Before 1954, most movies were shot in a 1.37:1 format which closely resembled the shape of the modern TV (1.33:1). The movie directors felt restricted by this shape of the screen - strictly arranging the actors to fit into the tiny square. After many directors complained of this, movies started to be shown in the wider aspect ratio. This means that every movie shown in the theater after 1954, that was shown on TV or video, has been altered in some way. During the middle 1980's, widescreen (or letterbox) format made an appearance on video and TV and started to rise in it's popularity. If you still believe that you are feeling cheated by widescreen movies, read what this director explains about widescreen vs pan & scan:

"When you watch a movie on your television screen,you're not necessarily seeing it the way it was originally intended. If for example it was shot for the widescreen, that film has to be readjusted in some way to fit the specific shape of the video tube that you are looking at. As a director when I set up a shot, let's say there are two people in the scene, and one is at one side of the room and one is at the other, with a widescreen I can hold both, and then one is at each end of the frame. When that shot is condensed to fit on your tv tube, chances are the camera cannot hold both of those actors at the same time, so a choice is made usually to be on the one who is talking, then move across the room with the camera to get to the other one when that person is talking and not being able to hold both you can't see the reaction from side to side. They may not be the choice that I made when I set up the shot because I want you as the audience to see the person talking and the person who is listening as well. When the picture is changed to fit the small tube, you can't hold both, and the intent is sometimes changed as a result." Leonard Nimoy also known as Spock from Star Trek.

Benefits of pan & scan: the image fills the entire screen, on smaller TV's, actors faces scene details are large and easy to see
Drawbacks of pan & scan: parts of the image are lost, no sense of space, characters talk to each other from opposite ends of the frame (talking nose syndrome!)
Benefits of widescreen: the entire picture is shown as it was meant to be seen by the director
Drawbacks of widescreen: some people despise the black bars at the top and bottom of the picture, letterbox format on smaller TV's can be very small

Comparisons of different aspect ratios
As you can see to the right, are examples of the different aspect ratios of widescreens compared to the aspect ratio of the modern day TV. The areas marked in red are areas that are not viewable under the pan & scan technique of movie editing.
As you can see, the amount of information removed when transferring a movie from widescreen to pan & scan is enormous. This will become more apparent when you visit my widescreen vs pan & scan section of this web site.
As you can see, the amount of information removed when transferring a movie from widescreen to pan & scan is enormous. This will become more apparent when you visit my widescreen vs pan&scan section of this web site.

To be quite honest, I never liked widescreen movies when they first came out on video. I couldn't quite figure out why those black bars were at the top and bottom of the screen. It only dawned on me when I saw an advertisement for widescreen movies at the front of a video I was watching. It showed the exact same scene in pan & scan then widescreen. I was blown away by the amount of information I was missing. I haven't looked back since. To strengthen the case for widescreen movies, please visit my widescreen vs pan & scan example pages.