Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by melody nelson

Any international customers having trouble applying the MERRY2019 coupon code at SAE? I can't seem to apply both the coupon AND select "Special Delivery: Continue Without" - it's only letting me select one or the other. Seems like a site glitch, but an email to SAE only got me instructions on how to enter the code. :/

Yes, their checkout seems to have issues based on my tests with a foreign address. They also have quirks with US addresses as changing the shipping to media mail or back to first class mail removes the coupon too. However, unlike international addresses you can at least re-add the coupon and retain the selected shipping option.

Have you tried different browsers to see if you experience a different effect; I've only tried it with Chrome?

[nitin]

Otto Preminger seems to be a bit of a forgotten director these days and while his career is undoubtedly inconsistent and filled with frequent highs and lows, any director of films such as Anatomy of a Murder, Laura, Advise and Consent, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Angel Face, Daisy Kenyon and the movie I want to talk about, Whirlpool, deserves more recognition.

Whirlpool is a gloriously silly and hokey story played straight and made with an effortlessly high degree of skill while also imbuing its characterisations with a reasonably acute psychological awareness. The plot is basically a riff on The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (minus the twist) and The Testament Of Dr Mabuse but Preminger does not go for german expressionist flourishes and instead opts for a similar style to his own Laura.

Gene Tierney is once again hypnotising in her beauty but also does a quite a credible job of portraying a woman that is mentally affected by being boxed in by a patriarchal society that has no interest in her needs or wants. Richard Conte is miscast as an upper society psychiatrist that is married to Tierney’s character (Conte basically comes across as he does in many other films of his where he plays working class tough guys) but his character has an unusually nuanced arc which he is able to still get across. Jose Ferrer gets the showiest role as the antagonist of the films and runs with it, pronouncing every consonant and vowel with mischievous glee and going along for the ride with the more ridiculous turns for his character’s role in the story.

TT’s release is sourced from an older Fox master that has a fair amount of small damage present throughout and also has noticeable warping and frame instability issues. Otherwise the source is pretty sharp and detailed and with a good greyscale. It is also a much better option than the Region B BFI release as the encoding is much better and the instability and warping on BFI’s disc is noticeably worse.

[OldGoat]

I had the same trouble two days ago and after multiple coupon rejections I just gave up and ordered three $19.95 titles anyway. I wish SAE a Very Unmerry Christmas!

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by nitin

TT’s release is sourced from an older Fox master that has a fair amount of small damage present throughout and also has noticeable warping and frame instability issues. Otherwise the source is pretty sharp and detailed and with a good greyscale. It is also a much better option than the Region B BFI release as the encoding is much better and the instability and warping on BFI’s disc is noticeably worse.

It's not the only TT release that is better than its UK equivalent. The extras package is thinner but the sound quality on their Crimson Kimono is much better than Indicator/Powerhouse's version, which is set absurdly low (it also has an infinitely better encode than the Film Noir Archive version).

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by melody nelson

Any international customers having trouble applying the MERRY2019 coupon code at SAE? I can't seem to apply both the coupon AND select "Special Delivery: Continue Without" - it's only letting me select one or the other. Seems like a site glitch, but an email to SAE only got me instructions on how to enter the code. :/

I'm in Canada and used the code to make an order without any problems at all

[thebalconyfool]

Decided to put in an order. Happy to get an extra $8.00 off with the 2.00 review coupons too.

[Show spoiler]

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by thebalconyfool

Decided to put in an order. Happy to get an extra $8.00 off with the 2.00 review coupons too.

[Show spoiler]

"The Gang's All Here" is one of my favorite isolated score options from TT.

[OldGoat]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

I'm in Canada and used the code to make an order without any problems at all

Your order was different because it included CDs. I think if you had ordered only Twilight Time items they would have rejected the coupon.

[sabdo]

Is this end of the year sale, or are sales in general, a regular occurrence with SAE/TT? I've got my eye on more than a few titles, but I can't buy them all. I'll probably go for the ones that are likely to sell out sooner.

[koberulz]

We're all expecting a "closing down, all stock must go" sale early next year at this point.

[slm]

I couldn't get MERRY2019 to work last week, either (and I'm not international). I bought my titles anyway, but it is still annoying.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by koberulz

We're all expecting a "closing down, all stock must go" sale early next year at this point.

Not me. I'm expecting an "we've got some exciting new licensing deals" announcement. Just call me PollyAnna.

[nitin]

Broken Lance is a solid well made CinemaScope western from Edward Dymtryk that reworks the story from Mankiewicz’s noir House of Strangers (itself a loose adaptation of King Lear).

Some of the changes add more interest like the flashback structure and the addition of a ‘half breed’ son, but the changed ending is a change for the worse IMHO from the original story. It gives us a decent shootout but is a fairly weak and conventional end to a generally more complex film.

The pluses include a terrific salty performance from Spencer Tracy in the King Lear role (Edward G Robinson has the duties in House of Strangers) and some very nice epic outdoor photography from Joseph MacDonald. I would have preferred more scenes between Tracy and Richard Widmark (who is relegated to a supporting role but shares one of the best scenes in the film with Tracy) but Fox obviously decided this was to be Robert Wagner’s show, who plays the ‘half breed’ son Joe. He is ok enough but lacked charisma and depth.

The TT blu features a pretty good 4k restoration from Fox which looks overly dark and blue in screenshots on my computer and iPad but looks far better on my calibrated tv. It’s also pretty sharp and detailed throughout doing justice to the cinematography. The 5.0 track does a great job for the music score.

[Z0MBI3]

Grabbed Don't Bother to Knock, I Want To Live!, Inferno 3D, The Snake Pit, Where The Sidewalk Ends, and Whirlpool. Merry Christmas to me!

[Vw Driver]

Ordered six more titles (Gidget, Hilda Crane, My Gal Sal, Stanley& Iris, The Snake Pit, Take a Girl Like You). Totally forgot there was a coupon but i really wanted these titles as they were half off almost. Next sale i’ll probably go with Whirlpool and My Long Hot Summer.

[belcherman]

Ordered three titles from Twilight Time:

The Whole Town's Talking
The Long, Hot Summer
Alice

[Show spoiler]

Then, I went over to Screen Archives and ordered three more:

2 by Ken Loach: Riff Raff / Raining Stones
Carla's Song
A Prayer for the Dying

[Show spoiler]

Happy New Year, everyone!

[deltatauhobbit]

Watched Year of the Comet the other day, cute little film that I somehow had never seen before. Penelope Ann Miller is adorable (retainer and all) and Tim Daly excels at playing cocky without being a jerk. A decent bubblegum adventure romance film, not as epic as Romancing the Stone, but worth a watch at the price it's usually on sale for.

Also happens to be Louis Jourdan's last film where he once again gets to play a flamboyant criminal, very similar to his role from The Return of Swamp Thing.

[Page14]

I feel like committing hara-kiri on myself with all of the blu-ray purchases I made since Black Friday weekend. When I saw that the TT sale rates hadn't change yet this morning, I caved and made one more purchase. It's hard for me to resist Marilyn Monroe. So ... ordered ... Let's Make Love.

[Page14]

Just sending out a heads up. I was poking around on the twilighttimemovies.com website and noticed that they're having a $14.95 sale on their Elvis titles in honor of his birthday.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Page14

Just sending out a heads up. I was poking around on the twilighttimemovies.com website and noticed that they're having a $14.95 sale on their Elvis titles in honor of his birthday.

In addition to the Elvis titles, some titles are priced at 9.95 each:

[Show spoiler]A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy
A Month in the Country
Absolute Beginners
Angel
April Love
Born Free
Broken Lance
Carla's Song
Cowboy
The Detective
Fatherland
From the Terrace
Kings Go Forth
La Bambola Di Satana
The Little House
Shadows and Fog

I thought it was some mistake since most of those titles were priced at that during the year end sale but certain titles were in different price tiers.