Above and below: Richard Burton relaxes between takes while smoking a cigarette, as Rex Harrison chats and waits. Great photos. These kind of films are long and tedious to make.
This is how the shot looks like in the final film
This is a publicity still of the same scene. In my opinion, this photo is much more spectacular than what ended up in the film.
Indeed, that publicity photo looks more spectacular - because it is a "full frame" shot.
ReplyDeleteI am not a big fan of wide-screen. Of course, I prefer to see films shot in wide-screen in that format, but e.g., I regret that 4:3 version of THE ROBE was not released. ATTILA, KING OF THE HUNS for example is available in both versions (on the German DVD), and I like the full-frame version better.
Wide-screen was introduced for the movie theatres, where hundreds of people are watching the screen. The full-frame format is, however, is more suited (IMO) for watching a TV set in a home.
Unfortunately, many films that have been shot in full-screen [e.g., ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT - or the British release of the SF flick 'This Island Earth'] got released in fake "wide-screen" format, taking a good portion of the (well-composed) picture away.
(Besides, our human vision is not "wide-screen" :)