1.75:1 (aspect ratio)(1953–c.1987)

In the early 1950s, films composed in the 1.37:1 Academy ratio began competing with the growing popularity of television, despite the latter’s relatively small screens. In response, studios sought to attract audiences back to cinemas without incurring the substantial costs of anamorphic widescreen production. As a result, the standard 35mm frame was frequently cropped to wider aspect ratios, requiring shorter focal-length lenses to enlarge the image, which often led to a perceived decline in image quality – reduced sharpness and increased grain – though any loss of brightness could usually be corrected by refocusing the projector lamp. In practice, however, the projectionist exercised significant control over the final image, a role that could reinforce or compromise the filmmaker’s intentions. Projectionists could use either “soft masking”, where the projector’s aperture plate defined the frame, or “hard masking”, where black bars blocked the top and bottom of the image on the film strip. This period preceded the consolidation of a standardized system: producers and exhibitors experimented with a range of aspect ratios and projection techniques in search of stable conventions.

Following the launch of CinemaScope on February 4, 1953, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer moved quickly to follow 20th Century-Fox’s lead, introducing its own custom aspect ratio. After in-house testing, the studio’s engineers adopted the 1.75:1 aspect ratio for future productions, both 2-D and 3-D, judging it the ideal ratio for general use in American theaters. (The image was 1.75 times wider than its height). At the time, projectionists often considered it the most visually pleasing widescreen aspect ratio, describing it as producing a picture that “looks sharper, steadier, and slightly brighter” (Mitchell, 1961). MGM also announced that it would no longer produce B/W films in favor of those photographed in Technicolor, Ansco Color or Eastman Color negative.

In May 1953, at the London Empire theater, MGM “unveiled its panoramic screen, the largest in Europe” (53-ft wide by 27-ft high [16.15m x 8.23m]), covered with aluminum paint to increase luminosity (Burnup, 1953). The projector’s aperture plate masked the image to a ratio of approximately 1.75:1, paired with a stereophonic sound system. This new panoramic screen was installed in all MGM (Loew’s) theaters abroad. As MGM’s first feature-length stereoscopic production, Richard Fleischer’s Arena (1953) was photographed in the Academy ratio and subsequently matted to 1.75:1 for theatrical exhibition. The film received a fifteen-city premiere on June 19, 1953. In the United States, an estimated 10 per cent of feature films released that year were exhibited in the 1.75:1 aspect ratio.

Around October 1953, MGM introduced the Variscope – its Variable Wide Screen Projection Lens – to professionals and members of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) in Hollywood, “aiming at screening films at any aspect ratio with the same projection lens” (Foster, 1953). It was a response to the proliferation of aspect ratios then in use, and the lack of an industry standard. It had a limited lifespan, probably because MGM’s engineers focused their research on improving movie cameras instead. In 1956, they joined Panavision to develop MGM Camera 65, which used a large-format negative to reduce visible grain in widescreen color projection.

By September 1955, MGM had ceased using the 1.75:1 aspect ratio in favor of the more widely used 1.85:1 ratio. Despite adopting this “flat” aspect ratio, three quarters of MGM’s films released in 1955 were shot in anamorphic CinemaScope.

By 1955, the proliferation of competing cropped and anamorphic widescreen systems had strengthened calls for standardization among art directors and cinematographers, who wanted their creative intentions reproduced accurately in exhibition. Yet it would be another two years before a standard flat aspect ratio prevailed among the 15 variants that had emerged in film exhibition.

By September 1956, 1.85:1 had become the accepted non-anamorphic industry standard for widescreen presentation in the US, because it was frequently used for shooting. In Europe, France opted for 1.66:1, while the 1.75:1 ratio was favored by some Italian filmmakers in the 1960s. In the UK, it was largely standardized by film producers after the Camera Technical Committee of the British Film Producers Association recommended 1.75:1 as the optimum ratio for national productions, on February 10, 1955. It was the most widely used ratio in British productions between 1957 and 1966, and was still used on 30 per cent of British films in 1970.

During the 1960s, Walt Disney Productions adopted the 1.75:1 aspect ratio as its standard for theatrical exhibition, balancing cinematic presentation with the practical demands of television distribution. Although films were composed primarily for the 1.75:1 frame, filmmakers also preserved an uncropped 4:3 composition to facilitate subsequent television broadcasts, a practice that coincided with the studio’s expanding output in television production. The adventure film Kidnapped (1960) was the first Disney title shot in 1.75:1, filmed in Scotland and at Pinewood Studios in London. In 1961, One Hundred and One Dalmatians was shot in the 1.37:1 open matte ratio on the negative, but with an intended theatrical ratio of 1.75:1. The last Disney feature released in the 1.75:1 aspect ratio is believed to be The Fox and the Hound (1981).