THE PIT AND THE PROJECTOR
VW #24 arrived today, and I
was really stoked by the Corman/ Poeness of it all. PIT AND THE PENDULUM was the horror pic­ ture that started it all for me. After reading your review of
the FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER and PIT AND THE PEN­DULUM discs, 1 was intrigued by your comments about the letter- boxing of the pair, especially PIT. It looked fine to me, and I’ve seen the picture in ‘Scope countless times. So, I pulled out the disc and my anamorphic 16mm print (with long-faded color) and compared them. (Beats balanc­ ing my checkbook.) Here’s what I found: First, there’s actually more
headroom on the disc than there is on my print. For instance, in the scene where Luana Anders takes John Kerr down into the catacombs and the pendulum mechanism is first heard, Kerr stops on a landing when he hears the noise. On the disc, there’s space between the top of his head and the matte. On my print, the top of his head is perfectly flush with the frame line. Second, the disc seems to crop a bit at the bottom. I’d call it
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“legroom” but it’d make one of the key horror movies of the Six­ ties sound like the interior of a Buick. In the insert shot of the painting you mentioned, my print reveals more upper lip than the disc. (16mm reductions lose some of the 35mm originals’ ver­ tical information, so this lower cropping is probably even greater than my print indicates.) Third, I found a surprising
amount of horizontal stuff miss­ ing from either side of the disc. (I use a Sony 27" monitor/receiver and am assuming my set wasn’t the cause of this.) But, in com­ paring the two PITs, I never saw anything of real importance cropped—a candle here, a spider web there. Naturally, the disc’s sound
was vastly, vastly superior. (I won’t even mention the color.) I hope this helps. It was cer­
tainly fun, especially checking out the sound. I had the print running about 5s ahead of the disc. That way, I’d find a reference point on the print, then check the same thing on my monitor. With the sound playing from both sources, it created this weird, otherworldly echo with the clicking of the pro­ jector mixed in.
Toby K. Roan Raleigh, NC
LIE BACK AND THINK OF
_______ENGLAND_______ I hope you don’t mind, as
someone who has every ish of VW, if I make a constructive criticism. About your decision to re­
strict VW tape reviews to NTSC only: I find the logic faulty that says USA fans don’t want to read about PAL tapes until they ap­ pear as NTSC conversions, while apparently PAL-land readers are dying to read about NTSC stuff they can’t readily obtain (of which UK copyright law forbids unli­ censed conversions—there are no PD firms here)! In fact, I think we all want to read about NTSC and PAL stuff. USA readers will want to know about Aktiv’s Spa­ ghetti Western issues and Re­ demption’s Franco and Rollin tapes. We in the UK may already know about them, but we don’t read VW just as a listings service (obviously) but to be told about cuts, missing scenes, etc. Please reconsider! I enjoyed the Poe articles in
VW 24. The BBC recently showed a new transfer of my fave Poe/AIP movie, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. Unlike previous pan/scan transfers, this one was letter- boxed—but only at 1.75:1.
EXORCIST AFICIONADOS—Where Were You? BBC Television are currently researching for a major TV d ocu­
mentary about the film THE EXORCIST. We’re particularly interested in the mystique th at gathered around the
film during its first release in 1973-74, and want to talk to anyone who was working in a movie theatre at the time, who could tell us about their experiences. Did audiences really vomit, pass out, flee the theatre early etc.? Whether you were a projectionist, cashier, usherette, cleaner, or floor
manager and can give us any help, please contact us. Or if you simply went to see the film, but had a really strong reaction to it, we want to hear from you. Please contact (mail only) Exorcist Memories, BBC New York, 1995 Broadway, Suite 505, New York, NY 10023.
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