Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[SolidBlu]

SAE haven't shipped my SWAMP WATER & PAL JOEY yet, it's still in pending status anybody having the same experience?

[DarknessBDJM]

Just got Swamp Water today, makes me itchy for The Strangler of the Swamp on blu-ray.

[RodneyOz]

Originally Posted by SolidBlu

SAE haven't shipped my SWAMP WATER & PAL JOEY yet, it's still in pending status anybody having the same experience?

From the Twilight Time Facebook page, where someone asked "When can we expect Swamp Water and Pal Joey to ship?" yesterday; TTime replied 12 hours ago:

Very soon--Swamp Water is in stock at SAE, Pal Joey will be there shortly (it was delayed a few days at the plant)--as many people ordered both titles it is customary for SAE to wait and ship both at once...

So there you go, there's a slight delay with Pal Joey, but those who only preordered Swamp Water have had theirs shipped. No cancellations, no business closing down. Alles ist gut

[SolidBlu]

Originally Posted by RodneyOz

From the Twilight Time Facebook page, where someone asked "When can we expect Swamp Water and Pal Joey to ship?" yesterday; TTime replied 12 hours ago:

Very soon--Swamp Water is in stock at SAE, Pal Joey will be there shortly (it was delayed a few days at the plant)--as many people ordered both titles it is customary for SAE to wait and ship both at once...

So there you go, there's a slight delay with Pal Joey, but those who only preordered Swamp Water have had theirs shipped. No cancellations, no business closing down. Alles ist gut

now i'm relieved! thanks for the info buddy

[Kriztoffer Swank]

Originally Posted by benbess

Any chance those of you who have seen these can talk about the merits of these two films in mini reviews? I have liked my previous TT purchases, but given the prices I'd like to know more....

Do what I did: Hit up Wikipedia for some text and YouTube for some trailers. :)

In doing so, I can definitely tell that Pal Joey, Swamp Water, and The Roots of Heaven likely aren't for me (not at $30+, anyway), so those are the only ones so far I won't be picking up.

[arcadeforest]

Well I'm in for Demetrius and the Gladiators. Never seen it but just recently watched The Robe. I'm becoming a fan of these big 50's - 60's historical/biblical epics. Just recieved Quo Vadis from Amazon yesterday so I'll give that a go in the next few days.

Never heard of Bite the Bullet but it looks like something I would like to see. I'll do a little investigating on it. Anyone seen this that would like to comment?

[hootowls]

Originally Posted by Kriztoffer Swank

Do what I did: Hit up Wikipedia for some text and YouTube for some trailers.

Don't forget IMDb!

[BernieLomax]

Bite the Bullet sounds interesting, anyone here seen it?

[zeroman987]

Originally Posted by SolidBlu

now i'm relieved! thanks for the info buddy

I have my copy of Swamp Water, got in with the mail yesterday. Very pleased with their service. Going to watch it later today - fairly excited about it.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by arcadeforest

Well I'm in for Demetrius and the Gladiators. Never seen it but just recently watched The Robe. I'm becoming a fan of these big 50's - 60's historical/biblical epics. Just recieved Quo Vadis from Amazon yesterday so I'll give that a go in the next few days.

That Quo Vadis Blu is one of the best home video bargains out there right now arcadeforest. Be sure to check out the special features - some very interesting retrospective views on Quo Vadis from some surprising modern day fans (e.g. Scorcese).

I haven't seen Demetrius and the Gladiators since its first, rather unremarkably transferred DVD release. So even if this TT Blu is not exactly a "blind buy" for me, I'm sure I've forgotten enough about it to freshen the experience. As I recall, it was a good to very good movie, just very different than The Robe in 'emphasis' and 'tone'...more action spectacle than internal religious struggle. In full 2.55:1 'Scope* it should be a stunner on Blu.

* remastered by the same Fox team who did such exceptional work on The Robe and The Egyptian.

[benbess]

I agree on Quo Vadis--good film and good blu-ray. Ustinov as Nero is a hoot! And the religious themes are well done imho--no matter what someone's particular beliefs might be. I guess it's just me, but I found the ending of The Robe to be somewhat unsatisfying.

PS Just watched Mysterious Island with kids. Lots of laughs and thrills! Those old Harryhausen effects still create wonder. Check out this test he did in 1950 for a project that never worked out--a version of War of the Worlds set in 1898 like the original novel.

La Guerra de los Mundos-Harryhausen-by Aduren - YouTube

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by BernieLomax

Bite the Bullet sounds interesting, anyone here seen it?

Not yet. Total blind buy for me...

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by benbess

Just watched Mysterious Island with kids. Lots of laughs and thrills! Those old Harryhausen effects still create wonder.

Coincidentally, I got roped into seeing Journey 2: The Mysterious Island this week benbess, so it's fresh in my mind how different the approach to adventure-fantasy movies has become these days. Was J2:TMI an unwatchably bad movie? Not at all. It certainly had some entertaining moments, and the effects in 3D were a huge improvement over the first in this series. But like too many other modern storylines aimed at kids, it just seemed to have nothing on its mind other than "family relationship therapy issues." At best, just lazy writing. At worst, outright groan-inducing.

What it lacked was precisely what the Schneer-Harryhausen movies had in spades: solid direction, with good writing and well-developed characters who had something on their minds other than the emotional inventory of their "relationships". I mean, you can't have any genuine "sense of wonder" and "magic" if all you're ever doing is looking inward...that's just navel-gazing, only within a fantasy setting. The outer experience with the strange and unknown gets totally lost...just thrown away as another "Well, that happened" plot point to serve yet another family reconciliation. What's so different about classics like Mysterious Island, is that the production teams on those movies worked hard to tell a good story first - about different characters from different backgrounds thrown together and forced to interact for their mutual survival. Strip away Harryhausen's creature effects, and you still have a good story...which is another reason why the technological limitations of the era can still be accepted even 50 years later...the movie made the effects, not the other way around.

Except for few-and-far-between epics like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I think the modern approach to adventure-fantasy does a disservice to kids and teens, even more so than adults...because at least we regularly had well-made double-bill B movies like Mysterious Island with some meat on their bones...something in the writing and performance to draw you back and instill "magic", even into adulthood.

[benbess]

Yes, that sense of wonder in those old movies is magical and rarely found today.

Here are two more examples.

In 1953 George Pal did a production of The War of the Worlds. The budget was probably about 1/50th the size of Spielberg's from a few years ago. And the Spielberg version is ok and has some good parts--but I like Pal's a lot better!

And in 1960 Pal made a version of The Time Machine. Again, it was remade with many times that budget recently, and yet the new version just can't hold a candle to the old one imho.

The old ones both had that sense of wonder that's often lacking from today's films.

Any chance Twilight Time could do one or both of these?

[Arkadin]

Time Machine is warner, and hopefully will get a bd release at some point. Warner has released super dvd versions of that film in the past, but I haven't even heard a rumor of it coming to bd for some unknown reason.
War of the Worlds is controlled by Paramount.

[benbess]

Pal Joey sounds interesting. Does anyone know this film? Has Kim Novak in San Francisco a year before Vertigo. Hmm....And this is a Columbia/Sony film, and they are known for good transfers, right?

[Cinemach]

Originally Posted by benbess

Pal Joey sounds interesting. Does anyone know this film? Has Kim Novak in San Francisco a year before Vertigo. Hmm....And this is a Columbia/Sony film, and they are known for good transfers, right?

I've seen it a few times on TCM a while back and it's a charming, amusing picture - I wouldn't say it's amazing or anything but I really like it alot, and it's got Frank Sinatra playing 'Frank Sinatra' (singing, too) which is always good for me. It's also got Rita Hayworth - who I love, and needs to get some more blu representation - and Kim Novak as mentioned.

I can recommend it if you like any of these variables, as well as on the strength of that special 'cinematographic', 'technicolor' look endemic to widescreen pictures from the '50s; it is a pretty colorful film being a quasi-musical of sorts.

This was my first Twilight Time order and I look forward to watching it - though shouldn't they have shipped on last Tuesday?

[Mr. Movie Fan]

Nobody wants these 50's movies, Fright Night was their golden goose.
That sounds mean, but it's true. They will never sell out of anything ever again because the demand is nonexistent.

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Cinemach

I've seen it a few times on TCM a while back and it's a charming, amusing picture - I wouldn't say it's amazing or anything but I really like it alot, and it's got Frank Sinatra playing 'Frank Sinatra' (singing, too) which is always good for me. It's also got Rita Hayworth - who I love, and needs to get some more blu representation - and Kim Novak as mentioned.

I can recommend it if you like any of these variables, as well as on the strength of that special 'cinematographic', 'technicolor' look endemic to widescreen pictures from the '50s; it is a pretty colorful film being a quasi-musical of sorts.

This was my first Twilight Time order and I look forward to watching it - though shouldn't they have shipped on last Tuesday?

Thanks!

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Fanboyz

Nobody wants these 50's movies, Fright Night was their golden goose.
That sounds mean, but it's true. They will never sell out of anything ever again because the demand is nonexistent.

Demand isn't high, which is why Twilight Time can get them in the first place. But apparently they've already sold more than 2000 of their 3000 copies of The Egyptian in 6 months. They are guessing that that title and some others will sell out at some point--but whether that will be months or years is not clear.

Fright Night is the only one they've done that I'm not interested in.

Some people still do like old movies. And I think their business will do fine by catering to people like me and others here who do...