Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by jmclick

Speaking of which, there are 29 copies of Born Free left at SAE.

I personally love this film, which holds up beautifully after multiple viewings. It's the story of a real-life couple, George and Joy Adamson, who raise an orphaned lion cub named Elsa, and then release her back into the wild. The Adamsons are played by a pair of actors who were married in real life, Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna; both of them give sterling performances in the film. McKenna received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Drama; composer John Barry won two Oscars, one for Best Score and the other for the title song, which became a huge hit; and the film itself was named one of the Top Ten of the Year by the National Board of Review.

Twilight Time's presentation of this classic film is exemplary in terms of audio and video quality. The extras are rather paltry (an isolated score track, an interesting commentary, a trailer and a teaser), but why quibble? At $8.95, Born Free is a real steal.

It's a good movie. Crazy thing is it's been this cheap for a long time now because I think I picked it up for that much from either SAE or Twilight Time 2 + years ago.

[jmclick]

Sales of Twilight Time product at SAE seem to be very soft at the moment. There was a long stretch of time during which TT discs dominated the Top 10 weekly best-seller lists at SAE. Now, although Sword of Sherwood Forest (which played earlier on TCM this month) and The Hospital are numbers One and Two on the list respectively, the next eight slots are taken up by releases from other labels.

Of equal significance is the fact that during the last seven days, only one additional unit of Born Free, the title closest to selling out, has been sold, leaving 28 copies available.

I'm going to be surprised if SAE doesn't hold a sale or further price reduction before the end of the year ...

[hariseldon]

Born Free appears to have sold out sometime over the weekend.

[UnionJackMix]

I love the cover art of Born Free but in the end I went for the Eureka version.
I might pick up a copy in my next SAE order but there isn't anything left I am interested in, unless there are new "wow we just found a box of old" titles listed?

[Dollar Colonel]

I got a $5 coupon from Paypal (nontransferable) for SAE, but those shipping charges are still very oppressive.

[Dollar Colonel]

Got the following email from "Discount Home Video":

[DC], based on our past relationship with you at Twilight Time Movies, we wanted to let you know we are launching a new DVD and Blu-ray store: Discount Home Video. We are the same group of movie-loving web geeks who were behind the scenes running the Twilight Time Movies store. We just launched a brand new site and fulfillment center. We have a new partner who buys overstock titles (many no longer available at retail) directly from the studios and is allowing us to make them available to you at discount prices. You will find movies from all genres: TV series, documentaries, some numbered limited-edition box sets, and more! We are starting the launch with a small group of titles, but will be adding more each week. We have limited quantities of many titles, so when they are gone, they will be gone. In the weeks ahead, you will want to check back often -- consider each visit an adventure with this dynamic inventory, you never know what will be added or sold out.

We invite you to check out the new store and tell us what you think of the site and the variety of the titles.

Ready to order? We ship next business day via USPS and Fed Ex (currently U.S. only). We take PayPal, Amazon Pay, and all major credit cards. Apple Pay is coming soon.

If you have any trouble placing your order at Discount Home Video, simply reply to this email and we'll be happy to help.

https://discounthomevideo.com/

Seems to be the same website software as TT. Average prices and generic mainstream inventory. Address is a UPS Store. They claim to offer media mail. Honestly, nothing too compelling right now but maybe they'll find their niche sometime.

Edit: The limited numbered editions are Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, and Willy Wonda which have been on liquidation or sale elsewhere.

[MifuneFan]

I wonder if they're getting their inventory from Hamilton Book, or the same supplier as HB, as there are enough similar titles for that not to be a coincidence.

[Brandon K]

Originally Posted by Dollar Colonel

Honestly, nothing too compelling right now but maybe they'll find their niche sometime.

Yup... I'd posted a new thread on this by the way, as it's not really related to TT.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=333898

[hudson4k]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I wonder if they're getting their inventory from Hamilton Book, or the same supplier as HB, as there are enough similar titles for that not to be a coincidence.

I noticed that as well. The titles are also more expensive than they are at Hamilton, so it's not really a great option right now.

[lilboyblu]

Pretty underwhelming selection of old titles, and rather expensive too. Seeing that email, I was hoping it would be more like a legacy version of Twilight Time rather than a more expensive attempt at Hamilton Books.

[TheHistorian]

I didn't care about the movies; I bought stuff from TT for the great customer service experience...

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by Dollar Colonel

Got the following email from "Discount Home Video":

[Show spoiler]
https://discounthomevideo.com/

Seems to be the same website software as TT. Average prices and generic mainstream inventory. Address is a UPS Store. They claim to offer media mail. Honestly, nothing too compelling right now but maybe they'll find their niche sometime.

[Show spoiler]Edit: The limited numbered editions are Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, and Willy Wonda which have been on liquidation or sale elsewhere.

Yes, I made up a mock order yesterday so that I could get a sense of their shipping fees, and they do offer media mail shipping among their options. But here again, they can't beat Hamilton Book's generous $4.00 flat fee shipping rate.

I actually ended up writing to them yesterday to tell them they were WAY overpriced, and gave them a couple of examples. I got a response almost immediately, and when I went back and checked a few minutes later, they had cut the prices ... but just on those items I specifically mentioned (including the Casablanca box set and the 70th Anniversary edition of Gone With The Wind).

I wish them well, but don't think their business model is going to be successful unless they change course and carve out a new niche for themselves. IMHO, November wasn't the best time for them to start up, either, right before the major retailers start launching Black Friday sales that have been previewed and are very, very attractive. We shall see!

[xochipilli]

In case noone noticed, the prices on screen archives have finally gone up again. With the exception of American Buffalo at 9.95$, the rest of TT's catalog is now 19.95. I wonder if this is to make any future sales look like a better deal, like a possible end-of-year one. I doubt the items have been selling well enough for them to feel like they don't need to discount them anymore, since for a bit now the best-selling list on the site has only shown one TT item, that being The Russia House, admittedly at number one but that probably has to do with Sean Connery's passing.

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by TheHistorian

I didn't care about the movies; I bought stuff from TT for the great customer service experience...

Such as excessive shipping charges?

I bought films from TT because of the Films. I had a few damaged items over the years and the final blowout was anything but a good customer service experience.

[klauswhereareyou]

I watched The Chairman (1969) today. It was a fairly average cold war thriller with an interesting concept and a nice little chase at the end. Definitely an inspiration for The Interview from a few years back with James Franco and Seth Rogan. The PQ on this one was pretty rough with some fairly noticeable print damage throughout (still the detail was pretty good). The image on a lot of other post Fox films put out through Twilight Time after 2013 looked better so my guess is this really didn't get a remaster like those did.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by TheHistorian

I didn't care about the movies; I bought stuff from TT for the great customer service experience...

Originally Posted by 78deluxe

Such as excessive shipping charges?

I bought films from TT because of the Films. I had a few damaged items over the years and the final blowout was anything but a good customer service experience.

That was, I say that was a joke, Son. Humor, that is."

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by xochipilli

In case noone noticed, the prices on screen archives have finally gone up again. With the exception of American Buffalo at 9.95$, the rest of TT's catalog is now 19.95. I wonder if this is to make any future sales look like a better deal, like a possible end-of-year one. I doubt the items have been selling well enough for them to feel like they don't need to discount them anymore, since for a bit now the best-selling list on the site has only shown one TT item, that being The Russia House, admittedly at number one but that probably has to do with Sean Connery's passing.

And right after the prices went up, I received one of those famous five-dollars-off-if-you-pay-using-PayPal offers. Good grief.

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by jayembee

That was, I say that was a joke, Son. Humor, that is."

Given the nonsensical TT fanboys that would buy abosolute garbage films over the years at full retail and comment on how great the packing was "blubble wrap and a box"

Hoestly you can't be too sure about the "humor" of it.

Not a hater, I've given them thousands of dollars. But with that, I still complain about the shipping costs and previous pricing schemes until they got sensible and started the serious sales.

I bought a few at full retail along the way, and one after market purchase well above retail (Leave Her to Heaven).

[JasonMichael]

Originally Posted by 78deluxe

Given the nonsensical TT fanboys that would buy abosolute garbage films over the years at full retail and comment on how great the packing was "blubble wrap and a box"

Hoestly you can't be too sure about the "humor" of it.

Not a hater, I've given them thousands of dollars. But with that, I still complain about the shipping costs and previous pricing schemes until they got sensible and started the serious sales.

I bought a few at full retail along the way, and one after market purchase well above retail (Leave Her to Heaven).

It was funny, because he was pointing out that the "customer service" was really the only thing the people behind this new venture have to offer:

based on our past relationship with you at Twilight Time Movies, we wanted to let you know we are launching a new DVD and Blu-ray store: Discount Home Video. We are the same group of movie-loving web geeks who were behind the scenes running the Twilight Time Movies store.

[ToonySpoonGoon]

I really hope these get marked down, at least to compensate for the horrible shipping