Twilight Time March Preorders: Demetrius and The Gladiators -and- Bite The Bullet (1 Viewer)

[Charles Smith]

Originally Posted by Chas in CT

I remember last month's shipment went out a day or two later than the release date, and I don't think that had happened before. Just checked, and my order for Demetrius and Bite the Bullet still says "Pending". I don't get it.

And of course I just got the "shipped" email. Yay!!!

 

[Tom M]

I not only got a tracking number for Demetrius just this morning, but it's scheduled to be delivered today! YAY!

 

[Mark Collins]

I received my copy today of Demetrus but of course had no time to view it. Thankyou Twilight Time!!!!! I am also on board for Journey to the Center of the Earth and perhaps Desiree. I also want Picnic. .

 

[Mark Collins]

I have just finished watching the film. Grab it all fans of the ROBE!!! I had the restored version of Demetrius on DVD but this looks great. Thanks Craig and company!!

 

Does it look comparable to The Robe?

 

[Joe Caps]

I got my demetrius yesterday. the colors I thought were kind of dull. Of course it all looks very smooth, but the vibrancy of the coolro seems to be lost here. No, it is not comparable to the robe restoration. I thought the sound was also brighter on the old dvd. Let the flaming begin.

 

[RolandL]

I got my demetrius yesterday. the colors I thought were kind of dull. Of course it all looks very smooth, but the vibrancy of the coolro seems to be lost here. No, it is not comparable to the robe restoration. I thought the sound was also brighter on the old dvd. Let the flaming begin.

Joe, Does it have directional dialog?

 

[Paul Rossen]

Joe, Does it have directional dialog?

How about the music? One of the problems with the Blu-ray of THE ROBE is that most of the music originates from the center channel and not spread out the way it should be...

 

[Joe Caps]

I found no problems with the music or dialogue but I di not find problems with the music on the Robe either.

 

[Paul Rossen]

Play a portion of the film...say the main title. Then play through the separate music track.

 

[Mark Collins]

I just for some stupid reason of my own thought that SAE was Twilight Time. I am sorry Twilight Time. I very much like the restored DVD Fox did on Demetrius. I did notice on the blu-ray when did grab some scenes from the Robe such as the start and the Demetrius flashback I thought it looked like you could see some grain in the shots and not as clear. I also thought the film elements they had to work with might have been the problem for those shots. Demetrius played in syndication long before the Robe made it's debute on ABC. I remember we had a local Sunday movie which the sponser was a used car sales man. I first saw the film there as a kid. I wonder if this is why the film may have not been up to the Robe standards. I will admitt the Robe is better but Demetrius I think looks better then DVD Fox restored only 3 or 4 years ago. I am not talking about the first dvd we received of the film. The second is in a thin case. I played the Robe and the dvd this weekend and really the dvd did not look that bad. The blu-ray beats the dvd. I am not saying that it does not. The fans who cannot afford the blu-ray of Demetrius buy the thin case dvd and not the Blue shaded thick cover dvd. Robe fans buy the blu-ray of Demetrius you will not be sorry. Quo Vadis looks fantastic. I also watched it again. I picked Quo Vadis up 3 years ago in bluray with the Robe when they first came out on the same day. Amazon had such a good price I bought them again this year.

 

[John Skoda]

I'm having some serious sound trouble with DEMETRIUS. The dialogue is definitely directional, but there's no center channel. Whenever anyone steps to the center of the screen, I can barely hear what they're saying. As soon as they move left or right, I hear them fine. There's one scene with Susan Hayward on a balcony, center screen, at the beginning of the banquet where I can't hear a word. Music sounds fine. Channel indicators are showing four channels (the package says it's 4.0), but it's showing two in front and two rear. This is CinemaScope--it should show three across the front and one in back, right? Maybe I've got a setting wrong somewhere....

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Originally Posted by David Weicker

Just finished watching Bite The Bullet.
I thought it looked great, but there were a few things that seemed odd.
In several scenes, part of the shot was out of focus. I don't know if that was how it was filmed, or something to do with the transfer. (look at the scene at 1:12 - Sally Kirkland is out of focus during her line about Buffalo Bill).
Second, there were no end credits. I haven't seen this in a while, and didn't see it in the theaters, but I found it strange there was no 'the end' or studio credits or cast list. It just went from finish line back to the Blu-Ray menu.
I do want to thank Twilight Time for including real chapter breaks. I was disappointed on a prior release and am glad they did it on this one.
David

Ending it without either "The End" or end credits was jarring to me, too, but I looked at the old DVD and it ends exactly the same way.


I didn't notice anything out of focus but I'll take another look at the 1:12 scene before I write my review. The opening Columbia logo isn't exactly sharp but the film itself looks great.

 

[SAhmed]

Got my copies of "Demetrius" and "Bite The Bullet" today - I will spin them a little later but I have yet to be disappointed by any of the Twlight releases. Especially looking forward to the latter. BTW - I too did not receive any magnets this time (they were nice!) Regards,

 

[Mark Collins]

I still wonder about the scenes taken from The Robe I see grain in the shots not as crisp as when they go back to the film. The first scene and again as I said before the flashback for Demetrius. I love having the movie and as I said thank Twilight for giving it to us. I am also glad they cleared up things for me. I thought SAE was TT and they are not! I also asked about the Fox movies going to Amazon at a cheaper rate. I believe from what they said they doubted it. Fox only wants to give these movies to people who will buy classic films. I guess you might call SAE a MOD for Fox. WB does use Movies Unlimited. I guess you could say that is what Fox is really doing with these films. I know in a sense it is not MOD because people have not ordered the flims. Fox thinks this is what people would order and will put out only so many copies. I am not speaking for Fox or TT or SAE just some random thoughts of my own.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Just got my Demetrius BD (actually ordered two). I am really impressed by it. I double Mark's thanks, as this is one I've long dreamed of in blu-ray. I remember that the beginning Robe scenes were a bit soft in a print I saw at a screening a few years back in L.A. The rest of it is dazzling. I do miss the magnet, as well, since my Egyptian one is in a place of supreme honor on my refrigerator. In future, I hope they can find better elements for Sodom and Gomorrah because that is one I'd love to buy, along with Boy On A Dolphin and Beneath the 12-Mile Reef. Good show, Twilight Time!

 

[Eastmancolor]

I think that Twilight Time's Blu-rays have been very "film-like" to date and have looked great projected onto my 10' screen. Personally I think that DEMETRIUS is their weakest looking Blu-ray so far. A lot of the image is soft, but often it is noisy and the color quality is weak. It's not awful by any means, but it doesn't hold up when projected onto a large screen. Perhaps it is better on televisions. If you already have the Fox DVD from years ago, you don't need to double dip. If this is the best HD master that's available, they should've skipped on to something else. Definitely not of the quality of THE EGYPTIAN, FRIGHT NIGHT or MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. Looks more like a middle of the road DVD than a Blu-ray. IMHO

 

[Clayking38]

I watched Twilight's Demetrius blu-ray last night. I feel it is only marginally better than the standard DVD. That is probably due to the condition of the source material. For the first 15-20 minutes into the film the picture was soft. When the scene shifts to the gladiator school the picture improved, but the sound went horribly out of synch. I tried the disc on two other players/tv's with the same result. Unless this is a single defect of the disc I received, it seems they could have corrected this before authoring the BD master.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I watched Twilight's Demetrius blu-ray last night. I feel it is only marginally better than the standard DVD. That is probably due to the condition of the source material. For the first 15-20 minutes into the film the picture was soft. When the scene shifts to the gladiator school the picture improved, but the sound went horribly out of synch. I tried the disc on two other players/tv's with the same result. Unless this is a single defect of the disc I received, it seems they could have corrected this before authoring the BD master.

Rich, I had the same problem with mine regarding the sound sync, it started right at that same point. I tried it on different settings and bypassing all processing, but nothing changed it. On mine, the audio was behind the picture by about a half a second or more. Easy to spot when Borgnine was pointing out William Marshall's character - the sword hit the tree trunk, a beat, then a loud "thunk". It was late so I didn't finish the film, but skipped around after that and it seemed to be back in sync later on.

 

[Paul Rossen]

This is bad and I'm quite surprised with both Fox and Twilight Time. Wonder if they will 'fix' this? Will hold back my purchase until the disc gets the AOK.