Leo Enticknap wrote:

> It just struck me as a side-issue [...] that Hitchcock never went wider than
> VistaVision.  Having now looked
> this up, it seems that 1:1.66 was his preferred ratio during the latter
> stages of his career (e.g. Psycho, The Birds, Marnie).

Leo, where did you look this up?  My information about Hitchcock's preferred
ratio, as included in the 'Author's Note' of my book (the uncut UK edition
...), is slightly different:

'All of the VistaVision films, from TO CATCH A THIEF to NORTH BY NORTHWEST,
have a recommended aspect ratio of 1.85:1.  PSYCHO's screen shape is
controversial.  Officially, its "theatrical ratio" is 1.85:1, but Gus Van Sant,
for one, remembers the original cans were labelled 1.75:1.  All of Hitchcock's
films after PSYCHO carry an official aspect ratio of 1.85:1.'

- Ken Mogg (author, 'The Alfred Hitchcock Story').
http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin

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