Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

[Big Magilla]

From Jeffrey Wells:

Condolences to Sony Home Video's Ben Feingold on the occasion of his termination as head of Sony Home Video, but I always heard he was a real mass-market, go-for-the-big-numbers guy who wasn't into classic titles or the aesthetic particulars. Youknow...not much of a serious movie lover or a DVD special edition connoisseur. It was Feingold who approved the issuing of that pan-and-scan DVD of Sydney Pollack 's Castle Keep a year or so ago, which resulted in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas complaining to Sony Pictures oncho Michael Lynton, who led to Feingold finally issuing a new version in the correct 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio. If Lucas and Spielberg hadn't spoken up Castle Keep would almost certainly still be viewable only in pan-and-scan. I'm basically saying that as my DVD-watching interests are concerned, I'm not feeling all that melancholy about Feingold's departure.

Adding my own two cents:

Let's hope the same misfortune awaits his Paramount counterpart who refuses to release classic films unless they're guaranteed to make money like the umpteenth video reissue of It's a Wonderful Life just in time for another Christmas.