Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[Aclea]

My two cents: not as good as it could have been but in hindsight much better than I've come to expect from a John Irvin film.



The Dogs of War is part of that subgenre of war movies that briefly blossomed in the late-sixties and seventies but found little favor in subsequent years, the story about the ageing mercenary who suffers a crisis of conscience (Dark of the Sun, The Wild Geese, Savior etc). It was also the last significant attempt to turn Christopher Walken into a mainstream leading man in the Brando mould on the back of his Deer Hunter Oscar, with the trailer and marketing almost ignoring co-stars Tom Berenger and, despite delivering the film's best performance as a cynical documentary filmmaker, Colin Blakely. Certainly Walken takes a beating as convincingly as Brando, though the public weren't biting in 1981.

Frederick Forsyth's novel gained much notoriety due to the excessive lengths he went to in researching it - few writers would actually invest in a hastily abandoned African coup d'etat to get the inside details right, though it seems Forsyth did just that. As a result, the film goes to great lengths to stress its veracity, with director John Irvin, still hot after the success of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, adopting the stripped-down near documentary style that served Fred Zinnemann so well with The Day of the Jackal. Irvin's subsequent work would sadly mark him out as one of the flattest action directors in the business, but here - perhaps leaning on the experience of cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who also directed Dark of the Sun - he delivers the goods surprisingly effectively. Underneath all the gritty pseudo-realism it's a very familiar story (Winston Ntshona practically plays the same role here as an imprisoned deposed president that he did in the more Boys' Own The Wild Geese three years earlier), but it's well told - or at least in the two-hour European cut of the film which, perversely, was only available on DVD in the US, and there in a version with dodgy synchronisation in the early scenes: Europe had to make do with the cut US version shorn of 16 minutes on DVD despite getting the film uncut in theaters and on TV. Thankfully TT's disc offers both cuts.

Geoffrey Burgon's score makes good use of A.E. Housman's Epitaph On An Army of Mercenaries while among the familiar faces in the supporting cast can be spotted Paul Freeman, Ed O'Neill, Jim Broadbent (as one of Blakely's film crew), Victoria Tennant and an unbilled Helen Shaver, though aside from Blakely, the standout performance probably comes from Hugh Millais' cold-fish middle man.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

Switching gears here, has anyone received a shipping notification from SAE for their sale orders?

Just got mine this morning.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Can't access my e-mail from work, but was pleased to come home and find a shipping notification for my order as well.

[octobercountry]

I want to support Twilight Time, though I can't help but feel that with Mr Redman's passing, the company is going to cease to exist sooner rather than later. But--since I'm on a limited budget at the moment, I had to limit my purchases in this sale to just a few titles (wish I could have picked up a few more!):

[brainofj72]

Went back for seconds.



Now I'm really done.

...Probably.

[Cremildo]

I hadn't ordered anything from Twilight Time since last year.

My little haul:

[rognvaldr]

Got two:



Next paycheck I'm thinking The Chase and Black Widow.

TT's model is the model of the future they say, limited run & what not. If they can't succeed with the model of the future then is no future our future?

[cinerama]

Originally Posted by octobercountry

I want to support Twilight Time, though I can't help but feel that with Mr Redman's passing, the company is going to cease to exist sooner rather than later. But--since I'm on a limited budget at the moment, I had to limit my purchases in this sale to just a few titles (wish I could have picked up a few more!):

Well, the name of the company is Twilight Time. The name is in reference to the production of Blu-ray discs.

[The Great Owl]

I just pre-ordered Whirlpool and The Tall Men.

I understand that there’s a sale going on, but I pretty much have all of the past Twilight Time titles that I need.

I notice that there are no future announcements. Is the label on hiatus?

[HenryHill]

I bought these at TT's site.







I want to get some SAE-only titles, but it's absurd to pay a shipping fee that nearly doubles the cost of the movie!

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just pre-ordered Whirlpool and The Tall Men.

I understand that there’s a sale going on, but I pretty much have all of the past Twilight Time titles that I need.

I notice that there are no future announcements. Is the label on hiatus?

Yes, I think it is for a bit. I read on another site that the next announcements will be next month.

[RedHarvest]

If they are still licensing 20th Century Fox titles, I hope they can eventually get Neil Jordan's the Good Thief.

[bonehica]

Never received a shipping notification, but my order arrived today. Nice.

[Dailyan]

I gave "Broken Lance" a watch tonight; pretty solid western. Tracy and Widmark are excellent as always; I usually find Robert Wagner to be sort of average with acting but I quite enjoyed him here. The real stars, to me, were the on-location scenery and Leigh Harline's score.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by RedHarvest

If they are still licensing 20th Century Fox titles, I hope they can eventually get Neil Jordan's the Good Thief.

Yeah that would be great. I'm also hoping they can put out Little Murders (1971) since the Indicator disc is region locked.

[thebalconyfool]

Apologies if this is a silly question, but I have noticed people on various sites making references to certain Twilight Time titles being close to selling out and I'm wondering how one can tell? Is this in reference to the "going fast" section of their site or is more specific information listed somewhere that I'm unaware of?

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by thebalconyfool

Apologies if this is a silly question, but I have noticed people on various sites making references to certain Twilight Time titles being close to selling out and I'm wondering how one can tell? Is this in reference to the "going fast" section of their site or is more specific information listed somewhere that I'm unaware of?

If you're signed up on TT's email newsletter (which I assume you might not be) they will list lower stock titles on the TT site.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by thebalconyfool

Apologies if this is a silly question, but I have noticed people on various sites making references to certain Twilight Time titles being close to selling out and I'm wondering how one can tell? Is this in reference to the "going fast" section of their site or is more specific information listed somewhere that I'm unaware of?

They used to be pretty good about posting on FB when a title was actually close to selling out, but I don't think they've made any announcements recently (which might just mean they're not close to selling out).

There's a cart trick, I think it only works on SAE. Basically, you put a quantity of 50 in your cart, and it will adjust to whatever they have left, if it's less than 50.

[klauswhereareyou]

I think Kiss of Death was one that was listed as low quantity during a previous sale, but I'm not sure what the exact number is. That was one I did end up getting this time around.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

I think Kiss of Death was one that was listed as low quantity during a previous sale, but I'm not sure what the exact number is. That was one I did end up getting this time around.

That's been "low quantity" for over a year, as far as I remember. I bought it when they first announced it as such, and then I almost accidentally bought a second copy during the next sale when it was again listed as such, and even that was about a year ago.