound Of Music, has reportedly been transferred from 65mm for DVD release in anamorphic widescreen. As of this writing, the disc is scheduled for release in August or September and should look stunning. As for Todd-AO being the best medium ever, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we are now watching these movies on television. Even when viewed from a high-quality DVD, they look nothing like what they do when viewed on a large theatre screen projected from a 70mm print. It’s also worth noting, as many of our longtime readers are aware, that the CinemaScope version of Oklahoma! is arguably a different movie compared to the Todd-AO version, as that film was shot twice—once in each format. With South Pacific, it was shot once in 65mm and the 35mm CinemaScope version was a reduction print. As for Logan’s Run, this “Todd-AO” production looks inferior for the simple reason that it was a 35mm production rather than 65mm. There are of course, other variables that may have contributed to the look of that particular movie on DVD, but its 35mm origination would be the primary factor in this instance. Once the 65mm/70mm production era ended (around 1970 or so), productions that used cameras and lenses from Todd-AO were 35mm anamorphic, instead of 65mm spherical. Many of these 35mm anamorphic productions bear the credit “Filmed In Todd-AO 35” or some such phrase, while others such as Flash Gordon and Conan The Barbarian, for instance, have a “Filmed In Todd-AO” label. Some of the Todd-AO 35 productions such as Logan’s Run had some 70mm blow-up prints made and it’s possible the producers wanted the Todd-AO credit to represent the 70mm exhibition format. Misleading, yes. Inaccurate, not necessarily. An argument can also be made that formats such as Showscan and IMAX have better image quality than Todd-AO, though neither process has been used to make feature films.
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