Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[oildude]

Happy Birthday to Kirk Douglas, star of TT's now long sold out release of The Fury, who turned 103 years old on December 9.

[noirjunkie]

I know I say this during every sale, but if you're not picking up The Best of Everything for the ridiculously low price of $4.95, then shame on you.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

I know I say this during every sale, but if you're not picking up The Best of Everything for the ridiculously low price of $4.95, then shame on you.

I'm surprised that The World of Henry Orient lasted as long as it did and got to the $4.95 bracket. I normally don't put movies on while I'm working, but I did that one day with this film as I had had a false start the night before and didn't think that I'd like it much. I wasn't sure completely sure what was going on, but by the end of it, I was feeling some kind of devastating power thanks to the main actress's contribution.

I parted with my copy and missed out on the recent sale (by a day, it seems,) but that's another story. Dumb me.

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

My favorite late-Brando story took place during the disastrous filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau, when he got so bored he started walking around the set with a colander on his head, telling people it was his particle accelerator.

I have this...

and it is VERY entertaining. There is a scene where Fairuza Balk recounts how she approached Brando the day before they were to film a scene together and asked if she could talk to him about the scene and their characters. He looked around and whispered to her "Don't tell anyone but I haven't even read the script." Then he laughed and told her " You are young and beautiful, just have fun, you don't need to worry about such things." I always thought that was great...

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

I swear, I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love Brando, especially from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY on, when he seemed to first start acting in his own imagination no matter what the rest of the cast and crew were doing. "Surreal self-indulgence" is a perfect way to put it, but unlike most, I don't see that as a negative. Often I find what he's doing to not only be the most interesting part of a lot of those movies, but taking them to whole other levels of greatness that most would be too afraid of ever scaling. Of course, it doesn't always work, but the guy appeared so bored with all of it, and with life too, I expect, that he became one of those old guys tinkering alone in his workshop trying to invent God knows what. I know lots of people who can't stand him for all of this, but I find his search for challenges to alleviate a weary soul very refreshing in movies.

I couldn't agree more. I was first introduced to Brando as kid with The Wild One on late night T.V.. I thought he was so cool. I am up to about 25 of his films in my collection and will probably end up getting them all. I also agree that he is very entertaining to watch, even in some of his bad movies. I don't believe there will ever be another like him. I think James Dean would have been the same way...

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by projectionbooth

I was planning on putting in a $100 order for the sale on Friday, but I'm seeing now that TT doesn't offer free shipping? I could have sworn they did?

Never have through TT or SAE. Both do offer a Media Mail rate for most people thouhg TT rate is a bit lower than SAE. I still prefer SAE due to their meticulous packing. TT shipping/handling ends up around $1 per item after you get to 5+, SAE a little more (I think $5 for 1st itme and 0.95 for ea added).

Twilight Time is around $4.23 for the 1st and around 0.50ea added.

[projectionbooth]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Never have through TT or SAE. Both do offer a Media Mail rate for most people thouhg TT rate is a bit lower than SAE. I still prefer SAE due to their meticulous packing. TT shipping/handling ends up around $1 per item after you get to 5+, SAE a little more (I think $5 for 1st itme and 0.95 for ea added).

Twilight Time is around $4.23 for the 1st and around 0.50ea added.

Thanks for the clarification. Still gotta pull the trigger on this order.

[Doc Moonlight]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Never have through TT or SAE. Both do offer a Media Mail rate for most people thouhg TT rate is a bit lower than SAE. I still prefer SAE due to their meticulous packing. TT shipping/handling ends up around $1 per item after you get to 5+, SAE a little more (I think $5 for 1st itme and 0.95 for ea added).

Twilight Time is around $4.23 for the 1st and around 0.50ea added.

One other consideration: Twilight Time charges sales tax to those of us who live in Texas. Screen Archives does not. TT's warehouse is in the city next to where I live, so I always get them very quickly, but I usually opt for SA to save on the tax.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by Doc Moonlight

One other consideration: Twilight Time charges sales tax to those of us who live in Texas. Screen Archives does not. TT's warehouse is in the city next to where I live, so I always get them very quickly, but I usually opt for SA to save on the tax.

I'm assuming similar/opposite re: tax for Virginia residents for SAE.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

I couldn't agree more. I was first introduced to Brando as kid with The Wild One on late night T.V.. I thought he was so cool. I am up to about 25 of his films in my collection and will probably end up getting them all. I also agree that he is very entertaining to watch, even in some of his bad movies. I don't believe there will ever be another like him. I think James Dean would have been the same way...

25 of his films? Wow. Any gems from my list of 14 above that I have yet to see?

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

25 of his films? Wow. Any gems from my list of 14 above that I have yet to see?

If you like bizarre films where Brando is flat out crazy or just a little strange, I would suggest Candy (I absolutely love that film because it is just nuts), Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Nightcomers and most of all, The Island of Dr. Moreau. That film has to be seen to be believed. Brando is full on nuts and even has his own mini-me. The Teahouse of the August Moon is entertaining if you want to see Marlon portraying an asian. The Fugitive Kind is ok but is pretty disappointing when compared to Streetcar. In The Freshman you can tell he is having fun. Some good documentaries are Lost Soul (mentioned earlier), Hearts of Darkness and Listen To Me, Marlon. I also got lucky and scored this dvd at a used record store ...

It is a screener, not meant for sale (the benefits of living in L.A.). It doesn't air on TCM any more and never had an official release due to some type of legal issue, maybe something they included without permission. I also recommend the book Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando. There are a lot of great stories in there told by friends and acquaintances. One actress who was among his actor friends when he was still doing plays tells about how he got up to leave in the middle of dinner at a dinner party with a large group of people and came back into the room naked with a flower stuck up his ass. Another friend (I forget who) tells how when Marlon was sick and in his last days, he told this person that he had spent his entire life "trying to be less crazy" which definitely makes a lot of sense. I think he was a mad genius of sorts....

[RCRochester]

I second the recommendation for Reflections in a Golden Eye, it's probably the best of his films that aren't on bwdowiak's list.

And if you're a fan of musicals at all, you HAVE to see Guys & Dolls. Brando is not a great singer but the movie overall is fantastic.

[Keymaster]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

I couldn't agree more. I was first introduced to Brando as kid with The Wild One on late night T.V.. I thought he was so cool. I am up to about 25 of his films in my collection and will probably end up getting them all. I also agree that he is very entertaining to watch, even in some of his bad movies. I don't believe there will ever be another like him. I think James Dean would have been the same way...

I'm at 35 Brando films.

I agree. There's something mystifying and fascinating about the cadence of his voice, about his mannerisms on screen. I finally watched the Island of Dr. Moreau after years of ignoring it (having heard about how terrible the film and Brando's performance were) and - shocker - I thought he was really good in the role.

Of the 35 Brando's in my collection, there are only 7 DVD's still waiting for upgrades. I'd like to see The Night of the Following Day, The Freshman and Reflections in a Golden Eye get upgraded next, now that The Fugitive Kind has been announced.

Julius Caesar
The Teahouse of the August Moon
The Fugitive Kind (Januray 14 2020 via Criterion)
Reflections in a Golden Eye
The Night of the Following Day (solid film, hoping for an upgrade)
The Formula
The Freshman (Really wish this would get an upgrade)

[Dailyan]

SAE has a $5 off coupon until the December 22nd. The email states a minimum order of $50 but I tested it and it works even without meeting the threshold.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

SAE has a $5 off coupon until the December 22nd. The email states a minimum order of $50 but I tested it and it works even without meeting the threshold.

It went through but they’ll likely cancel the order if it doesn’t meet the threshold. It’s happened that way in the past with coupon codes they’ve offered.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

It went through but they’ll likely cancel the order if it doesn’t meet the threshold. It’s happened that way in the past with coupon codes they’ve offered.

Interesting. They had a similar coupon during the September sale, I used it on $39.85 worth of titles and it went through successfully. Though, I could of been lucky that one time.

[RedHarvest]

One Fox film I wish Twilight Time would release: Neil Jordan's the Good Thief, with Nick Nolte. They've represented both Neil Jordan and Nick Nolte films in the past. It's a great film, and I'd love to finally get it on Blu-ray.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Interesting. They had a similar coupon during the September sale, I used it on $39.85 worth of titles and it went through successfully. Though, I could of been lucky that one time.

Just going by the situations in the past, people would post that the code works regardless and then some time later the order would be cancelled. It's clear that Screen Archives' website is not the most sophisticated operation, so I presume that they can't really establish too many parameters for those codes and just rely on the people packing the orders to take notice of anything that doesn't apply and cancel them. I'm assuming that in September, the person packing your order either didn't notice or didn't care. In any event, I hope for your sake the order goes through this time around.

As for me, I hadn't bought anything in the Twilight Time sale yet as there wasn't really anything I wanted that was in my price range at the moment, but I did use the code to pick up A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy for $9.95, it being the only Woody Allen film from the 80s I've never seen. However, I did also pick up the limited edition soundtrack CDs of The French Connection and Romancing The Stone, two of my all time favourite movies as well as some of my favourite musical scores. I love the pulsating, minimalist sound of the French Connection score, which is a film I almost always watch this time of year, it just fits in well with the cold, miserable winter weather.

Incidentally, both albums were produced by Twilight Time founder Nick Redman.

And speaking of Woody Allen / Twilight Time releases, RIP to Danny Aiello who was in both Radio Days and Purple Rose Of Cairo.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

However, I did also pick up the limited edition soundtrack CDs of The French Connection and Romancing The Stone, two of my all time favourite movies as well as some of my favourite musical scores. I love the pulsating, minimalist sound of the French Connection score, which is a film I almost always watch this time of year, it just fits in well with the cold, miserable winter weather.

"The French Connection" score is fantastic. It's a shame that Ellis passed quite young. I'm gonna use the opportunity to finally snag the "One-Eyed Jacks" soundtrack.

[Aclea]

In a similar vein albeit more propulsive, from the same record label there's David Shire's terrific score for The Taking of Pelham 123:

http://www.screenarchives.com/title_...OF-PELHAM-123/

The Taking Of Pelham One-Two-Three | Soundtrack Suite (David Shire) - YouTube