Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[Arkadin]

new pre-orders are up and I was able to place my order with 0 problems.
very excited for these great choices!

[Dex Robinson]

Just pre-ordered COVER GIRL!

Really looking forward to this. I'm a Rita Hayworth superfan and this is Rita at her most gorgeous. I've got PAL JOEY but, even though she was only in her late 30's when it was filmed, time was taking it's toll and she was starting to look rather "matronly".

COVER GIRL is the way I think of her.

[Dubstar]

just ordered Those Magnificent Men... - and for those in the DC metro area, the film is being presented in 70mm at the AFI Silver Sat. August 11: 1pm and Sun, the 12th at 1:30pm

[Arkadin]

btw: not gonna lie--really wish MM had a magnet because I really love the cover on that one.
for whatever reason--and really who can ever figure it out--neither release apparently comes with a magnet.
maybe next time I guess.

[SolidBlu]

just pre-ordered those magnificent men in their flying machine (1965) and cover girl (1944)

[Cinemach]

I think I'll wait to order Cover Girl with Bye Bye Birdie to save on some shipping costs. Maybe they'll be another promo offer that'll entice me to pick up another title.

[Dex Robinson]

I do plan to order THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN...but I likely won't do it until COVER GIRL ships.

I'm in Canada and I always have my TT Blu-rays sent through standard post. I have very high confidence in regular post. I've never had a package go missing in 40 years of mail order. And I'm certainly NOT going to pay the extra 20 bucks or so to have my package registered...I'm not made of money.

That being said, it's prudent to take reasonable precautions. I don't want to have two TT discs in one uninsured shipment. It would be just my luck that the FIRST package to ever go missing would have two discs in it .

Right now, I've saved enough over the last year (by using standard post) that I can "self insure" and absorb the cost of a lost disc myself. I just don't want to risk two.

[BasicGreatGuy]

For those who haven't seen "Cover Girl" before, you can watch it in it's entirety on YouTube.

[skiizim]

If the screen archive website is accurate of what it has available in stock. Rapture has 372, Mysterious Island has 503, Journey to the Center of the Earth has 657. Some of the other titles are between 1100 & 1600 with a lot of others well over 2000 left.

[Brad1107]

That's not reliable. If Rapture was really that low, they would have put out an under 500 warning for it.

There was a lot of debate when TT first started whether you could play the 'numbers left' game. But it was decided it's not very accurate.

[oildude]

Got both TMMITFM and Cover Girl, along with the soundtrack to Chinatown, which has just been re-released after being OOP. Love that film score.

Like last month, I was done in less than a minute. SAE's capacity upgrades are appreciated.

[arcadeforest]

Just pre-ordered: THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN... Never seen this so I'm looking forward to watching it in a few weeks.

[anthonyls]

Originally Posted by arcadeforest

Just pre-ordered: THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN... Never seen this so I'm looking forward to watching it in a few weeks.

Ummmmm, you might wanted to watch it first. I found it to be a very tedious film to watch. Once was enough for me.

[Rory]

Originally Posted by anthonyls

Ummmmm, you might wanted to watch it first. I found it to be a very tedious film to watch. Once was enough for me.

While I wouldn't call THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN... a tedious film, BUT it is, especially when compared to more recent movies, a much slower movie for anyone much under the age of forty. That's not true in every case with the viewer, but I'm talking generally. The movie, despite the influence of its American producers, namely 20th Century-Fox, is "rather British" and often droll. It's not as wacky and zany as Ken Annakin and Jack Davis originally wanted. Darryl F. Zanuck insisted that the romance be played up more (that and that they find a part for Irina Demick), so a lot of the film seems overly padded. As much as I love the movie, and wouldn't now what to see anything cut, it can be rightly called "overlong." It's really just a subjective matter of one's sensibilities, but I have to honesty admit that today this comedy can only be called mildly amusing. (I saw it in its original release, when I was just six years old. I don't remember everything about the audience reaction, but I can still vividly recall my father laughing a lot at it. I can still hear him in my mind. But a couple years ago I played the DVD for him -- he's now in his mid-seventies -- and he got bored with it and walked away, which I really think only means that for him, he'd seen it enough in his lifetime.)

If you want to get an idea of what this movie could have been like if not for Zanuck, if Annakin and Davis had had more control -- and it had starred Dick Van Dyke and not Stuart Whitman as the director originally wanted --, then check out the unofficial sequel done a few years later at Paramount called "Monte Carlo or Bust," or THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR JAUNTY JALOPIES. It's out on Blu-ray -- in a double-feature with Paramount's HOUDINI -- and a cheap used copy can probably be easily found. I recommending checking out that movie, though for me it's inferior to MAGNIFICENT MEN.

[arcadeforest]

Originally Posted by anthonyls

Ummmmm, you might wanted to watch it first. I found it to be a very tedious film to watch. Once was enough for me.

I'm willing to give it a try. I have a feeling I will like it. I like just about anything put into a historical time period (fiction or nonfiction - comedy / drama / action /etc.).

[arcadeforest]

Originally Posted by Rory

While I wouldn't call THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN... a tedious film, BUT it is, especially when compared to more recent movies, a much slower movie for anyone much under the age of forty. That's not true in every case with the viewer, but I'm talking generally. The movie, despite the influence of its American producers, namely 20th Century-Fox, is "rather British" and often droll. It's not as wacky and zany as Ken Annakin and Jack Davis originally wanted. Darryl F. Zanuck insisted that the romance be played up more (that and that they find a part for Irina Demick), so a lot of the film seems overly padded. As much as I love the movie, and wouldn't now what to see anything cut, it can be rightly called "overlong." It's really just a subjective matter of one's sensibilities, but I have to honesty admit that today this comedy can only be called mildly amusing. (I saw it in its original release, when I was just six years old. I don't remember everything about the audience reaction, but I can still vividly recall my father laughing a lot at it. I can still hear him in my mind. But a couple years ago I played the DVD for him -- he's now in his mid-seventies -- and he got bored with it and walked away, which I really think only means that for him, he'd seen it enough in his lifetime.)

If you want to get an idea of what this movie could have been like if not for Zanuck, if Annakin and Davis had had more control -- and it had starred Dick Van Dyke and not Stuart Whitman as the director originally wanted --, then check out the unofficial sequel done a few years later at Paramount called "Monte Carlo or Bust," or THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR JAUNTY JALOPIES. It's out on Blu-ray -- in a double-feature with Paramount's HOUDINI -- and a cheap used copy can probably be easily found. I recommending checking out that movie, though for me it's inferior to MAGNIFICENT MEN.

I'll be 42 on July 1st. Not sure if I should put a or over that.

[Rory]

Originally Posted by arcadeforest

I'll be 42 on July 1st. Not sure if I should put a or over that.

I'll be 53 on June 22nd, and I'll definitely put a over that. Getting old sucks. I used to have perfect 20/20 vision. Now I need to wear glasses just to watch my 46" plasma. Ironic that while home video is getting better resolution-wise, my eyes are slowly getting worse. Sucks indeed. As the Wicked Witch said, "What a world! What a world!"

[BJQ1972]

Originally Posted by Rory

I'll be 53 on June 22nd, and I'll definitely put a over that. Getting old sucks. I used to have perfect 20/20 vision. Now I need to wear glasses just to watch my 46" plasma. Ironic that while home video is getting better resolution-wise, my eyes are slowly getting worse. Sucks indeed. As the Wicked Witch said, "What a world! What a world!"

It's a good excuse to get a bigger Plasma though.

[Yankees0222]

Originally Posted by BJQ1972

It's a good excuse to get a bigger Plasma though.

Nice.... Looking at the adult diapers half full instead of half empty i see!

I kid, kid

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Rory

While I wouldn't call THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN... a tedious film, BUT it is, especially when compared to more recent movies, a much slower movie for anyone much under the age of forty. That's not true in every case with the viewer, but I'm talking generally.

This movie is an elaborate 'contraption', not unlike the myriad rickety flying devices depicted throughout. But that is key to its charm, especially in all its 70mm glory...there was always some bit of outrageously staged visual detail to feast upon in every frame. I can't speak for anyone else, but even with the best CGI, modern movie effects just aren't as much fun...there's a simple, visceral pleasure I get from watching something staged for 'reel' on such a lavish scale. Same thing with those cast of thousands sword and sandal epics set in whole cities built from scratch. Even when not much was happening, they still had a raw physical presence you don't get from overly studied, exactingly renderland CGI.

Originally Posted by Rory

The movie, despite the influence of its American producers, namely 20th Century-Fox, is "rather British" and often droll. It's not as wacky and zany as Ken Annakin and Jack Davis originally wanted. Darryl F. Zanuck insisted that the romance be played up more (that and that they find a part for Irina Demick), so a lot of the film seems overly padded.

Earlier this year, before I knew this Blu-ray edition was on TT's sked, I rewatched Those Magnificent Men... on DVD, and I have to say, its 2+ hour running time breezed by. For many of the reasons mentioned above, but also because that droll, continental style and lively (but not manic) pace, left enough room along the way to savour the many charming character bits and gentle spoofery. This is why modern comedies typically don't work very well for me...there's never enough character context around the funny bits, and the writers/directors/players routinely jam too many good ideas together like they're insecure over what will work...with drum machine-like 'beats' replacing the careful 'build' of classic comedy.

Originally Posted by Rory

As much as I love the movie, and wouldn't now what to see anything cut, it can be rightly called "overlong." It's really just a subjective matter of one's sensibilities, but I have to honesty admit that today this comedy can only be called mildly amusing. (I saw it in its original release, when I was just six years old. I don't remember everything about the audience reaction, but I can still vividly recall my father laughing a lot at it. I can still hear him in my mind. But a couple years ago I played the DVD for him -- he's now in his mid-seventies -- and he got bored with it and walked away, which I really think only means that for him, he'd seen it enough in his lifetime.)

I don't think I ever found this movie uproariously funny, even during its original theatrical run. But its stately turn of the century pace, plus its gently caricatured social observations always puts a big smile on my puss...it's just the cheeky 'vibe' of the thing.

Originally Posted by Rory

If you want to get an idea of what this movie could have been like if not for Zanuck, if Annakin and Davis had had more control -- and it had starred Dick Van Dyke and not Stuart Whitman as the director originally wanted --, then check out the unofficial sequel done a few years later at Paramount called "Monte Carlo or Bust," or THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR JAUNTY JALOPIES. It's out on Blu-ray -- in a double-feature with Paramount's HOUDINI -- and a cheap used copy can probably be easily found. I recommending checking out that movie, though for me it's inferior to MAGNIFICENT MEN.

No kidding. In almost every respect, Those Daring Young Men... was inferior to Those Magnificent Men..., not helped at all by Paramount/Legend's indifferent-to-poor handling of its elements when mastering for Blu-ray (i.e. they essentially did nothing except slap it on a disc). A better comparison would be Blake Edwards' The Great Race, which was pretty darn good and would be welcome again in high def, although even that madcap romp lacked the whacky Rube Goldberg spectacle of Annakin's loving recreation of vintage aviation in Those Magnificent Men...

Even as an example of how to take 70mm roadshows to Blu-ray, this will no doubt be a knockout disc. Together with Cover Girl in vintage 3-strip Technicolor, what a wonderful mid-summer night lies ahead...