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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Mysterious Island -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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The work of legendary Ray Harryhausen, falls somewhere between that of Willis O'Brien and the latest whizz-bang digital efforts. His work on Mighty Joe Young (1949), with Mr. O'Brien in the lead, could not have been a bad fate. He is generally considered by cinephiles as the greatest magic maker of the modern analogue era.


Except for the most jaded, digital-needy viewers, the 1961 Mysterious Island holds up today as a wonderfully entertaining production.


But let's move over to a discussion of the folks who run Twilight Time, and their selection process. For any recently formed entity to put out Mysterious Island on Blu-ray takes, a lot of guts. And I mean that because many people, inclusive of those reviewing may not understand precisely how terrific this Blu-ray is.


The process via which the magic was created necessitated multiple generations of exposure. This means that any time anything is on screen that isn't a simple location or studio shot, we're down by a couple of generations. And generational loss in 1961 was major.


Most of what will be seen on this Blu-ray would have been hidden in the duping process, especially in the creation of Technicolor printing matrices, which slightly softened the image, making it a bit more cohesive.


The image for the Blu-ray of Mysterious Island appears to have been harvested from either the original negative or a beautifully produced IP, and and while this gives the viewer sparkling clarity in original photography scenes, it also exacerbates some of the problems in the effects shots.


Personally, I love seeing what's on the original material, unfiltered by the duping process toward theatrical prints.


Color, while a bit contrasty in effects shots, turns around in production photography and shows us precisely how good Kodak's 5250 negative stock was -- half a century ago. Perfect colors, beautiful blacks, with nice shadow detail. Sharp images, with no artifacts.


This is one of the things that makes Twilight Time releases special. They go for the finest quality possible. The balance between effects shots and production photography works beautifully, but the disparity is there.


The important point is that the potential consumer understand that what they're seeing is the ultimate in high quality, and not anything problematic.


All part of the wonderful pre-digital period.


Mysterious Island, from Twilight Time, is available in a minuscule pressing of only 3,000 units, which is sure to sell out.


I cannot wait to see what they'll do with Fright Night, due out in a couple of weeks. Think 3,000 units is small for Mysterious Island. Try finding a Fright Night without a pre-order.


Recommended.


RAH
 

jaaguir

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Robert Harris said:
Mysterious Island, from Twilight Time, is available in a minuscule pressing of only 3,000 units, which is sure to sell out. I cannot wait to see what they'll do with Fright Night, due out in a couple of weeks.  Think 3,000 units is small for Mysterious Island.  Try finding a Fright Night without a pre-order.
I would say you're a bit optimistic there with the selling figures, but we'll see. This sure is a fine release, and I'm supporting Twilight Time as much as I can. I bought everything they've released so far (The egyptian, Mysterious island) except for "Rapture", and plan on buying everything they'll release up to February (Fright night, Picnic, Swamp water, Pal Joey), except for "The roots of heaven".
 

Dick

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RobertR said:
A post on IMDB claims there are only 120 copies left.
I just got off the phone with S.A. and they said they still have "plenty" of these left, whatever "plenty" means.
 

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Enjoyed watching this with the kids! A lot of thrills and laughs.+++ Those old Harryhausen effects sure stand up. And check out this test reel he did for a project that never worked out--a version of War of the Worlds set in 1898 like the novel...
 

Capt D McMars

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I think that Twilight Time is reprinting some of thier catalog. Mysterious Island was a 1500 if I remember clearly, back in 2015. There was a time that this edition was called OOP, leading to crazy money wars by folks wanting a copy. The same could be said of TT edition of Journey to the Center of the Earth...Now all of sudden, many copies are available?
I know that SAE (Screen Archives Enter) bought out Twilight Time a while back...anyone else know anything on this arrangment of aquasition?
 

Malcolm R

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I think that Twilight Time is reprinting some of thier catalog. Mysterious Island was a 1500 if I remember clearly, back in 2015. There was a time that this edition was called OOP, leading to crazy money wars by folks wanting a copy. The same could be said of TT edition of Journey to the Center of the Earth...Now all of sudden, many copies are available?
I know that SAE (Screen Archives Enter) bought out Twilight Time a while back...anyone else know anything on this arrangment of aquasition?
I'm not aware of any newly manufactured re-releases by SAE, unless they struck new agreements with the studios/owners. As far as I remember, SAE bought the TT name and inventory, but didn't have the rights to reprint any titles at the time. They have released a handful of new titles under the TT banner, but those must be new agreements made by SAE.

TT themselves did re-release a number of their OOP titles as encore editions. I believe the two you mentioned above, plus Fright Night. Not sure of the others.
 

dpippel

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I think that Twilight Time is reprinting some of thier catalog. Mysterious Island was a 1500 if I remember clearly, back in 2015. There was a time that this edition was called OOP, leading to crazy money wars by folks wanting a copy. The same could be said of TT edition of Journey to the Center of the Earth...Now all of sudden, many copies are available?
I know that SAE (Screen Archives Enter) bought out Twilight Time a while back...anyone else know anything on this arrangment of aquasition?
Where are you seeing "many copies" of the TT releases available? Neither of these titles is even coming up in a search on SAE's website. You can still order the Region B Indicator release of Mysterious Island easily though, and a seller on Amazon has a copy of the TT JTTCOTE for $130 (plus $4 for shipping!) if you want it badly enough. :)
 

Capt D McMars

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Where are you seeing "many copies" of the TT releases available? Neither of these titles is even coming up in a search on SAE's website. You can still order the Region B Indicator release of Mysterious Island easily though, and a seller on Amazon has a copy of the TT JTTCOTE for $130 (plus $4 for shipping!) if you want it badly enough. :)
I'm seeing a pattern of some that will buy a dozon copies and then waits until the titles are OOP and swoop in and offer them at scalpers prices!!! One movie of note is Kinos "The Brain that Wouldn't Die". It wasn't worth the $26 they wanted originally, but see what this scalper wants you to pay on eBay!!!
 

dpippel

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Yeah, scalpers suck. From the wording of your post I thought you meant you'd found some hidden source for those two particular titles. Those two TT titles have been OOP for quite some time, so I'd be surprised to see an influx of copies suddenly flood the market.
 

Capt D McMars

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Where are you seeing "many copies" of the TT releases available? Neither of these titles is even coming up in a search on SAE's website. You can still order the Region B Indicator release of Mysterious Island easily though, and a seller on Amazon has a copy of the TT JTTCOTE for $130 (plus $4 for shipping!) if you want it badly enough. :)
it was from a 2011 comment beiing made - Mysterious Island, from Twilight Time, is available in a minuscule pressing of only 3,000 units, which is sure to sell out. I cannot wait to see what they'll do with Fright Night, due out in a couple of weeks. Think 3,000 units is small for Mysterious Island. Try finding a Fright Night without a pre-order. - a problem with a converstion from different decades...oppps!!
 

RolandL

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Where are you seeing "many copies" of the TT releases available? Neither of these titles is even coming up in a search on SAE's website. You can still order the Region B Indicator release of Mysterious Island easily though, and a seller on Amazon has a copy of the TT JTTCOTE for $130 (plus $4 for shipping!) if you want it badly enough. :)

Indicator version is region free.

Indicator web site
 

Peter Apruzzese

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Available new for £9.99 :

 

Josh Steinberg

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I’m wondering if this will be one of the Sony titles that Kino will be reissuing - Kino recently made a deal with them and from what the insider posted, it sounds like a fair number of those titles will be former Twilight Time releases coming back into print.
 

Capt D McMars

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It was quite a step up from the Sony to the Twilight, so I'm glad I did.

when Twilight Time was at full speed they were at the Criterion level of quality, and gaiining a reputation of consistency and quality. I was sad to hear of their demise!! Not sure what SAE is doing with the brand, except exsisting as TT clearing house!!
I have heard rumors of Olive going out of buisness? Can anyone confirm or deny this? I have quite a few of their titles as well. But there's been nothing new on thier website for over 2 years!!
NOVEMBER 24, 2020 was their last news release...maybe another Covid victum???
 
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