I originally posted this at the end of April, but it got wiped in last week's site crash. I have every Twilight Time release so far. I have not been disappointed with any of them, and would rate each of them as good to great, but in my opinion
Rapture is the crown jewel in their catalog.
Rapture is a film I had never heard of before I blind bought it from TT (or semi-blind bought it - the whole movie is on youtube in nine parts and I watched just enough of Part 1 to know I wanted to buy it).
There is a separate thread dedicated to Rapture, Picnic, and Roots of Heaven. I wrote a review for all three films there and have copied them over to here.
Rapture -
[Show spoiler]I would encourage anyone considering Twilight Time releases to pick up Rapture. It is a fantastic film. Except for occasional brief visits to network TV over the years, it has been relegated to vault status since its release in 1965. Such a shame, because the film is a real gem and deserves to be seen. It is emotionally compelling, fantastically acted, well written, with absolutely beautiful music and cinematography. I have never seen rocky beaches and coastlines look so stunning in black and white. The film is a showcase for Cinemascope in all its glory. Twilight Time has finally given it the treatment it deserves, and for me it is the standout film of the young company's catalog of releases thus far.
The story is as brooding and ominous as the storm shrouded Breton coast, almost neo-gothic in tone, building suspense because the viewer is never quite sure what is going to happen. There is redemption and sacrifice like in many great films, and scenes that are truly memorable for their tender and moving portrayal of loneliness and despair. And yet, in its heart of darkness, there is a love of life in Rapture that beats joyously loud. The actors are all superb; Patricia Gozzi shows a range of ability rarely seen in a young star. This is an unforgettable film, and it will stay with you after watching it. I can see why the director John Guillermin considers this to be his finest work.
While watching Rapture, I thought about some of the taboo elements in the movie that would make it impossible to be made today with the same level of honesty and intensity (at least in the US). The emotionally fragile teenage girl becoming aware of her sexuality, combined with the uncertainty of whether she is mentally disturbed or merely developmentally delayed and emotionally immature in a world of callous adults, makes Rapture both a dark fairy tale and a gently uplifting coming of age story.
I don’t know quite what to compare it to, it is a unique film. I think if someone likes Hitchcock and Bergman, they will like Rapture. It also reminded me of elements of early Polanski, specifically Repulsion.
The Roots of Heaven -
[Show spoiler]I found The Roots of Heaven to be a very enjoyable movie. The Cinemascope presentation is gorgeous and the colors really pop. My only PQ complaint is also identified in the blu-ray.com review - color shifts during optical dissolves. It is no doubt a problem in the source elements, but for the first 45 minutes, every time there is a dissolve for a scene change, the new scene has a noticeable color shift right at the beginning. Either I got used to it or it goes away, but it was no longer an issue after awhile.
The acting is well done, and the story draws the viewer in. As others have pointed out, it was ahead of its time and an oddity for 1958 for its portrayal of confrontational environmental activism. The online reviews I have read sometimes refer to it as a misfire from John Huston, but I don’t see that. Not one of his best, but still a very good film. It is heavily dialog and acting driven, the action is sporadic, but that is not surprising since the film is about a small ragtag group of crusaders out to save the elephants using disruptive tactics against the French colonial government and the ivory hunters.
There is suspense and some intrigues to keep things interesting. Orson Welles gives a great cameo performance, and Juliette Greco is gorgeous and does a fine work with her limited role. Trevor Howard does a great job with his leading role. Also, Errol Flynn plays a very believable drunk, which from what I have read was not far from the truth during the making of the movie. His performance is one of the film’s highlights. The film is something of a legend for cast and crew falling ill, drinking heavily, overcoming miserable field conditions including terrific heat, and ironically going game hunting, but somehow the final product works.
Picnic -
[Show spoiler]Several user reviews I have read about Picnic mention how overacted it seems at times. I share some of those sentiments, but they do not detract from my enjoyment of the film, or my impression that it is a well done slice of Americana captured on celluloid. The dialog is influenced heavily by the play on which it is based, so it has some of the exaggerated mannerisms of the stage. The script was co-written by William Inge, who also wrote the Broadway play. While a bit over the top in places, this is not the first film I have watched from the 1950s and older to take that approach to dialog, acting, and dramatic music placement. Gone With the Wind has its share of this too, as does Bigger Than Life, a film much beloved by Criterion fans that I like but am not all that eager to watch again.
Much like Bigger Than Life with its subversive subtext, Picnic also pushes the envelope, in this case the smoldering sexuality boiling beneath the surface. I do not know much about 1950s cinema - most of my classic film knowledge is from the 1960s and 1970s - but I do get a sense that there were films made in the US during this period that pointed the way to a more realistic and even iconoclastic experience. Picnic strikes me as belonging in that category.
For me, whose family roots are from the plains of north Texas, Picnic is a real treat, a Cinemascope peek into the lost world of my grandparents and great aunts and uncles. Those houses shown in the film are exactly like the style my relatives lived in when I was a kid in the 1970s. Notice how small those homes are, even with two stories. The kitchens seem so claustrophobic, and two teenage girls share a bedroom!!
The director’s framing captures the endless blue sky that sits on top of everything, every roof, tree, grain silo, church steeple, and person. Even junky looking water towers can become works of photographic art in the light of that sky. Cinemascope really did justice to the freight trains that are such an everyday part of life there, giving an impression of length and power as they rumble by. The widescreen framing with the extra static space placed around groups of people reminds us that this is the wide open plains, even in the narrow confines of a town street or in the living room of a small 1950s house.
The colors are beautifully rendered. The hues of the Chinese paper lanterns during the night scenes at the picnic really stand out and bring the setting to life. Overall, it is a spectacularly lovely film to look at, and if you can accept some of the “bigger” acting that occurs in a few scenes, along with dialogue that is written for the stage and often sounds like it, Picnic is an enjoyable film. It pays homage to People on Sunday in its picnic scenes of the local population enjoying themselves, and has some fine acting that carries it through. I find it interesting that William Holden made this film after his role in The Bridges at Toko-Ri, one of my all time favorite movies. He was quite an actor.
A few other TT films:
Bell, Book, and Candle -
[Show spoiler]B,B, and C was a blind buy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really well done dramedy / rom-com. It is not laugh out loud funny; in fact, the comedy is subdued, but the film has a charm to it that is, well, bewitching. The PQ is gloriously grainy and colorful, with a jazzy soundtrack. Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart are fun to watch and Jack Lemmon is trippy as the carefree musician brother of Novak's character. The supporting characters are quirky and amusing. I think it is another top tier Twilight Time release, and one that will get repeat viewings, especially since my girlfriend also loved it.
Desiree -
[Show spoiler]Great acting from Brando and Jean Simmons. It is told entirely from the viewpoint of the Simmons character; there are lots of colorful costuming and detailed sets, but no Napoleonic battle scenes or action of any consequence. It is a sweeping dialog-driven period drama, just don’t expect any Gone With the Wind epic-ness to it, despite the trailer that tries to make the comparison. In fact, to me it felt like a well done stage play made into a film. Still, it is stunning on blu-ray, another Cinemascope triumph, and if you are a Brando or Simmons fan, then order it, you won't be disappointed. Brando makes a very good Napoleon.
Swamp Water -
[Show spoiler]I would describe Swamp Water as Southern Gothic melodrama that could have lept off the pages of William Faulkner. The swamp is forbidding and dangerous, as much a character in the film as the actors. The cross and skull seen on the cover art is actually a navigation marker used by the locals to warn them that going past that point deeper into the swamp meant you stood very little chance of finding your way back out. The film tells the story of a community scratching out a living on the edge of a swamp, and of one individual who dares to venture into the swamp in search of a missing dog and what he encounters there changes his life.
Great movie, with memorable performances. Rich cinematography, well written, and deserves to be rediscovered for the fine film it is.
Pal Joey -
[Show spoiler]I am not a huge fan of musicals. I like them, but have to be in a certain mood to watch one. There are a few I have found that rise above that sentiment, like Little Shop of Horrors (1986), The Sound of Music, and Willy Wonka, that I can watch just about any time. To that category, I can add Pal Joey a "small" musical in the sense that it doesn't have elaborate set pieces or big numbers, but is more intimate and fitting for a nightclub act that is the heart of the story. It helps that I am a Sinatra fan, but even if you are not, there is a lot to like about this film. Sinatra is a charming lout who wants more than anything to rise above the ranks of journeymen nightclub singers and own his own high class joint. At the beginning of the film, he lands in San Francisco and seeks out his next gig. While pursuing his dream - and just about every chorus girl he meets - along comes Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. This is good stuff, with a lot of familiar Sinatra songs, and wonderfully colorful Cinemascope views of the sets and 1950s San Francisco. And it has a heart, too.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
so I probably won't get mine until Monday or Tuesday (it always takes a long time for TT to get packages to me)
I learned my lesson from Fright Night
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