Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[benbess]

I love The China Syndrome. It's one of my favorite movies of the 1970s. Great performances by Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and esp. Jack Lemmon. It's pretty close to being scientifically accurate, which is quite unusual for this kind of film. And the message it gives is as relevant today as in 1979. Just ask the Japanese.

I don't care if TT releases it or Sony does, but I hope someone puts it out on blu.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

[Show spoiler]Sorry my copy / Paste didn't work lol

http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6011/.f

I just wish Image Entertainment were still also releasing Sony titles like The China Syndrome.

That's the $100 question PowellPressburger...except that you didn't pose it as such. So I will; "What the h3ll happened to Image as a source for Sony catalogue titles?"

In one of these threads awhile back, that label was thrown at me as a shining example of how high quality Blu-rays of catalogue titles (specifically from Sony) could be released in unlimited quantities at a bargain price point. Superficially, it *seemed* like a valid point, except for one niggling, telling little detail: Image hasn't released a single Sony catalogue title in nearly a year!.

So anyone know the skinny on that? Why does Image seem to be out of the picture for Sony catalogue titles? Poor sales? Contract issues? Or have they simply been too pre-occupied with Dick Van Dyke Show? Image would have been a logical home for many of these in between titles that aren't quite strong enough or niche enough for TT, yet still have too much life left in them to get dumped via Mill Creek double bills.

[donidarko]

Come on SONY! License your product out to Image and Mill Creek.

Murder by Death. Obsession. Body Double. Shampoo. Used Cars. Gloria
Postcards from the Edge. The Seventh Sign. The China Syndrome. Oliver.
California Suite. Modem Romance. Drive-In. Seems Like Old Times.
The Last Detail. Funny Lady. The Way We Were. Hardcore. Runaway.
For Pete's Sake. Only When I Laugh. A Man for all Seasons. Murphy's Romance

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by donidarko

Come on SONY! License your product out to Image and Mill Creek.

Murder by Death. Obsession. Body Double. Shampoo. Used Cars. Gloria
Postcards from the Edge. The Seventh Sign. The China Syndrome. Oliver.
California Suite. Modem Romance. Drive-In. Seems Like Old Times.
The Last Detail. Funny Lady. The Way We Were. Hardcore. Runaway.
For Pete's Sake. Only When I Laugh. A Man for all Seasons. Murphy's Romance

Who are you! I want every single title you mentioned! Like you can read my mind! I also want U-Turn, and The Cheap Detective, Marie Antoinette, The Swimmer, Georgy Girl, Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round, The Passenger, Punch Drunk Love, The Owl and The Pussycat, Fun with Dick and Jane (Original Version), Walk on the Wild Side, Strait-Jacket, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Panic Room, California Split, Cactus Flower, There's a Girl in my Soup, His Girl Friday, Fat City, Dollars, Micki & Maude. (to Name a Few)

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by donidarko

Come on SONY! License your product out to Image and Mill Creek.

Murder by Death. Obsession. Body Double. Shampoo. Used Cars. Gloria
Postcards from the Edge. The Seventh Sign. The China Syndrome. Oliver.
California Suite. Modem Romance. Drive-In. Seems Like Old Times.
The Last Detail. Funny Lady. The Way We Were. Hardcore. Runaway.
For Pete's Sake. Only When I Laugh. A Man for all Seasons. Murphy's Romance

Well, we already know which titles Mill Creek is getting, and that's none of the above, except for The Last Detail. Watch for it in a bargain bin near you on a double-bill with either Avalon, Gardens of Stone, The Chase, The Anderson Tapes, or Birdy. Legacy HD scan with no new workflow.

As for Image, they're MIA with Sony titles these days, so it's anybody's guess whether they even have access to more.

The best (and likliest) candidates I see for Twilight Time from both of your lists are Obsession, Body Double, A Man For All Seasons, The Swimmer, Dead Heat on a Merry Go-Round, Walk on the Wild Side, Strait-Jacket, His Girl Friday, and maybe Fat City, Shampoo, and/or California Split.

To which I'd add:

• Frank Capra's original Lost Horizon? Or It Happened One Night?
• William Castle's Homicidal?
• Jack Cardiff's The Long Ships?
• Roman Polanski's Macbeth?
• Arthur Penn's Mickey One?
• Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai?
• Mervyn Le Roy's The Devil at 4 O'clock?
• Billie Holiday's Solid Gold Cadillac? Or Born Yesterday?
• More Ray Harryhausen? Like The 3 Worlds of Gulliver? Or First Men In The Moon? Or the other 2 Sinbad movies?
• Humphrey Bogart's Dead Reckoning? The Harder They Come? Maybe even In a Lonely Place?
• Any Hammer or Noir titles that have fallen through the cracks elsewhere?

...among others. There's a lot of great stuff to choose from with this studio if you dig deep enough.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Well, we already know which titles Mill Creek is getting, and that's none of the above, except for The Last Detail. Watch for it in a bargain bin near you on a double-bill with either Avalon, Gardens of Stone, The Chase, The Anderson Tapes, or Birdy. Legacy HD scan with no new workflow.

As for Image, they're MIA with Sony titles these days, so it's anybody's guess whether they even have access to more.

The best (and likliest) candidates I see for Twilight Time from both of your lists are Obsession, Body Double, A Man For All Seasons, The Swimmer, Dead Heat on a Merry Go-Round, Walk on the Wild Side, Strait-Jacket, His Girl Friday, and maybe Fat City, Shampoo, and/or California Split.

To which I'd add:

• Frank Capra's original Lost Horizon? Or It Happened One Night?
• William Castle's Homicidal?
• Jack Cardiff's The Long Ships?
• Roman Polanski's Macbeth?
• Arthur Penn's Mickey One?
• Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai?
• Mervyn Le Roy's The Devil at 4 O'clock?
• Billie Holiday's Solid Gold Cadillac? Or Born Yesterday?
• More Ray Harryhausen? Like The 3 Worlds of Gulliver? Or First Men In The Moon? Or the other 2 Sinbad movies?
• Humphrey Bogart's Dead Reckoning? The Harder They Come? Maybe even In a Lonely Place?
• Any Hammer or Noir titles that have fallen through the cracks elsewhere?

...among others. There's a lot of great stuff to choose from with this studio if you dig deep enough.

It kills me that Criterion or TT didn't get The Last Detail.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

Well, we already know which titles Mill Creek is getting, and that's none of the above, except for The Last Detail. Watch for it in a bargain bin near you on a double-bill with either Avalon, Gardens of Stone, The Chase, The Anderson Tapes, or Birdy. Legacy HD scan with no new workflow.

Gardens of Stone deserves better than a double feature bargain bin release, even if it gets the usual high quality transfer from Sony. Outstanding film about the Vietnam War told from the point of view of the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery, with a moving performance from James Caan. I hope Mill Creek steps up their game for this one, and the other Sony titles.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by oildude

Gardens of Stone deserves better than a double feature bargain bin release, even if it gets the usual high quality transfer from Sony. Outstanding film about the Vietnam War told from the point of view of the honor guard at Arlington National Cemetery, with a moving performance from James Caan. I hope Mill Creek steps up their game for this one, and the other Sony titles.

So far, Mill Creek has been all over the map with their Sony catalogue titles. Some have been surprisingly well transferrred (e.g. When a Stranger Calls), while others have been iffy-but-adequate (e.g. Ship of Fools), and a few have been kind of WTF? (e.g. Lilith, which didn't even look like HD, probably the source). As bargain bin product goes though, on the whole their handling of Sony titles has been passable or better.

Since Gardens of Stone is a more recent title (1987), I wouldn't despair just yet oildude...what MC got from Sony is probably in pretty decent shape.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

It kills me that Criterion or TT didn't get The Last Detail.

I hear you. We're talking about a highly regarded cult Hal Ashby film with Michael Chapman lensing. But with music by Johnny Mandel, I'm not entirely surprised that TT didn't go after it. The shock though is Criterion...they seem to have a corner of their collection reserved for Ashby. Perhaps they'll get Shampoo instead?

[donidarko]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Who are you! I want every single title you mentioned! Like you can read my mind! I also want U-Turn, and The Cheap Detective, Marie Antoinette, The Swimmer, Georgy Girl, Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round, The Passenger, Punch Drunk Love, The Owl and The Pussycat, Fun with Dick and Jane (Original Version), Walk on the Wild Side, Strait-Jacket, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Panic Room, California Split, Cactus Flower, There's a Girl in my Soup, His Girl Friday, Fat City, Dollars, Micki & Maude. (to Name a Few)

I'm just an average Columbia groupie....Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)..absolutely....Punch Drunk....Yes! California Split...of course....also....11 Harrowhouse, Dollars, The Anderson Tapes, Cactus Flower, U-turn..doesn't Jack Nickolson own The Passenger?....

I don't think Columbia realizes that there is a ...well..limited audience for these film....Twilight Time can't possibly keep up with the volume of releases....Columbia could make a pretty penny from limited runs .......

[spanky87]

Gilda
Lady from Shanghai
Loves of Carmen
Affair in Trinidad
You Were Never Lovelier

Yeah, anything with Rita Hayworth

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

So far, Mill Creek has been all over the map with their Sony catalogue titles. Some have been surprisingly well transferrred (e.g. When a Stranger Calls), while others have been iffy-but-adequate (e.g. Ship of Fools), and a few have been kind of WTF? (e.g. Lilith, which didn't even look like HD, probably the source). As bargain bin product goes though, on the whole their handling of Sony titles has been passable or better.

Nothing different with TT, really.

From recycled transfers (such as the ones As Good As It Gets and Steel Magnolias use) to other more recent transfers used for other releases.

Pro-B

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by spanky87

Gilda
Lady from Shanghai
Loves of Carmen
Affair in Trinidad
You Were Never Lovelier

Yeah, anything with Rita Hayworth

I'm in!

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by donidarko

I'm just an average Columbia groupie....Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)..absolutely....Punch Drunk....Yes! California Split...of course....also....11 Harrowhouse, Dollars, The Anderson Tapes, Cactus Flower, U-turn..doesn't Jack Nickolson own The Passenger?....

MC has The Anderson Tapes donidarko. But since Sony remastered it for their 'Martini Movies' series in 2008, it should be in pretty good shape.

Haven't seen a date yet though...

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

MC has The Anderson Tapes donidarko. But since Sony remastered it for their 'Martini Movies' series in 2008, it should be in pretty good shape.

Haven't seen a date yet though...

Crap, I wonder if that means MC has "Our Man In Havana" too?

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

Crap, I wonder if that means MC has "Our Man In Havana" too?

It's not on their list jrsl76, so more than likely not. But Our Man in Havana was also part of Sony's 'Martini Movies' series, so there is a fairly recent HD remaster...

What a great suggestion though! Carol Reed...Graham Greene...Alec Guiness...Maureen O'Hara...B&W 'Scope by Oswald Morris...I'd be all over that one!

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

But Our Man in Havana was also part of Sony's 'Martini Movies' series, so there is a fairly recent HD remaster...

There are a few in that series I'd like to see upgraded, as long as they ditch those horrendous covers! The Martini Movies line consistently had some of the worst art ever.

[Dex Robinson]

That first appearance of GILDA is the sexiest two seconds in film history.

I would hope Sony would release it themselves...though I wouldn't expect them to.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by donidarko

Come on SONY! License your product out to Image and Mill Creek.

Murder by Death. Obsession. Body Double. Shampoo. Used Cars. Gloria
Postcards from the Edge. The Seventh Sign. The China Syndrome. Oliver.
California Suite. Modem Romance. Drive-In. Seems Like Old Times.
The Last Detail. Funny Lady. The Way We Were. Hardcore. Runaway.
For Pete's Sake. Only When I Laugh. A Man for all Seasons. Murphy's Romance

I'm adding THE FRONT, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS and THE SWIMMER to my list of wants.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

I really think this one will come from Criterion and no knock on TT, but I hope it does. I'd really like some extras for it.

I agree. From Here to Eternity sounds like a Criterion release to me.