Mutet anamorphic characteristics in old Bond movies

[Nikolas Moldenhauer]

Hello filmmakers,
I startet a discussion in "Anamorphic Shooters" on FB on this topic, but we couldn't come up with a definitive answer… some said I might have better luck here especially with input from @David Mullen that has very good Panavision insights.

When the golden area Bond movies started using anamorphic lenses with "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice" the anamorphic characteristics are very much muted. Of course, it was the fashion of the time to work with high f-stops to make the lenses "bite" and get deeper DoF… flares where mostly considered a flaw and where avoided when possible. All that is possible given enough light when using the 100 iso film stock of that time.

But then, there are scenes like the attached image shows. Considering the low sensitivity and that it is impossible to light the street all the way that must have been shot relatively wide open… why the hell do the distant lights don't fall off into oval shapes?!? It is definitely an anamorphic lens used here as the (very muted) flare proofs.

That seems to be true for all shot… elongated highlights are rare and very muted. The Panavision C that where supposedly used for "You Only Live Twice" (even though they where introduced a year after the movies release?!?!) have quite expressive anamorphic features. Blade Runner was shot on them too… (in an updated, altered version of course)

If you will… please enlighten me

[David Mullen ASC]

You’d have to pick a frame where the focus distance was much closer, in a wide shot with the focus set in the distance you wouldn’t get enough out of focus shapes to judge bokeh.

[Nikolas Moldenhauer]

Thanks for your input… more samples attached. The elongation is there of course… just not as much as I would expect. Even in scenes that would have been had to be shot reasonably open. Why so muted.' 

[David Mullen ASC]

Well, it’s muted because again, these are medium shots on medium to wide focal lengths— movies back then didn’t shoot as tight on every scene. Find a chest-up CU with lights in the distant. Also with slow film stock, night lights are not going to show up as dramatically — I think that’s an issue here. But just looking at these shots, the anamorphic bokeh seems typical.

[Nikolas Moldenhauer]

They seem to just avoid that by all means  ?
So nothing out of the ordinary there… high f-stop, flat composition, wide lenses, avoiding shooting into lights… basically just shooting style

[Nikolas Moldenhauer]

This shot from "La La Land" is somewhat comparable in focus distance to the "Bond in the street scene"
Distant lights are very elongated while Bonds are really not… thats what I was wondering about

Lenses should be C-Series in both

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't see much difference.

[David Mullen ASC]

I think between Freddie Young probably working a stop down and using slow film stock so the lights don't record as much, you're not seeing the amount of bokeh that a modern movie would have using faster film and shooting wider-open. 

[Nikolas Moldenhauer]

Thanks a lot for your input David... you are very kind and helpful!!