I didn't understand your first question. How does it appear to be full screen if it's 16:9?
When I watch the dvd on my hdtv (which is 16:9, aka 1.78:1), the picture takes up the entire screen.. Now if the movie is actually 1.85:1, shouldn't there be small black bars on bottom and top of the picture? (unless they cut the sides slightly to make it play in full screen with no bars)
Normally most (if not all) 2,35:1 films are done with anamorphic lenses which compress the 2,35:1 picture to the size of the 35 mm negative, and this negative has again the 1,37:1 aspect ratio.But note that the Techniscope format, used in so many SWs, was in fact not anamorphic. But here's a link which gives you an overview about the most common aspect ratios and widescren systems from the silent days to the present:http://www.dvdlog.de/filmformate/filmformate-en.htm
My guess is that your tv shows the whole picture but stretches it a bit to fill the whole screen.
drinkanddestroy, read this thread:http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=238902It may help clarify your issue.
"Originally, (Once Upon a Time in America) was to have been filmed in Cinemascope, but after the first tests with Tonino Delli Colli, Leone changed his mind. One reason, he said, was that a lot of 1980s cinemas were no longer adequately equipped to film scenes in 'scope, and the results could be fuzzy at the edges and ill-defined. Another was that Leone had the misfortune to watch Once Upon a Time in the West on television, in an American hotel room, with Delli Colli. It was a pan and scan print, which made it look like a lot of big faces with no background: 'a total mess', Delli Colli recalls. Since the days of Once Upon a Time in the West, the video revolution had occurred as well -- not to mention the spread of television ownership, and the proliferation of channels across Italy. All in all, Leone felt it was best that America be shot in the standard 1.85:1 aspect ratio instead of his trademark letterbox."