Dear Leo (and everyone else): Surely many people on this list serve would agree with me that there is a *big* difference between the truly important theorization of technology provided by, say, Jean-Louis Baudry in his classic essay "Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematic Apparatus" (or Walter Benjamin in "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction") and the kind of rhetoric which so disinterests me... I'm thinking now about the typical laser disc fetishist, hanging out at the video store all day, working him or herself up into a frenzy because IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER--composed for 2.55:1--was letterboxed at 2.35:1. ("Okay, okay. You're right. I'll sign your petition. Can we talk about something else now, please?") It seems that far too often discussions of this sort become ends in and of themselves rather than part of a lager discussion of what (I would say) is really exciting about the cinema. People more interested in discussing the Technicolor reds in VERTIGO than in the topics that film raises about misogyny, voyeurism, and the cultural construction of femininity seem to me willfully (even distressingly) blind to what's crucial... crucial not just in film but in life. Finally, Leo, I admit I was a bit chagrined that you caught me in the mistake of referring to the non-existent Super VistaVision. (I'm *sure* I meant to say Super Panavision). But I hope you'll share my feeling of embarrassment when you realize that you yourself have lead us astray in your posting. You suggest that DEATH BY HANGING was directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It was, in fact, a film made by Ozu's former apprentice, Nagisa Oshima. I can't remember what process it was shot in, but I do recall it as one of the most moving films I've ever seen. ;-) Best to all! Daniel Isaac Humphrey Department of Art & Art History University of Rochester 424 Morey Hall Rochester NY 14627-0456 www.rochester.edu/College/AAH/people/grad/humphrey.html ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite