Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by jw007

I went ahead and bought 4 titles from Twilight Time (via Screen Archives) just now:

Angel (1982) $4.95
Eureka (1983) $14.95
Moscow on the Hudson (1984) $8.95
Resurrected (1989) $4.95

They all happened to be from the 1980s too! (My favorite decade)

Here's my review of Angel, which I posted to Twilight Time's website for the $2 coupon:

Shoot the Piano Player meets Taxi Driver

Angel is not exactly a mash-up of those earlier films, but it’s not hard to see their influence in Neil Jordan’s debut featuring a musician who gets involved with mobsters. Unlike the Truffaut film however, our hero doesn’t go on the run, he goes on the attack. As in the Scorsese film, the catalyst for his vengeance is a young girl. Although he is unable to save the girl, he wants her killers to understand what they’ve destroyed. He’s not successful in this either, and so he almost passively executes her killers. That’s the thing about our hero, although he plays a mean sax and is catnip to the ladies, he slouches through the film. He seems an unlikely avenger.

That’s a lot to unpack, and to add to this, there’s also the background of The Troubles, because the mobsters may also be para-military. In Northern Ireland during this period, The Troubles are always in the background except when they’re in the foreground. The story isn’t as tight as in Jordan’s later films, The Crying Game and Mona Lisa, but you can see him developing many of the same themes here. The performances, particularly Honor Heffernan in her screen debut as the band’s singer, and the visuals shot by Chris Menges are great.

My only real complaint with the Twilight Time release of Angel was the lack of SDH. Much of the dialogue, although in English, was difficult to understand due to the often thick Irish accents.

It's definitely worth $5. It seems like these British (or Irish) films don't sell well on this side of the pond. It's a shame really, but I'm hoping to take advantage of that during this sale.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

So a small order I had made from Screen Archives before this latest flurry of excitement arrived yesterday. Included was a backup copy of The Seven Ups which I watched tonight. One of my favourite 70s cop flicks with one of the best car chases ever committed to film. It’s still available at SAE and I encourage anyone who likes that type of film to grab it, it’s a stellar release of a stellar film.

This is heresy 'round these parts, but I've always preferred The Seven-Ups to its bigger brother, The French Connection.

As film fans, I think we all have canonical classics we're unable to get on board with, for whatever reason. TFC has always been one of those for me. T7U has a relatively messy plot, but that gritty 70s NYC atmosphere has probably never been bettered and its car chase is the best ever filmed (only Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. or Ronin approach it.)

I have to say that The Seven-Ups MIGHT just be TT's most impressive release. New 4k scan and practically overflowing with supplements, I highly encourage any stragglers to pick this up while you can.

[bwdowiak]

I made an order at SAE. I have a feeling these titles will be around for a little while longer there as there haven't been any "low quantity" alerts and SAE is not in liquidation mode. Even adding in the per title shipping charges, I figured these really weren't going to get cheaper, so I went for it to spare myself the time I would normally spend hemming and hawing about whether or not to pull the trigger.

Every day I visit this site, I walk away knowing about some classic title that I had never heard of. With that said, I figured Cowboy was a throw-away title being that it got down to the bargain price of $8.95 (it was $6.95 at TT.)

yeah, I was wrong in my thinking...

Technicolor, Jack Lemmon, Glenn Ford, Delmer Daves, western, 4.5/5 for PQ on this site... all that is talking my language, so I had to pick that up.

Cowboy
Underworld, U.S.A.
The Crimson Kimono
Our Man in Havana
The Long, Hot Summer

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by grahams76

Because you play frisbee using blu-rays? A backup seems excessive hence the question.

That’s it exactly, I play frisbee with them so I buy one for myself and one for a friend so we can throw them back and forth to each other.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I made an order at SAE. I have a feeling these titles will be around for a little while longer there as there haven't been any "low quantity" alerts and SAE is not in liquidation mode. Even adding in the per title shipping charges, I figured these really weren't going to get cheaper, so I went for it to spare myself the time I would normally spend hemming and hawing about whether or not to pull the trigger.

Every day I visit this site, I walk away knowing about some classic title that I had never heard of. With that said, I figured Cowboy was a throw-away title being that it got down to the bargain price of $8.95 (it was $6.95 at TT.)

yeah, I was wrong in my thinking...

Technicolor, Jack Lemmon, Glenn Ford, Delmer Daves, western, 4.5/5 for PQ on this site... all that is talking my language, so I had to pick that up.

Cowboy
Underworld, U.S.A.
The Crimson Kimono
Our Man in Havana
The Long, Hot Summer

You won't be disappointed. Cowboy is really good. I love Lemmon and it's a shame that Twilight Time didn't get around to releasing more of his 50's work with Columbia, particularly Fire Down Below with Robert Mitchum and Rita Hayworth, and Phffft and It Should Happen to You with the incomparable Judy Holliday.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Here's my review of Angel, which I posted to Twilight Time's website for the $2 coupon:

[Show spoiler]Quote:
Shoot the Piano Player meets Taxi Driver

Angel is not exactly a mash-up of those earlier films, but it’s not hard to see their influence in Neil Jordan’s debut featuring a musician who gets involved with mobsters. Unlike the Truffaut film however, our hero doesn’t go on the run, he goes on the attack. As in the Scorsese film, the catalyst for his vengeance is a young girl. Although he is unable to save the girl, he wants her killers to understand what they’ve destroyed. He’s not successful in this either, and so he almost passively executes her killers. That’s the thing about our hero, although he plays a mean sax and is catnip to the ladies, he slouches through the film. He seems an unlikely avenger.

That’s a lot to unpack, and to add to this, there’s also the background of The Troubles, because the mobsters may also be para-military. In Northern Ireland during this period, The Troubles are always in the background except when they’re in the foreground. The story isn’t as tight as in Jordan’s later films, The Crying Game and Mona Lisa, but you can see him developing many of the same themes here. The performances, particularly Honor Heffernan in her screen debut as the band’s singer, and the visuals shot by Chris Menges are great.

My only real complaint with the Twilight Time release of Angel was the lack of SDH. Much of the dialogue, although in English, was difficult to understand due to the often thick Irish accents.

It's definitely worth $5. It seems like these British (or Irish) films don't sell well on this side of the pond. It's a shame really, but I'm hoping to take advantage of that during this sale.

I'm impressed that you took the time to write such a thoughtful review when so many other reviews on the TT website are so brief ... obviously made only to get the $2 coupon. I'm also happy to see that you liked the movie as it's one that I picked up long ago, but still haven't watched. Kudos.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

So a small order I had made from Screen Archives before this latest flurry of excitement arrived yesterday. Included was a backup copy of The Seven Ups which I watched tonight. One of my favourite 70s cop flicks with one of the best car chases ever committed to film. It’s still available at SAE and I encourage anyone who likes that type of film to grab it, it’s a stellar release of a stellar film.

I think that scene ranks as my favorite car chase of all time--- it even beats BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION to me!

[bdgking]

Updating the low quantity titles remaining from twilight time . The criteria I am using is to be on this list there must be 200 units or less . All are under that at the time of this post . Only for Twilight Time .

Low quantity update for SAE below the Twilight Time list :

More titles added from my post last night .

Here is a list of the lowest quantity titles remaining at Twilight Time . I am going to abbreviate the titles names to save time .
Units available might be slightly different now but at the time I posted these are lowest quantities available . Many will sell out today

Julia = 26
Sayonara = 15
W.heights = 20
t.sawyer = 14
I could go on sing = 22
t.radio = 4
p. of blood river = 20
c. liberty = 20
m. stover = 14
s. & iris = 15
g.guys = 31
gidget = 114
c.land = 125
g. of evil = 154
angel = 93
b.lance = 113
b.train = 96
a. love = 105
sherwood forrest = 40
q. american = 160
w. pool = 135
lawman =176
c.from castle = 145
o.crude = 136
j.james = 158


SAE very low quantities

Peyton Place ,Strange Invaders & Flaming Star all sold out yesterday
Today Inferno just sold out as well as Theatre of Blood

Eye of The Needle = 9


Cutters Way & Zelig are both over 50 remaining but not by much

All will be sold out via both sites once they are gone

[Brandon K]

Originally Posted by RandCanuck

…you are making up nicely for lost time ... great, well-rounded selection, fellow Canuck!

Originally Posted by Mose Harper

Lots of good films in that spree for sure! One title I'm gonna single out, that I feel is very underrated is Mulligan's Man In The Moon.

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

Love this post! So nice to see someone opening up their imagination and embarking on an adventure to fill their soul with new discoveries.

Thanks to everyone who liked and commented on my post!

After continuing to follow this thread and taking a closer look through SAE’s TT stock, I ordered 9 more, bringing my total to 40!

It's a nice, even number

[Show spoiler]

(On a related note... if anyone happens to have an extra sealed copy of Hound of the Baskervilles that they’d be willing to part with, please send me a message! I better not start looking through the rest of the complete catalog...)

[klauswhereareyou]

Eye of the Needle and Cutter's Way are both excellent films and would make great blind buys if anyone wanted to snag them before they sell out.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

I think that scene ranks as my favorite car chase of all time--- it even beats BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION to me!

One thing that always cracks me up about car chases in films is when the cars are side by side and the drivers look at each other. What purpose does it serve when you’re in a dangerous high speed propelled car to look away from where you’re heading and glance at the other driver? Are they trying to somehow intimidate one another? Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep your eyes on the road? I love car chases, the de rigeur 70’s ones more than any other, but it always makes me laugh when they risk their lives just to sneer at each other.

[Gunsnroses092789]

My order came in:

[albert_m2]

ye of the Needle and Cutter's Way are both excellent films and would make great blind buys if anyone wanted to snag them before they sell out.

I bought 3 movies. Two of them I already owned, including Cutter's Way. I love story, the late paranoia thriller aspect etc. It's just great and I just don't expect it to get another physical release, so I wanted a back up (the other is the Russia House, which has a better chance of another release, but I doubt it's a priority.


I mean, who knows, maybe Kino will get some of these titles, but I didn't want to risk it for movies that I like and are largely forgotten.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

I had no idea any of these were Film4 titles. Which ones are they? And does that mean I picked extra cool titles?

Well, I don't know about "extra" cool, but they are good, solid movies. The two you picked that are Film4 titles are Angel and Resurrected. The other Film4 titles from TT are:

Bandit Queen
Carla's Song
Fatherland
Fever Pitch
A Month in the Country
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Riff-Raff / Raining Stones
When the Wind Blows

As I said before, When the Wind Blows is the only one currently OOP, but available from Severin [US] and BFI [UK]. It's also arguably the best of TT's F4 releases.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ThisKid

This all means that the release of Alien Nation is not going to happen then, is it?

Correct.

[jshaide]

Thinking about a few pages back when people were talking about their "Twilight Time that got away. . . "

Thinking about it more, mine is def. SEXY BEAST, which I accidentally didn't buy once when it was nearly sold out. And then it was sold out. And then I was sad. And now it'll probably never come out again.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by bdgking

SAE very low quantities

Peyton Place ,Strange Invaders & Flaming Star all sold out yesterday

Peyton Place was still available the last time I had checked, which was sometime between 2 and 3am, so today. But that's a nit.

Two other titles sold out today, as they are currently at 204, and were still at 207 by 3am.

Just checked...the other two appear to be Inferno and Theatre of Blood.

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by jshaide

Thinking about a few pages back when people were talking about their "Twilight Time that got away. . . "

Thinking about it more, mine is def. SEXY BEAST, which I accidentally didn't buy once when it was nearly sold out. And then it was sold out. And then I was sad. And now it'll probably never come out again.

If you're region free, there's a UK release that's current going for 6.99 pounds on Amazon UK. Very cheap.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

One thing that always cracks me up about car chases in films is when the cars are side by side and the drivers look at each other. What purpose does it serve when you’re in a dangerous high speed propelled car to look away from where you’re heading and glance at the other driver? Are they trying to somehow intimidate one another? Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep your eyes on the road? I love car chases, the de rigeur 70’s ones more than any other, but it always makes me laugh when they risk their lives just to sneer at each other.

Two words: Dramatic License

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Two words: Dramatic License

I think it’s more fun to ponder such things, in jest or otherwise, rather than try to resolve it with a catch all literal answer, but that’s just me.