haineshisway
Senior HTF Member
Had a chance to visit with the four latest Twilight Time releases. I want to start with Comes a Horseman because I was fascinated that my friend Nick Redman was so worried about this title that they actually lowered the price and posted about it. So, I was expecting a complete disaster and Nick knew I would write that right here. But a funny thing happened on the way to Comes A Horseman - it's not a disaster. I have seen so many worse transfers, especially those coming out of MGM/UA - from ALL the labels mining that catalogue. What I was greeted with, happily, was a transfer with perfect color - that is VERY important for me. Is it perfect? Of course not - it's kind of a better-than-average MGM/UA transfer. Does it have occasional speckles and a scratch or two - sure. Does it have gate weave for the first ten minutes - absolutely. But so do two-thirds of what MGM/UA give to people and most of which get a pass because people are so happy just to have the movie - which I totally understand. And that's how I feel about this - I'm really happy to have this underrated little movie and there's nice detail, great color, and it presents Gordon Willis' lovely photography reasonably well. If I had seen it prior to the hoo-ha I would have recommended not lowering the price and not even saying anything, but that's just me. So, if you like this movie, which I do, I certainly wouldn't hesitate to purchase, especially at the lower price.
Moving on to Stanley and Iris: I'm not sure why I never saw it - I love Martin Ritt, and the stars I've certainly enjoyed and I also love Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch's work. Not to mention John Williams. It may have been the ads or poster art, which really didn't tell me anything much, but I was also very busy in 1990 and didn't see many movies that year. So I came to it completely fresh and I must say it's quite a lovely little movie - the two stars are wonderful together but it's the writing that shines in a way that's so rare, especially now. It's a simple story, with real scenes and dialogue, simple, efficient direction by Mr. Ritt who completely understands that a film director's job is to tell the story and not show off. And Mr. Ritt always does this flawlessly but gets not enough credit because his direction is basically invisible. And the John Williams score is just lovely.
Two for the Road looks fantastic and the movie doesn't need any more praise from me - it's unique, funny, touching, and Hepburn and Finney are fantastic, as is Henry Mancini's score. For those who are interested in such things, this is the same transfer as the Eureka - I could really see no difference to speak of, but of course with the Twilight Time you get Mr. Mancini's magnificent isolated score. A no-brainer.
Finally, The Mad Magician, which I'd also never seen. Of course I don't have a three dimension set-up so I watched the lowly two dimension and what fun it is. I'm a big John Brahm fan so anything he's involved with is automatically interesting to me. Vincent Price does what he does and is way too much fun to watch. The script is silly (House of Wax redux), but it's short and sweet and the transfer is absolutely flawless, and NO the contrast is not too light.
A thoroughly enjoyable quartet, IMO.
Moving on to Stanley and Iris: I'm not sure why I never saw it - I love Martin Ritt, and the stars I've certainly enjoyed and I also love Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch's work. Not to mention John Williams. It may have been the ads or poster art, which really didn't tell me anything much, but I was also very busy in 1990 and didn't see many movies that year. So I came to it completely fresh and I must say it's quite a lovely little movie - the two stars are wonderful together but it's the writing that shines in a way that's so rare, especially now. It's a simple story, with real scenes and dialogue, simple, efficient direction by Mr. Ritt who completely understands that a film director's job is to tell the story and not show off. And Mr. Ritt always does this flawlessly but gets not enough credit because his direction is basically invisible. And the John Williams score is just lovely.
Two for the Road looks fantastic and the movie doesn't need any more praise from me - it's unique, funny, touching, and Hepburn and Finney are fantastic, as is Henry Mancini's score. For those who are interested in such things, this is the same transfer as the Eureka - I could really see no difference to speak of, but of course with the Twilight Time you get Mr. Mancini's magnificent isolated score. A no-brainer.
Finally, The Mad Magician, which I'd also never seen. Of course I don't have a three dimension set-up so I watched the lowly two dimension and what fun it is. I'm a big John Brahm fan so anything he's involved with is automatically interesting to me. Vincent Price does what he does and is way too much fun to watch. The script is silly (House of Wax redux), but it's short and sweet and the transfer is absolutely flawless, and NO the contrast is not too light.
A thoroughly enjoyable quartet, IMO.
