Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[fdm]

Last time my order was shipped late, I posted here and within an hour got the email. Still says Pending. Hoping same this time. Nothing yet, nada.

Pretty annoying.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

For that cost that box better be gold plated.

Needless to say I never took them up on that offer. (It was ridiculous.)

[cmleidi]

Originally Posted by oildude

OK, here's the scoop on the shipping delays. Golden Voyage arrived on Friday, so they could not begin fulfilling orders until then at the earliest. A snowstorm then interrupted the process and slowed them down getting orders out the door. Not just a little slow down, they got backed up pretty good. They are working hard to get caught up but are many, many orders behind (as in thousands). Those who got theirs shipped already were the lucky ones that went out before the weather turned bad.

They are working diligently to get our orders out. Patience, folks. Our Sinbads are coming but it could be a few more days before many (including mine) get shipped.

If this is the case, they should have a note on the front page alerting customers to this. Instead, they say nothing or respond with terse emails.

The snowstorm doesn't explain why people who order immediately are not first in this mysterious queue of theirs. There was not a snowstorm last time, and I had to wait quite a bit to get the pre-orders.

[Sinbad75]

Both Sinbads arrived yesterday in perfect shape, despite spotty progress reports from USP on their shipping. I ordered right at the opening bell, so could not be happier! I had seen both films on the Sony HD channel, and find the Blu-rays to be the same or even a little better in PQ, which means they are fabulous! For those of you in the know, these films will never be as pristine as the digital visual blitzes of today, as they are the products of an earlier and less technically sophisticated time. Low budgets, not always the best film stock, and crude special effects processes all contribute to variations in visual quality throughout the films. That said, these two transfers are superb for what they are, near perfect replications of the existing film elements, with no mindless digital manipulations or tinkering. I enjoyed all of these films during their original theatrical releases, and in all subsequent home video formats from Beta to laser disc to DVD. Twilight Times releases are these treasured Harryhausen masterpieces at their very best so enjoy an earlier time of wonder and fantasy at the hands of a true cinematic genius - Mr. Ray Harryhausen! Now, can't wait for "First Men in the Moon," "The Three Worlds of Gulliver" and "One Million Years B.C."!

[AndersonVision]

Mindwarp autograph

and I just got my shipping notice.

[Pirate King]

Mine are on the way. ... and I guess I could complain about the delays... Bottom Line: It is what it is. I am just very thankful that I am going to have these two Sinbad movies to share with my two ten year old grandsons who are gonna love them.

[RalphoR]

Mine are out for delivery. Should be any minute now. I picked a great day to take off from work!

[cmleidi]

I wonder if ROYAL FLASH is holding up my order, as it's still listed as a preorder. Did others order it and receive it?

[chriszilla]

Originally Posted by Sinbad75

That said, these two transfers are superb for what they are, near perfect replications of the existing film elements, with no mindless digital manipulations or tinkering. I enjoyed all of these films during their original theatrical releases, and in all subsequent home video formats from Beta to laser disc to DVD. Twilight Times releases are these treasured Harryhausen masterpieces at their very best so enjoy an earlier time of wonder and fantasy at the hands of a true cinematic genius - Mr. Ray Harryhausen!

I have only received EYE OF THE TIGER so far, due to an error on TCM's part, so I can't speak specifically for GOLDEN yet, but I agree with your assessment. EYE OF THE TIGER looks incredible and easily blows away the DVD. I hope (and expect) GOLDEN will look as nice! I'm very thankful to have these as well as MYSTERIOUS ISLAND on Blu, and hope that the 3 titles you mentioned will be forthcoming. Although in the case of ONE MILLION YEARS B.C., it will only be worth doing if they secure an uncut print. The laserdisc released many years ago was uncut, but then the Fox DVD was the edited version, much to everyone's dismay.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by fdm

Last time my order was shipped late, I posted here and within an hour got the email. Still says Pending. Hoping same this time. Nothing yet, nada.

Pretty annoying.

It worked! (But it took more like 3 hours this time.)

[The Great Owl]

Joshua Logan's 1955 film, Picnic, based on the William Inge play, tells the story of a small Kansas community that is jarred out of complacency when a drifter arrives in town. Henry David Thoreau's quote about most men leading lives quiet desperation certainly applies to this microcosm of life in rural America, and one of the film's most rewarding moments takes place when the camera goes airborne to show us a world of opportunity when one particular character takes a leap of faith.

Kim Novak and William Holden make the sparks fly, and the restraint of the era somehow makes their interactions all the more sensual. Their respective characters elicited contradictory reactions from me, because I wanted to sympathize with their personal dilemmas in a conventional sense while the yearning adventurer in me admired them for representing the seemingly-lost American willingness to embrace the allure of the unknown. These two iconic actors are surrounded by a strong supporting cast, including Susan Strasberg, Rosalind Russell, Arthur O'Connell, and Cliff Robertson, whom contemporary audiences will likely recognize as Uncle Ben from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies.

James Wong Howe's cinematography is wondrous in its ability to capture both the wide open spaces of the Kansas landscape and the intimate glow of sudden attraction. A few years later, Howe would once again lend his visual sensibilities to accentuate Kim Novak's charm in Bell, Book and Candle, which is also available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. The CinemaScope feature looks brilliant on this disc, and the audio presentation does justice to George Duning's score.

[ddwall]

Both my Sindbad's arrived today

[Alex DeLarge]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

James Wong Howe's cinematography is wondrous in its ability to capture both the wide open spaces of the Kansas landscape and the intimate glow of sudden attraction. A few years later, Howe would once again lend his visual sensibilities to accentuate Kim Novak's charm in Bell, Book and Candle, which is also available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. The CinemaScope feature looks brilliant on this disc, and the audio presentation does justice to George Duning's score.

I may buy this just for Howe's cinematography! Thank you for mentioning the DP because this fact flew in under my radar.

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by anthonyls

It's a wonder how much better the scenes involving any special effects would have looked if a green screen had existed back when they made these films.

Blue/green screens have been used for a very long time. They were used in 1951 for QUO VADIS for example and were certainly used for GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD as well as Harryhausen's earlier color fantasy films.

[NoirFan]

This was posted on Screen Archive's main page today (emphasis mine):

December 13th - New releases from TWILIGHT TIME! THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1973), SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977), and ROYAL FLASH (1975). NOW SHIPPING!

[SolidBlu]

Originally Posted by cmleidi

I wonder if ROYAL FLASH is holding up my order, as it's still listed as a preorder. Did others order it and receive it?

I have not received any shipping notification from SAE probably because of this ROYAL FLASH I ordered it along with the 2 SINBADS

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Mine just shipped. Probably won't move until Monday though, wonderful company that SAE.

[Arkadin]

got my 2 Sinbads today.
WOO-HOO!!!

[oildude]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Mine just shipped. Probably won't move until Monday though, wonderful company that SAE.

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" - Oddball in Kelly's Heroes

Holy hell, man. Golden Voyage arrived at SAE late and after they began shipping orders they had snow delays. They busted their asses to make up for it and get everyone's order out as soon as they could. And yet you can't stop complaining about them? I think under the circumstances they have done quite a good job with our orders - blame TT for getting Golden Voyage to them so late.

Is SAE perfect. Not by a long shot; since August none of my orders has shipped until after release day despite placing an order the instant they went live. Can't blame weather delays for that. But they have done a great job overall the past two years despite a recent streak of hold ups with my orders.

We all want our orders right now. Just the nature of being movie fans.

[rkolinski]

Negative Waves

Kelly's Heroes Oddball - Negative Waves - YouTube