Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[30hertzrumble]

Originally Posted by easydreamer

Yeah, I guess the reviewer is not familiar with gialli, or maybe he simply does not care about the film at all. Maybe Mondo Digital or 10K Bullets will give the totally different reviews.

I blind bought it, so will see if I like the film once received.

The Giallo guide So Deadly, So Perverse said La Bambola was the worst giallo made in the 1960's.

[Twilight Time]

Twilight Time is proud to announce that our upcoming blu-ray of EXODUS (1960), will feature the original six-track audio culled from the 70 mm elements for the first time on home video! Meticulously restored by the brilliant reconstructionist Mike Matessino, the new blu-ray will feature no less than 4 audio configurations -- a brand new 5.1 up mix from the multi-tracks, the original 4.0, the 2.0 mix down, and the music & effects track to better appreciate Ernest Gold's majestic score -- pre-orders open on Wednesday, March 2nd at 4 pm EST -- don't miss it!

[Wooden Lens]

Originally Posted by Twilight Time

Twilight Time is proud to announce that our upcoming blu-ray of EXODUS (1960), will feature the original six-track audio culled from the 70 mm elements for the first time on home video! Meticulously restored by the brilliant reconstructionist Mike Matessino, the new blu-ray will feature no less than 4 audio configurations -- a brand new 5.1 up mix from the multi-tracks, the original 4.0, the 2.0 mix down, and the music & effects track to better appreciate Ernest Gold's majestic score -- pre-orders open on Wednesday, March 2nd at 4 pm EST -- don't miss it!

Great to Hear!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Twilight Time

Twilight Time is proud to announce that our upcoming blu-ray of EXODUS (1960), will feature the original six-track audio culled from the 70 mm elements for the first time on home video! Meticulously restored by the brilliant reconstructionist Mike Matessino, the new blu-ray will feature no less than 4 audio configurations -- a brand new 5.1 up mix from the multi-tracks, the original 4.0, the 2.0 mix down, and the music & effects track to better appreciate Ernest Gold's majestic score -- pre-orders open on Wednesday, March 2nd at 4 pm EST -- don't miss it!

That's a definite plus, but I assume it's too much to hope that the video master will be from a 65mm neg rather than a 35mm one.

[erlinmeyer]

Originally Posted by jayembee

That's a definite plus, but I assume it's too much to hope that the video master will be from a 65mm neg rather than a 35mm one.

Didn't know they had a 35mm negative format. Thought the 16mm, 35mm and 70mm prints all came from the 65 mm negative.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by erlinmeyer

Didn't know they had a 35mm negative format. Thought the 16mm, 35mm and 70mm prints all came from the 65 mm negative.

I could be wrong. I assume that they take the 65mm negative, create a 35mm dupe negative in the altered aspect ratio (2.20:1 -> 2.35:1), and use that dupe negative for 35mm printing or for scanning.

At any rate, if the HD master was scanned from a 35mm copy rather than a 65mm/70mm copy, the effect is the same.

[Dr. Humbert]

Does anyone know if TT have plans to release Woody Allen's remaining MGM movies?

Particularly Stardust Memories, Zelig and Interiors.

[anthonyls]

Originally Posted by Dr. Humbert

Does anyone know if TT have plans to release Woody Allen's remaining MGM movies?

Particularly Stardust Memories, Zelig and Interiors.

Let's hope so.

[docc]

Originally Posted by Dr. Humbert

Does anyone know if TT have plans to release Woody Allen's remaining MGM movies?

Particularly Stardust Memories, Zelig and Interiors.

Don't forget Bananas

[30hertzrumble]

Originally Posted by docc

Don't forget Bananas

Pretty sure the other Woody Allens were mentioned earlier in the thread. The response suggested that more were definitely on the way... just no titles were specified.

[Jobla]

I'd also like to see TT get Woody's TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN for whichever small library it's in.

[ParaOK]

Originally Posted by Dr. Humbert

Does anyone know if TT have plans to release Woody Allen's remaining MGM movies?

Particularly Stardust Memories, Zelig and Interiors.

They have confirmed Zelig and Stardust Memories in the past on Facebook. Not sure about Interiors.

[Ruemorgue10]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

I'd like Twilight Time to get a hold of the original cut of Tony Scott's Revenge. Maybe it's a title they could limit to 1,000 copies if they were afraid it wouldn't sell a lot due to the director's cut being available on blu-ray.

Me too. I can't stand the director's cut; it removes too much essential character development.

[thismightbezach]

Can someone who owns Royal Flash please tell me how you would rate the transfer picture quality-wise? It was never reviewed on here.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by thismightbezach

Can someone who owns Royal Flash please tell me how you would rate the transfer picture quality-wise? It was never reviewed on here.

It's middling. On the scale this site uses, I'd give it a 3/5. But it's a very enjoyable film and the TT release is likely the best it will ever look.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by thismightbezach

Can someone who owns Royal Flash please tell me how you would rate the transfer picture quality-wise? It was never reviewed on here.

It won't knock you out, but it's a noticeable improvement over the DVD version. Like many 70s films it does occasionally have a deliberately diffused look, which means it was never going to be one of those films that really pops on Blu-ray.



Despite the enduring popularity of George Macdonald Fraser's novels, the exploits of Harry Flashman, the school bully who made Tom Brown's schooldays such an ordeal and whose subsequently chronicled military career saw him popping up across the globe at historically propitious moments, didn't have much luck with the big screen. An attempt to film Flashman, the first novel, with John Alderton as the bounder and Richard Lester directing was cancelled only days before shooting was scheduled to start in 1970 and even after Lester and Macdonald were coming off the success of The Three and Four Musketeers, 1975's Royal Flash came almost as close to being cancelled before a last-minute change of studios saved the day only for the film's box-office failure to kill off all hope of sequels. Which is a shame, because it's a wonderful comedy adventure spin on The Prisoner of Zenda (the novel's conceit is that it was Anthony Hope who stole the idea after Flashman told him of his exploits) which just happens to involve real historical figures like Otto Von Bismarck (a coldly pompous Oliver Reed), Lola Montes (Florinda Bolkan), King Ludwig of Bavaria and even bare-knuckle boxer-turned-Member of Parliament John Gully (`Our `Enry' Copper, dubbed by Norman Rossington).

Flashman's certainly a wonderful comic hero for an increasingly cynical and disillusioned age. The hero of Afghanistan is almost the British Empire incarnate in all its self-righteous self-serving cynicism, a shamelessly xenophobic exploiter who wraps himself up in all the great British values he doesn't hold but who still constantly ends up doing some good by complete accident and bad luck while trying to fill his boots. He's not exactly a complete coward, though he always tries to manipulate the odds in his favour ("Come on down and fight like a man." "Don't be ridiculous!"), he's certainly a braggart and a bigot and the kind of person who is always absolutely guaranteed to let you down and steal your girlfriend and your last five pounds in the process, yet, as Big George Webley says in one of the DVD and Bluray's accompanying featurettes, you still want to be his mate.

While Fraser's first choice for the role, Errol Flynn, was too dead and his second, David Niven, too old, Malcolm McDowall makes a very pleasing and surprisingly acrobatic substitute even if the surface emphasis shifts from charm to selfishness, and he's surrounded by an excellent supporting cast - Alan Bates on wonderfully witty form and an excellent foil for McDowall in the Rupert of Hentzau role, Britt Ekland cast against type as a frigid duchess, Alastair Sim (not given much to do in one of his last roles), Lionel Jeffries, Tom Bell, Joss Ackland, Christopher Cazenove (who could have made a decent Flashman himself had his profile been higher), Michael Hordern, Bob Hoskins and David Jason. It's given top notch production values too, from cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth to production design by Terence Marsh and some excellent location work in Bavaria. All of which would just be window dressing if it weren't for the film's wickedly entertaining sense of fun that at once manages to debunk period swashbucklers while celebrating them, with Lester throwing in some wonderful sight gags (one with a bored maid washing the floor at an especially dramatic moment in the story is a particular gem) without losing sight of the story. As the TV spot included on the disc says, it's `A terribly funny film with absolutely no redeeming social value,' and one which definitely seems to have improved with age.

Like Fox's DVD release, Twilight Time's limited edition region-free Blu-ray of the general release version doesn't offer any of the deleted scenes (the film was trimmed after previewing badly, losing Arthur Lowe and Roy Kinnear's scenes) but does have the same satisfying extras package, pride of place going to an enjoyable audio commentary with McDowall affectionately looking back on the film (he's particularly good on his warm relationship with Bates and how they had to rewrite the script to appeal to his admitted vanity and on Sim's tendency to sputter his lines causing him to despair of having to dub his lines). Also included are two featurettes featuring Fraser and both his admirers and some of those who worked on the film, one on the making of the film, the other on the Flashman books, and isolated music and effects track and a booklet (a different one to that included on Fox's DVD).

[klauswhereareyou]

I have the TT Royal Flash and I'd say it's a 3.5 on the PQ.

[Arkadin]

Originally Posted by Dr. Humbert

Does anyone know if TT have plans to release Woody Allen's remaining MGM movies?

Particularly Stardust Memories, Zelig and Interiors.

really wish they'd get on with it.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

really wish they'd get on with it.

Watch it and September will be next

[oildude]

Sad news this evening. RIP George Kennedy, who passed away yesterday at the fine old age of 91 in Boise, Idaho. Just a small sampling of his filmography: Cool Hand Luke (Best Supporting Actor, 1967), The Dirty Dozen, Charade, Flight of the Phoenix, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, The Sons of Katie Elder, In Harm's Way, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Airport, The Eiger Sanction, The Naked Gun (and the sequels), The Boston Strangler, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, The Delta Force, etc, etc,.....and numerous television series appearances.

In reading his obituary online tonight, I was struck by his humility and his humanity.

From the AP: Kennedy said his acting ambitions were cemented when he was a young child.

"I remember listening to a radio program when I was young and it made me feel good and I remember telling my mom that I wanted to make people feel the way this radio program made me feel," Kennedy said in 1995.

"I got some great breaks, and I wound up being an actor."

Kennedy was born in New York in 1925. He started acting at the age of 2 when he joined a touring company production of "Bringing up Father." Five years later, he became a disc jockey with a kids radio show.

He enlisted in the Army at 17 and served in World War II, opening the first Army Information Office that provided technical assistance to films and TV shows. Kennedy spent 16 years in the Army and left as a captain.

After his Army stint, Kennedy made his television debut in "The Phil Silvers Show" in 1955 and had a variety of guest appearances in the Westerns "Have Gun, Will Travel," ''Cheyenne" and "Gunsmoke."

Kennedy, an avid reader, also dabbled in writing and published a couple of murder mysteries.

Grandson Cory Schenkel remembered sitting in on an autograph session in London with his grandfather.

"I sat behind him for hours that day watching the hundreds of fans in line waiting to meet my grandpa," Schenkel recalled. "At the end of the day we sat in our hotel room eating room service and he said to me, 'Seeing all those people I was able to bring a little enjoyment and happiness into their life — That is why I did it.'"

And then there is this:

In later years, Kennedy became an advocate for adopted children. He had four adopted children, including his granddaughter Taylor, whose mother, also adopted by Kennedy, had become addicted to drugs and alcohol.

"Don't let the fact that you're 77 or 70 get in your way. Don't let the fact that you're a single parent and you want to adopt get in your way," Kennedy said in a Fox interview in 2002. "That kid, some place right now, cold and wet, needs somebody to say, "I love you, kid, good night.'"

Goodbye to one of the greats. I always knew him as a classic actor, but reading this makes me realize he was also a classic individual. Thanks for all the memories over the years, Mr. Kennedy. One of the actors I grew up watching my whole life. You most certainly will be missed by fans everywhere.