The Twilight Time News and Info Thread (3 Viewers)

[benbess]

Screen Archives have added some new titles to their 7 for $70.00 bundles of Twilight Time movies - mostly blurays ... http://www4.screenarchives.com/bundle.cfm some really awesome titles ... I ended up getting two bundles ... (Yes I AM Greedy)

Thanks. Just ordered another bundle. Boy do I have a lot of watching to get to!

 

[benbess]

From the $10 sale list, let me recommend a couple of titles. Bite the Bullet is an epic Western that seems a bit out of time. Directed by Richard Books, who directed the admittedly somewhat better The Professionals, this movie seems like a lavish Western from the mid 60s, not a movie from the sometimes cheap mid-70s. Stars Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Ben Johnson, Candice Bergman, etc. The cinematography by Harry Stradling is impressive and sometimes surreal, the score by Alex North is majestic, etc. It has a relaxed pace and ultimately, in spite of all the trials and tribulations along the way, a sometimes feel-good vibe.

The extras on it are not many, but I think Julie Kirgo's essays add about $10 of value to any release (yes, I'm a fan), and since the price is $10, and the PQ and audio quality are excellent, I can confidently recommend Bite the Bullet for any fan of Westerns.

 

[benbess]

Cover Girl, from 1944, is a grand piece of escapist entertainment—and a key movie in the career of Gene Kelly. This is a fun film that made me laugh out lout at times, and at other times was jaw-dropping because of its over-the-top and epic numbers.

The original technicolor negative has apparently been lost on this, and so it got mediocre ratings for its PQ. RAH on this site has, as you know, his wonderful a few words reviews, and he gave the PQ on Cover Girl a low number, and I thought it would be difficult to watch. Is it problematic? Yes, it is, like other productions like Drums Along the Mohawk that had their negatives thrown out by Fox, etc. we gnash our teeth at the tragedy.

But the bottom line for me personally is that Cover Girl is quite watchable. I'd probably give the PQ a C+. It's a clean if somewhat artificial image that gets us as close as we can to this wonderful movie at this point.

Anyway, this is a key movie for Gene Kelley because Columbia lured him over from MGM with the bait that he could design and make up his own musical numbers. And boy did he! The number where he dances with a ghost of himself is a standout, and was a real technical achievement at the time. But all of the songs, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by Jerome Kern, are good to great. And there is some real drama and emotion here—it's not just spectacular fluff (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

Phil Silvers and Eve Arden add a lot of humor, and Rita Hayworth is great. Otto Kruger is also good in his role. Spectacular costumes are given a twist with a little time travel plot element that for some scenes take us back to the 1890s.

Cover Girl makes my top 10 list for 1944. Includes an insightful essay by Julie Kirgo.

 

[Twilight Time]

Although Crawford isn't in "HUSH...HUSH",

Too bad TT didn't include the BACKSTORY episode on HUSH, HUSH. I think it's a Fox-owned program, but there must be some other rights issues. Fox didn't even include it on the DVDs.....

There were rights and legal problems with the company that made those programs.....

 

[benbess]

Also recommended as part of the 7 for $70 sale: Pal Joey, starring Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, and Rita Hayworth....

 

[benbess]

The titles I got in my new TT bundle include a few blind buys. I've seen Love is a a Many, Philadelphia (on first release, long ago), The Way We Were, and parts of Nicholas and Alexandra, but Lost Horizon, Sexy Beast, and Royal Flash are completely new to me.

 

[B-ROLL]

Has anyone else here seen The Member of the Wedding, which is a TT release? This is an adaptation of the Broadway play, written by Carson McCullers, and starring the original Broadway cast of Julie Harris, Ethel Waters, and Brandon DeWile. It was produced by Stanley Kramer and directed by Fred Zinnemann (High Noon). About a week since I watched it but I'm still processing it....

Here's Richard Gallager's HTF review thread ...http://www.hometheaterforum.com/member-wedding-blu-ray-review/

Mr. Kimmel's take: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-peek-at-the-member-of-the-wedding.348055/

Also in attendance Mr. Harris' Words : http://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-few-words-about-™-the-member-of-the-wedding-in-blu-ray.348089/

 

[B-ROLL]

Cover Girl, from 1944, is a grand piece of escapist entertainment—and a key movie in the career of Gene Kelly. This is a fun film that made me laugh out lout at times, and at other times was jaw-dropping because of its over-the-top and epic numbers.

The original technicolor negative has apparently been lost on this, and so it got mediocre ratings for its PQ. RAH on this site has, as you know, his wonderful a few words reviews, and he gave the PQ on Cover Girl a low number, and I thought it would be difficult to watch. Is it problematic? Yes, it is, like other productions like Drums Along the Mohawk that had their negatives thrown out by Fox, etc. we gnash our teeth at the tragedy.

But the bottom line for me personally is that Cover Girl is quite watchable. I'd probably give the PQ a C+. It's a clean if somewhat artificial image that gets us as close as we can to this wonderful movie at this point.

Anyway, this is a key movie for Gene Kelley because Columbia lured him over from MGM with the bait that he could design and make up his own musical numbers. And boy did he! The number where he dances with a ghost of himself is a standout, and was a real technical achievement at the time. But all of the songs, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by Jerome Kern, are good to great. And there is some real drama and emotion here—it's not just spectacular fluff (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

Phil Silvers and Eve Arden add a lot of humor, and Rita Hayworth is great. Otto Kruger is also good in his role. Spectacular costumes are given a twist with a little time travel plot element that for some scenes take us back to the 1890s.

Cover Girl makes my top 10 list for 1944. Includes an insightful essay by Julie Kirgo.

That was on the first group of 7 for $70.00 that I ordered

 

[Mark-P]

There is something seriously wrong with me. I'm like one of those 1950s housewives who go nuts when the department store has a sale and buy a bunch of stuff that they don't even need. I managed to find 7 titles that I hadn't planned on buying, but convinced myself that at $10 a piece I couldn't pass it up.

 

[benbess]

There is something seriously wrong with me. I'm like one of those 1950s housewives who go nuts when the department store has a sale and buy a bunch of stuff that they don't even need. I managed to find 7 titles that I hadn't planned on buying, but convinced myself that at $10 a piece I couldn't pass it up.

The wonderful essays by Julie Kirgo are alone worth $10 to me, personally, and then you've got the movie on top of that, plus any other special features. At these prices, why the heck not!

If I may ask, what did you get?

And for anyone who missed it, here's the direct link to the titles included in the 7 for $70 sale:

http://www4.screenarchives.com/bundle.cfm

 

[Mark-P]

If I may ask, what did you get?

Since most of the really good stuff I already had, I had to pick out stuff that I didn't even know that I wanted until I did some research, looking up reviews and watching trailers. So here's what I nabbed:
1. Nicholas and Alexandra
2. The Only Game in Town
3. The Other
4. The Rains of Ranchipur
5. The Roots of Heaven
6. The Sound and the Fury
7. The Wayward Bus

 

[benbess]

Bernard Herrmann's name didn't even make it onto the posters for Garden of Evil, but his contribution is the most beautiful and haunting element of the movie. The TT release has the score as an isolated track so that you can listen to it separately without the dialogue or sound effects as a piece of music. And this blu-ray also has a fascinating audio commentary exclusively on Herrmann's score with Nick Redman and music experts and composers John Morgan, Steven Smith, and William Stromberg. As mentioned in the audio track, one part of the score sounds almost like a warm-up for the score to Vertigo. Some passages generate chills for me. Few other music scores do that.

 

[Konstantinos]

I only want 2 from the titles eligible for the $70 bundle.

I have the others that interested me.
I think I see all the titles are from their 2011-2013 releases.
i wonder if they'll add other newer releases too.. (eg. from 2014)

 

[atfree]

I only want 2 from the titles eligible for the $70 bundle.

I have the others that interested me.
I think I see all the titles are from their 2011-2013 releases.
i wonder if they'll add other newer releases too.. (eg. from 2014)

Same here....only Bite the Bullet and Swamp Water. I could probably talk myself into 5 others but I'm really attempting to be more discriminating with my purchases lately.

 

[benbess]

To me, personally, Julie Kirgo's insightful, knowledgeable, witty, and sometimes even moving essays are worth about $10. And so when it comes to making a blind buy on a movie I might not like, everything else—the movie, the art, the other special features—might just be considered icing on the cake. But I'm guessing that I'll actually end up liking most of my blind buys. And sometimes I need to expand my tastes and get out of my comfort zone. Mindwarp and Sexy Beast will likely do that!

 

[Randy Korstick]

I just saw that they added more titles. I have been wanting to take advantage of this but had to throw in too many titles I really didn't want now there are 7 I really want and I had to leave 2 out.
I got:
The Rains of Ranchipur
Pony Soldier
The Other
Desiree
Bite the Bullet
Demetrius and the Gladiators
The Roots of Heaven

I had to leave out:
Pal Joey
Cover Girl

If they add a couple more titles I want I could find another 7.

 

[skylark68]

Demetrius and the Gladiators is a great film. I'm surprised it hasn't sold out by now. Doing a double feature and watching the Robe and then Demetrius is a lot of fun.

I'm a little on the fence about too many of the titles that are in the sale, so I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'm hoping for a few more titles to be added and then I'm sure I'll bite.

 

[RolandL]

Last month for $70 I ordered:

BELOVED INFIDEL
HIGH TIME
THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR
THE SONG OF BERNADETTE
THE SOUND AND THE FURY
VIOLENT SATURDAY
WOMAN OBSESSED

This month I'm thinking the following but I need three more that I don't have:

BONJOUR TRISTESSE
DESIREE
LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING
THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN

 

[Twilight Time]

Just a heads-up that SAE's 7 for $70 Bundle Promotion ends October 15th.

 

[Konstantinos]

Just a heads-up that SAE's 7 for $70 Bundle Promotion ends October 15th.

Thanks for the notification.
May I ask if you will add other titles too until then?