Since I was talking earlier about how most movies today use the 2.35:1 'Scope aspect ratio, I wanted to bring up the one and only thing worth mentioning in connection with Pink Panther 2 (apart from the obvious, that with his disappointing 30 Rock and SNL appearances and now this, Steve Martin has gone from a performer who makes things better to one who actually makes everything worse). Both Pink Panther 2 and Martin's first Pink Panther, from a different director, are shot in the "flat" 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The movie series it's based on, of course, was all shot in 'Scope and features some of the most 'Scope-dependent comedy in movie history. (The dentist scene in Pink Panther Strikes Again, for example: the punchline, "he's pulled the wrong tooth," gets its laugh from the fact that Dreyfus is in the foreground while Clouseau is in the background on the other side of the wide frame. I can't really explain why that makes it funny, but the scene isn't funny at all when panned and scanned.) So Martin and his Pink Panther team couldn't even get the shape of the screen right.
Aspect ratio aside, there is NO WAY anyone can replace Peter Sellers & Herbert Lom--they knew how to fill a 2.35.1 screen with comic magic.
ReplyDeleteBlake Edwards tells anyone who'll listen that he "uses all of the frame" composing his pictures for scope.
ReplyDeleteI saw Steve Martin a few months ago.... he looks OLD.
ReplyDeleteSteve Martin is in his sixties & IMO too old for slapstick roles, especially iconic ones created by other comic actors.
ReplyDeleteThe Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy were considered past their prime when they were in their early fifties. Part of the reason their later films were less than classic was because watching an aging obese Ollie pratfall was no longer funny. Maybe Martin should stick to family fare like Father of the Bride III.
I don't get all the hate for Steve Martin's 30 Rock appearance. I thought it was a funny episode and he was perfectly fine in it.
ReplyDeleteI don't get all the hate for Steve Martin's 30 Rock appearance. I thought it was a funny episode and he was perfectly fine in it.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a pretty good episode, but I just didn't like Martin in it -- he wasn't terrible or anything, but I just found him bland, as I often do.