On 28 Jun 2008 19:24:03 GMT, ms wrote:

There is nothing wrong with the small TV monitor, or the connections as
it plays other movie dvd's fine. As in my OP, I was playing a dvd, not
using a VCR tape recorded copy or anything else.

After washing, the movie looks the same, from the opening credits screen.
the movie is alternately light and darker. The initial 20th Cen. Fox
video and no copy screens are perfectly stable, only every movie screen
is a problem.

This is the usual commercial dvd, "20th Cent Studio Classics, etc. ".

But the film quality sure looks just as you described.

A comment on above?

Sure. It's a pirated movie. The "initial 20th Cen. Fox video and no
copy screens are perfectly stable" because _that_ section of video can
be copied from _any_ valid DVD (ergo: Good quality) -- then the pirated
contents are spliced on past that (ispso facto: Crappy quality.)

IIRC, way back in your OP you memtioned you bought it at either a yard
sale or flea market -- the favored outlet for pirated material in
countries where pirated and counterfeit items are more at risk in store
front slaes.