Twilight Time / Redwind

[Professor Wagstaff]

I think there's just some confusion about the PC acronym. jlnight referred to Glitter being found out after he took his computer to PC World, a now-defunct chain store in the UK. As a non-UK resident who doesn't know the specifics of the case, I took jlnight's reference to PC World to be his hyperbolic declaration of us living in a 'Politically Correct World' rather than a reference to an actual company.

[MichaelB]

This is of course a perfect (if inadvertent) illustration of why it’s a huge mistake to assume that something that’s pretty much universally known in one country (I doubt there’s a single Briton of a certain age who doesn’t know all about Gary Glitter’s spot of bother with the computer chain PC World in 1997) will be equally familiar elsewhere - and of course why it’s a mistake to slam a US label like Kino Lorber for not being fully up to speed with events on the other side of the pond, and indeed an American like Donald Trump for not recognising a photo of foreign serial killers.

But yes, that was indeed the moment when Glitter first effectively outed himself, which is why it’s historically more important than anything that came later - not all celebrity paedophiles were quite so accidentally obliging. Jimmy Savile, for instance, went to his grave with nothing bar the occasional fruitless police investigation to worry about, and it was only after he was safely dead that his victims felt emboldened enough to come forward, and in such vast quantities that nobody seriously doubts his guilt now, despite the lack of due process.

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, the UK label Mediumrare still has Manhattan Murder Mystery available for much less, as little as £9 if bought locally or for those importing it into the U.S. between $15 and $20 after shipping depending on the vendor. Much cheaper than the current Twilight Time price, but I can't say if the encoding is better or worse, and obviously you need to be region compatible.

[bugsy_pal]

FWIW, the UK label Mediumrare still has Manhattan Murder Mystery available for much less, as little as £9 if bought locally or for those importing it into the U.S. between $15 and $20 after shipping depending on the vendor. Much cheaper than the current Twilight Time price, but I can't say if the encoding is better or worse, and obviously you need to be region compatible.

Thank you for the great tip! I missed the Twilight Time edition of this film. I have now ordered the UK version.

[hearthesilence]

You're welcome! I did as well. I've been revisiting Woody Allen's work lately, and Manhattan Murder Mystery surprisingly seemed to be overlooked and underrated, possibly as fall out from his divorce. (Georgia Brown in The Village Voice reportedly trashed it in that context, but I haven't tracked down the review yet.) It didn't even gross its low budget, and Allen apparently insisted it was underappreciated in a recent interview he did prior to Dylan Farrow's allegations. It does feel like it's got much more going for it than just frothy entertainment. And for Annie Hall fans (still my favorite Allen film), it can be very charming as some alternate universe where the two characters got married and we're seeing them in middle age.

[bugsy_pal]

Thanks - it's been a while since I've seen it, and I remember thinking it was an odd amalgam of whodunnit and humour, but quite well done. Certainly more enjoyable than some of Allen's later fare (eg. Curse of the Jade Scorpion, which I could never get into).

[hearthesilence]

Another heads up, Amazon seems to have a decent supply of Twilight Time or UK Arrow Blu-rays for certain Woody Allen titles. The Twilight Time discs are going for like $35 to 50, and they do have some fan favorites like Husbands and Wives and Stardust Memories, but they do not have the two that are probably in highest demand (Crimes and Misdemeanors and Radio Days). The former is going for $200-250 (Twilight Time) or $73-80 (Arrow UK) on Amazon Marketplace, the latter seems to be cleaned out altogether.

The Arrow titles do include the likes of Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose and The Purple Rose of Cairo, and they are cheaper - around $23 - but again they are region B. Most of these seem to be eligible for Amazon Prime, but shipping is likely to be free anyway given the high cost.

[therewillbeblus]

Well, I just realized I somehow don't own Radio Days or Husbands and Wives, so this is a bummer

[Red Screamer]

There's a sale on Twilight Time at SAE if you can stomach the usual sky-high shipping. 20% off with code TWILIGHT2021, doesn't work with the newer releases. It includes some titles that I thought were OOP but I could be misremembering.

[L.A.]

Coming to Blu-ray 7/20 from Twilight Time Movies

WE OF THE NEVER NEVER (1982)

Pre-order: https://screenarchives.com/title_detail ... EVER-1982/

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
VIDEO: 1080p HIGH DEFINITION / 2.35:1
AUDIO: ENGLISH LPCM 2.0 DUAL MONO
SUBTITLES: ENGLISH SDH
1982 / COLOR
133 MINUTES
RATED G

Special Features:
SPECIAL FEATURES: Back to the Never Never Interview Featurette with Co-Stars Angela Punch McGregor and Arthur Dignam, Director Igor Auzins, Co-Producer John B. Murray and Composer Peter Best / Behind-the-Scenes Stills Gallery / Original Theatrical Trailer

Adapting one of Australia’s most beloved books, We of the Never Never (1982) is an immersive, visually breathtaking period tale of a resilient lady, a steadfast love and a landscape both unforgiving and reinvigorating. Marrying the new station master (Arthur Dignam) of a Northern Territory cattle ranch, the well-bred Jeannie (Angela Punch McGregor) joins her husband in the Outback, considered “no place for a woman” circa 1902. There, she strives to establish a homestead, overcome the misogyny of the male workforce, and understand and learn from the local Aboriginal nomads. Graced with Australian Film Institute Award-winning cinematography by Gary Hansen (beautifully showcased in a new 4K restoration-derived transfer) and a stirring score by Peter Best, the resulting film is “a first-class adventure story

[dwk]

Twilight Time: The Resurrection's Blu-rays of Venom, The Man From Hong Kong, Seven Deaths in a Cat's Eye, and Messalina are all up for pre-order at Amazon.

[hearthesilence]

Some recent comments from TT at Blu-ray.com about various topics:

"[Y]ou have nothing to worry about with regard to PQ of either THE HAWAIIANS or the SHERIFF/GUNFIGHTER double bill. We agonized long and hard over the situation with HAWAII. As most of you know, we have passed on many MGM/UA titles that other labels have subsequently released without the qualms over quality we usually enforce. HAWAII is an important film, and we felt the transfer met basic criterion for blu-ray standards so we decided to proceed. The irony? It is selling really well - most hardcore fans of the film know there will be nothing for HAWAII beyond what we have issued."

On the other hand, I just saw a post on the Twilight Time Facebook page where someone commented that the subtitles for when the characters are speaking in Hawaiian are missing from the HD encode (supposedly the SD roadshow version has them). TT is blaming the studio, but if that's the case, I think TT should have chosen not to release the film until MGM was willing to correct it. Glad I didn't order the disc yet.

I was generally unaware of this film until now, but is the OOP TT still worth tracking down or is there a better alternative? If not, am I missing much if I just stream whatever shorter cut is available, or should I really try and watch the roadshow version first?

[dwk]

Import CDs has pre-orders for The Man in the Moon and Baby Boom Blu-rays from some company called Sandpiper Pictures

[dwk]

Sandpiper Pictures are releasing Hawaii on Blu on 12/14 (they are also releasing Mario Van Peebles' Posse, but that wasn't a TT title.)

[Glowingwabbit]

Sandpiper Pictures are releasing Hawaii on Blu on 12/14 (they are also releasing Mario Van Peebles' Posse, but that wasn't a TT title.)

Posse just had a studio release blu-ray before but it's OOP now. Who are Sandpiper Pictures?

[dwk]

I have no idea who they are. They seemed to have popped up out of nowhere.

[captveg]

I have no idea who they are. They seemed to have popped up out of nowhere.

Seems to be yet another 3rd party label licensing from MGM.

[knives]

Twilight Time seems to be biting me from the grave. I just took a spin on their disc of Drunken Master and regardless of which track I choose some scenes are always dubbed in English. I can’t remember if that’s a feature of different cuts or them doing something off.

[dwk]

Sony's supplied audio track is missing some dialogue and reverts to the English dub to fill in the gaps. Twilight Time was warned about this and put no effort into getting the complete Cantonese track. However, Eureka's region free Blu-ray of Drunken Master does have the complete Cantonese audio.

[knives]

That’s incredibly frustrating. What incompetence.