Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[Vw Driver]

Final order for TT, This will make it 43 titles. Great gems have been found in these studio releases from TT.

[Flapperdame16]

Originally Posted by HaroldnMaude

Have you ever actually seen Picnic? Is it a favorite film? If not maybe not worth a blind buy. It's a pretty lousy melodrama & Kim Novak couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.

Yes I have seen Picnic- Not much of a Kim Novak fan but for me Its Mr Bill Holden! I'm actually not a fan of THE way We Were

[octobercountry]

Originally Posted by Flapperdame16

This may be slightly off topic- But I dont wanna pay big bucks for Picnic (and dont do international) is the old Columbia dvd aduequett? OR is the whole 'good things come to those who wait" theory apply and in the future sony will release it (like a few others they have done- a man for all seasons, bell book and candle)

If I recall correctly, there were two DVD releases for Picnic; one was widescreen and one was cropped. I had a copy of the widescreen version, and the transfer wasn't great; portions of the film displayed considerable print damage. The TT version was a huge improvement, and I was fortunate to purchase a copy before it was gone. I like the film a lot---nice bit of 1950s nostalgia---and I re-watch it about once a year.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Flapperdame16

I'm actually not a fan of THE way We Were

I didn't care for it myself. I found the TT disc for cheap-ish a year ago and I couldn't really stand Redford and Streisand's characters. The score was nice though.

[GoldMotel]

My haul is small, mostly because I came to the TT party really late so many of the movies I wanted have already been OOP for years.

Anyway, I went with a modest 3 films:

• The Man in the Moon
• Don't Bother to Knock
• Sense and Sensibility (still available on Screen Archives Ent., but OOS on TT's site)

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by jmclick

My shipment originated from Carrollton, Texas. I'm not sure if that's their main distribution center; most of my orders in the past have come from SAE.

Our Serviceworks is the only distributor for orders from the TT web site and that is the only location that they ship from to my knowledge.

[dr727]

Just a heads up for those interested that the Anne Bancroft Collection from Shout has the same transfer and isolated score as Don’t Bother To Knock (no A&E Biography episodes or Julie Kirgo liner notes) along with 7 other films including Criterion’s edition of The Graduate (features too), Olive’s Miracle Worker, Indicator’s Pumpkin Eater, and Shout’s own Fatso. Not sure on feature comparison overall but it’s quite the deal at $50-55.

[SeanJoyce]

A final 3 of:

The Tall Men
Morituri
Wild Bill (finally decided that I had to)

...puts me at 88 titles for this company. Should be 90, but I was dumb enough to think that upgrading The Driver wasn't all that important at the time and Major Dundee wasn't of much importance before I really began to take an interest in curating my "HD Peckinpah" catalog.

Would be 92 if Criterion and Scorpion didn't save my ass with Leave Her to Heaven and The Mechanic, respectively.

I've said it many times so who knows at this point, but I really feel done with this label. I've got my issues with them (lack of extras and extortionist shipping), but you can't put a price on these Fox noir films or Cinemascope westerns. Overall I'll miss the "class" and intimacy that the founders and operators brought to movie collecting. My little library of TT titles radiates prestige; maybe not necessarily due to the quality of films, but because of the enthusiasm behind their adoption and authorship. And they were as refreshingly eclectic and off-beat as it gets for a botique label.

I've really ignored all of the press about Bandolero!, so I can see myself getting interested in it and what slim picking remain at SAE down the road.

But for now, fare thee well TT!

[StarDestroyer52]

I say these were my favorite and most cherished Twilight Time buys:

• To Sir, With Love(this was my first TT buy, and growing up was one of my most viewed films as it was a favorite of my mothers, I also think it was Poitier's best picture, not to mention there isn't very many actors who had such a strong material of work as he did in 1967)
• All the King's Men(this film like A Face in the Crowd and Network are must watches in the current climate)
• The Big Heat(one of my favorite films from one of my favorite directors, Fritz Lang. In many ways you could say Death Wish copied this film)
• The Crimson Kimono/Underworld U.S.A(as I said these two films were really my entry in to the work of Samuel Fuller)
• How to Steal a Million(this caper comedy starring the always beautiful style icon and talented, Aubrey Hepburn was one of my buys at full price)
• The Bridge at Remagen(while this a WW2 film, it is in many ways an anti-war film that instead of the film's location could just as well be the current conflict in Vietnam. Also, I am a huge fan of the on location shooting in then Czechoslovakia right as Prague Spring was going on and the correct WW2 era tanks used in the film. Not to mention another great score by Elmer Berstein. This was also one of my full price purchases)
• I Want to Live!
• The Fortune Cookie(even though this isn't considered peak Wilder, even later Wilder was better than most director's best work. Also, how could you not like the comedy duo of Lemmon and Matthau?)
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner(as I said before Poitier had a heck of a 1967, and there was the superb performances by the ever consummate pro, Spencer Tracy, who even on the verge of death gave a stellar performance and strong performances by Katherine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn, and Isabel Sanford(who would later go on to TV fame on first as a recurring guest character on TV's All in the Family and then on spin-off TV show, The Jeffersons as Louise Jefferson)

.

[trentdiesel]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

A final 3 of:

The Tall Men
Morituri
Wild Bill (finally decided that I had to)

...puts me at 88 titles for this company. Should be 90, but I was dumb enough to think that upgrading The Driver wasn't all that important at the time and Major Dundee wasn't of much importance before I really began to take an interest in curating my "HD Peckinpah" catalog.

Would be 92 if Criterion and Scorpion didn't save my ass with Leave Her to Heaven and The Mechanic, respectively.

I've said it many times so who knows at this point, but I really feel done with this label. I've got my issues with them (lack of extras and extortionist shipping), but you can't put a price on these Fox noir films or Cinemascope westerns. Overall I'll miss the "class" and intimacy that the founders and operators brought to movie collecting. My little library of TT titles radiates prestige; maybe not necessarily due to the quality of films, but because of the enthusiasm behind their adoption and authorship. And they were as refreshingly eclectic and off-beat as it gets for a botique label.

I've really ignored all of the press about Bandolero!, so I can see myself getting interested in it and what slim picking remain at SAE down the road.

But for now, fare thee well TT!

After all the discussion in the Walter Hill thread I realized I had to grab Geronimo and Wild Bill whether they are great or not, got The Tall Men, 10 Rillington Place and Boston Strangler among others. As you said, thankfully Scorpion is bailing me out with The Mechanic and somebody needs to do the same The Driver as well

[hammer99]

^^^
I find it hard to believe that To Sir With Love (still available at SAE) hasn't sold out by now, especially when I look at some of the blind buys that people have made all this time in here.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by hammer99

^^^
I find it hard to believe that To Sir With Love (still available at SAE) hasn't sold out by now, especially when I look at some of the blind buys that people have made all this time in here.

Yeah, that's mind boggles me as it one of the great gems of 1967 and its price has been at $9.95 or so like forever? You would think people would take a chance on it as a blind buy. It's a title I paid full price for and the TT version has some informative extras also so it's not like it's just the film and isolated score and nothing else.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by hammer99

^^^
I find it hard to believe that To Sir With Love (still available at SAE) hasn't sold out by now, especially when I look at some of the blind buys that people have made all this time in here.

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

Yeah, that's mind boggles me as it one of the great gems of 1967 and its price has been at $9.95 or so like forever? You would think people would take a chance on it as a blind buy. It's a title I paid full price for and the TT version has some informative extras also so it's not like it's just the film and isolated score and nothing else.

It doesn't help that SAE's search function is broken.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

My top 10 favorite TTs would probably have to be this:
1. Peyton Place (it was how I stumbled upon TT in the first place looking for a Blu and it's the best soap opera epic ever)
2. The Train (one of my first TT purchases and one of my favorite action films)
3. The Boston Strangler (the cinematography, editing, and Tony Curtis are fantastic)
4. House of Bamboo (my introduction to Fuller)
5. Two For the Road (Mancini's score is lovely and so is Hepburn)
6. Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (such a hauntingly beautiful score by De Vol)
7. The Gang's All Here (wonderfully underrated musical with an excellent big band jazz score)
8. Garden of Evil (great atmospheric western with some on-location scenery CinemaScope goodness with an equally atmospheric Hermann score to boot)
9. The Seven-Ups (solid 70s cop-thriller with a high-octane car chase)
10. In Like Flint (just hook that 60s aesthetic and Jerry Goldsmith score to my vains)

Some great titles there! Inspired me to do the same.

In no order:

Our Man in Havana (The stellar talents of Greene, Reed, Guinness, and Coward - plus, stunning cinematography)
A Man For All Seasons (Brilliant screenplay, and one of the greatest performances in all of cinema from Paul Scofield)
Bunny Lake Is Missing (Off-kilter thriller; one of my best-ever blind buys)
The Train (Outstanding story, direction, acting, everything)
Khartoum (Ultra Panavision epic-ness!)
The Seven-Ups (Gritty crime thriller that I just really enjoy)
Broadway Danny Rose (Probably my favourite Allen)
1984 (Superseded by the Criterion release, but I was so glad when this came out)
Zulu (Classic British film with one of the greatest scores ever written; also, my Dad's favourite)
Bonjour Tristesse (Another great blind-buy; an imperfect film, but Niven on the Riviera looks fantastic in CinemaScope)

[hammer99]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

Yeah, that's mind boggles me as it one of the great gems of 1967 and its price has been at $9.95 or so like forever? You would think people would take a chance on it as a blind buy. It's a title I paid full price for and the TT version has some informative extras also so it's not like it's just the film and isolated score and nothing else.

Day 1 for me, I was so excited when they announced it. IMO Sidney Poitier's best film and performance, with a lot of rewatch value.

[Nosferatu31]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

It doesn't help that SAE's search function is broken.

Works on my end.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by jmclick

Agreed! I have the UK release, but I was really looking forward to enjoying the isolated soundtrack and hearing whatever commentaries Twilight Time had commissioned. I'm just grateful that Whirlpool made it under the wire ...

Thank you for saying this. Here's why :

When I'm on the fence about buying something, I try to imagine if I'd feel upset if I lost out on the opportunity. I do that a lot on eBay when trying to decide whether or not I want to bid higher.

I think what you were saying is that it might be gone very soon, so you're glad you picked up a copy now. I initially thought you meant that it was sold out, so you blessed me with a moment of clarity. I felt disappointed. So, I went to the TT web site and grabbed Whirlpool and a few others I had in my cart.

Thanks again to the others who entertained my question earlier in the day. You confirmed my hunches and made me feel better about what I wanted to pick up.

I got...
Warlock
Broken Lance
Garden of Evil
Suddenly, Last Summer
Whirlpool
In The French Style

I realized that I know next to nothing about Jean Seberg other than that(**Breathless spoiler contained within**)

[Show spoiler] she did Jean Paul Belmondo dirty

in Breathless. This morning I put ITFS on (it's on YouTube.) Doesn't seem like a world beater of a film, but the music was nice and every time they were saying something interesting and I clicked over, there Jean Seberg was looking amazingly beautiful. So, I'll give it a try.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by trentdiesel

somebody needs to do the same The Driver as well

Again, shame on me, but The Driver is simply too good and influential a film to languish away in OOP hell. It deserves a wide release. I had hoped that a company like Shout or Kino would announce it before Disney's swallowing of Fox. Hopefully the folks at the evil mouse corporation realize what they have on their hands in many of these titles and license them out to somebody who cares.

Hope you enjoy The Boston Strangler and 10 Rillington Place, btw; Fleischer was a straight-up dude, and these are among the cream-of-the-crop of serial killer movies. I recklessly paid $20 for both of them once upon a time, but they're both terrific.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ParamountChris

Is there a list of Twilight Time films that already have alternate copies elsewhere?

Well, there is this thread, but it hasn't seen any action since September, and even then it was badly out of date.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

When I'm on the fence about buying something, I try to imagine if I'd feel upset if I lost out on the opportunity. I do that a lot on eBay when trying to decide whether or not I want to bid higher.

I try to think the same way. It works sometimes, but probably not enough.