MGM widescreen movies are just chopped pan & scans....

[vwinterr]

here's the link to more info:

http://mgmdvdsettlement.com/

apparently mgm made a pretty big mistake....

you can return the movies for a $7.10 refund or a new movie (i haven't read through it, but I'd assume it's the same title correctly edited)

--vwinterr

[Rob Babcock]

I'm trying to think of some MGM movies...

[gmb]

Actually, the only thing wrong with these was that the packaging was misleading. 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 films are often filmed open matte, filling the whole frame. They are later matted properly. The packaging shows a picture of the widescreen version and the "standard" frame within that, suggesting the fullscreen picture is missing picture. However, for these particular aspect ratios, this is not the case. The fullscreen picture actually has more, but it is not meant to be seen.

[djoxygen]

Don't return your movies, kids.

For a nice exploration of the (lack of) issue, complete with screen shots demonstrating the same...

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/mgmsuit/mgmsuit.html