Originally posted by: Moth3r Originally posted by: Karyudo
Hmm... interesting points.
The way that both NTSC and PAL versions have the same video flaw could be because they come from the same HD master tape. I'm not saying I'm sure they did, but they could have. There is a good chance that the master is HD. Even if that was dubbed down to sub-masters, those sub-masters could show the same flaw if it was added early on in the chain.
On the other hand, knowing that Faces has this same flaw, and that it's a frame before a cut, I'd have to agree that there is a stronger possibility that it's on the film itself.
I'd vote it's a video flaw. The locations of these dropouts do not generally coincide with cut/splice points, e.g.:
And why do they not appear on the VHS? My '95 VHS set is from the same print (i.e. famous burn marks in first Tantive shot) but does not have these line dropouts present.