Title: Sea of Sand AKA Desert Patrol (1958)
Country: UK
Region: 0 (confirmed)
Releasing Studio: ITV Studios / Spirit Entertainment / Strawberry Media
Case Type: Keep Case
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Anamorphic?: Yes
PAL or NTSC?: PAL
Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
Subtitles (are they optional?): none
Cuts: no cuts (95:01)
Commentaries: none
Extras: none
Notes:
Has more picture overall than the ITV / Granada / Simply Home Entertainment release (***which is probably the same thing as the DD release - see additional notes below***), including a lot more horizontally, but slightly less vertically. Picture quality seems to be about the same however (i.e. quite blurred), despite the claim of it being "Digitally Enhanced".
Easter Eggs: none known
Amazon ASIN: B00Q4MRSU8
Source: I own a copy
Additional notes:
1. I also own this movie in an earlier 2010 release by ITV / Granada / Simply Home Entertainment (ASIN: B00069MOGS). This has EXACTLY the same specs as the one already listed in the database as "DD Home Entertainment", including being Region 2, although I can find no mention of the name DD anywhere on the packaging. Perhaps it is the same product, just repackaged, but you might want to include it as a separate entry or update the existing one - I leave it up to you.
2. IMDb lists the OAR as 1.37:1. However, this is probably incorrect, and the OAR is probably 1.66:1 as already mentioned in the notes sections of the existing database entries. The reason I think this is: the Strawberry Media release (1.85:1) has quite a lot more image at the sides than the Granada release (4:3, except for 1.66:1 during the opening credits, as already mentioned in the "DD" entry), but the Strawberry Media release also has a bit less image vertically, mostly it seems at the bottom. Therefore the OAR would appear to be neither 1.37:1 nor 1.85:1 but something in between, i.e. probably 1.66:1.
3. I don't understand why the Strawberry Media release crops the image to 1.85:1. Ideally (in my view) if the OAR is 1.66:1 they should have used that. But if they are going to crop it in order not to have black side bars, then why not crop it to 16:9 (1.78:1)? Instead they have cropped it further to 1.85:1, introducing small black bars at the top and bottom. I despair!!!
4. Overall I recommend the new Strawberry Media release as the winner, for being closest to the OAR.
Sea of Sand 1958 - Strawberry Media DVD ADDED
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Re: Sea of Sand 1958 - Strawberry Media DVD
Thank you. Added this as well as an entry for the Simply Media release.