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Wow! Now all of a sudden Leave Her to Heaven looks like one of the Species sequels.

Tierney looks like she has a bad case of jaundice. They had a great image and uglied it up with the green and yellow.

If anyone out there has been on the fence about purchasing The Egyptian, you'd better hop down now if you want it. According to an email I received last night about the Philadelphia and Heaven pre-orders, there are less than 50 copies left.

david hare wrote:If they treat it as poorly and inadequately as they did Bonjour Tristesse, they are finished for me.

The video/audio quality is all down to the masters that are available to license, not anything TT did or didn't do, right? The extras or lack thereof are what we've come to expect from this line. In any case, I'd hardly say BT was done poorly, though it would have been nice to see a release stacked with extras like Anatomy of a Murder, obviously.

I recall complaints in this thread about it being on one layer. But since most of TT releases have been dual, I assume they tested it with a higher bit-rate and deemed it unnecessary? It is only 90 minutes.

I haven't seen anything like the technology that Sony model is using. My projector is pretty good as well, at least I think so. My Olive blu-rays tend to look mediocre to bad on it. If I ever get a projector so good that TT's and likely other labels' blu-rays look bad as well, then I guess my disappointments will only increase.
I mean, I realize some of these transfers could probably have looked incrementally better, but again, I'm not sure what TT can do about it other than try to reject that master they receive and try to back out of releasing that title, if they can. None of the ones I have are anywhere close to warranting that (Bonjour Tristesse, Big Heat, Swamp Water, Rapture).
I've heard worse things about some of the other TT releases here in this thread, though (As Good as It Gets?).

david hare wrote:This the strange not-quite grain in Swamp Water, uneven tonal quality and some strobing in Big Heat (I've seen the German BD and it's discernibly better) and Bonjour has nothing like fine grain structure, instead it looks "thick" and suprrisingly without depth. I think it's a completely wasted opportunity. Far too low bitrate and what may be a too high gamma level.

Where's the German Blu-ray of Big Heat, or any alternative for that matter?

david hare wrote: This the strange not-quite grain in Swamp Water, uneven tonal quality and some strobing in Big Heat (I've seen the German BD and it's discernibly better) and Bonjour has nothing like fine grain structure, instead it looks "thick" and suprrisingly without depth. I think it's a completely wasted opportunity. Far too low bitrate and what may be a too high gamma level.

This is spot on.

I have a far more modest projection setup than you do (the Mits HC4000 with a 106" screen) and even on this entry level setup, the deficiencies you describe in those Twilight Time discs are glaringly obvious. My first viewing of their release of The Big Heat was on a standard LED TV, and I thought it looked terrific, but when screened at a much larger size, it's faults are all too apparent. In addition to the strobing and tonal problems you describe, it seemed to me that the discs' rendering of finer textures was very inconsistent, often producing an image less crisp and film-like than a first rate encoding is capable of. Do we really think this would look that much different if it were released by Mill Creek as part of a double feature for $5?

By contrast, despite a few early misfires (High Noon, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, Johnny Guitar), most Olive Blu-Rays I've purchased look like good-to-excellent repertory prints, with a few (like the recent The Sun Shines Bright), being among the best looking Blu-Rays I own. Despite the comparative flak Olive gets for image quality, I have yet to see it produce a Blu that's as out and out bad looking as Twilight Time's Pony Soldier. It's true that the elements they had to work with we're sub-standard, but if the end result is the best they can do, perhaps this film has no business getting a Blu-Ray release in the first place. That they would choose to release this slight, and rather damaged, Newman film while allowing Tourneur's sublime Way of A Gaucho to sneak out on a Fox Archives DVD-R says everything one needs to know about the label's curative tastes.

kingofthejungle wrote:By contrast, despite a few early misfires (High Noon, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, Johnny Guitar)

What is the problem with these titles?

Johnny Guitar looks pretty wretched. Way better than the previous DVDs, but still wretched.

I'm not sure what the very best print looks like, but I've seen Johnny Guitar a few times from print over the years, and it's never looked particularly good on any of the screenings.

Nadsat wrote:

kingofthejungle wrote:By contrast, despite a few early misfires (High Noon, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, Johnny Guitar)

What is the problem with these titles?

Invasion and Johnny Guitar seem to have had some DNR applied, and High Noon has a very strange, video-like appearance when in motion (though I'm not enough of an expert to pinpoint exactly what creates this effect). But these are very much the exceptions rather than the rule. The other Olive titles I have, from the smallest John Wayne programmer to the great John Ford masterpieces, have a pleasingly film-like appearance. I'll also add that the Invasion and Johnny Guitar Blu-Rays are still the best available representations of those films.

david hare wrote:I had forgotten I have another four or five TT titles here, two of which at least are acceptable - The Egyptian and Bye Bye Birdie. But these seem to be higher bitrate encodes.

Oh for the days when Fox would license to all comers. I think also the US VOD of the Tourneur is a slightly better source than the Spanish disc, at least in not having the three strip fringing during the penultimate scene with Tierney pleading with Boone in her apartment before the last big getaway.

I'll add Picnic and Experiment In Terror to the list of Twilight Time titles that look fairly good. Both are higher bit-rate encodes than The Big Heat or Swamp Water.

It's good to know that the VOD of Way of A Gaucho is better than the Spanish disc. It's not a bad looking DVD, but I think Tourneur is one of those guys (like Ford, Ophuls, and Sternberg) who has a visual style that just cries out for HD treatment. If it weren't for the forced subs, the French Blu-Ray might be worth a shot.

Duncan Hopper wrote:I'm not sure what the very best print looks like, but I've seen Johnny Guitar a few times from print over the years, and it's never looked particularly good on any of the screenings.

I saw it at UCLA a few years ago in a completely pristine print. It had great depth of field, sharpness, and vivid color, and negligible damage. Of those characteristics the Olive disc retains the color mostly.

It's definitely had digital interference. You can see it constantly throughout the disc. That said, it is much better than every dvd of the film I've seen.

david hare wrote:Has there actually been a BD announcement from Carlotta about Gaucho? I wasn't aware.

I certainly agree about Tourneur needing highest resolution and definition possible as one of the very Pantheon visual artists. The French print for Gaucho looked a little splotchy (there is dye splatter in the second last reel and elsewhere, as well as the three strip misregistration I mentioned) but I also thought the original Carlotta DVD of Forever Amber was a little thick and "pushed. With the recent Carlotta BD of Amber they have obviously worked hard on the grading and density and the BD is extremely pleasing. Not at the standard of a US Fox digitally based rejig like the sensational Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in the Marilyn set. But certainly worthy of the upgrade cost. It would be nice if Carlotta could remaster the Tourneur to a similar standard.

Unfortunately, the BD is coming from Sidonis rather than Carlotta (who are much more forgiving on the subtitle front). Considering the source, the screencaps look fairly impressive, though they still show evidence of registration issues (I would wager the negative comments about the caps are from people unfamiliar with the diffused look of the film, which may be why TT didn't pick it up). I'll have to check out the Carlotta BD of Forever Amber. I might wind up picking up it and "Le Gaucho" at the same time.

Whatever happened to At Long Last Love?

domino harvey wrote:Whatever happened to At Long Last Love?

TT on Saturday wrote:There will be an announcement soon.

The Driver has been pushed back so they can use a new master, and Body Double will be from a new transfer. After the NOTLD debacle they make good on their promise to alert customers to possible changes in colour timing to future films:

https://en-gb.facebook.com/twilighttime ... 3667909970

EddieLarkin wrote: All the Big Heat bashing seems to go against most reviews as well; Robert Harris said:

It looks extraordinary. Rich, black blacks, perfect shadow detail, great grain structure. It's all there

I've seen the disc myself and recall agreeing with the above, but next time I'll give it closer scrutiny. Any time stamps of problematic scenes/frames would be appreciated.

No argument from me on the supplements and packaging side though, natch.

I have a 1080p projector, and The Big Heat looked excellent to me- though admittedly, I don't have much of an eye for some of the problems that get called out by reviewers. I think for my part, if it were not for the price and the highly limited distribution on Twilight Time's part, I'd have no complaint against them- but it's totally fair that at premium prices for extras free releases, people scrutinize the one thing they do provide (the transfers) extremely closely, perhaps moreso than they would even for a Criterion or MoC release.

FWIW ... my problem with The Big Heat disc (the only TT I own) is that some of the fine shadow detail looks very digital. I'm not sure what the technical term is for it, but it manifests itself as light shadows move across people's faces, or in facial stubble, things like that. Detail is very poor but there's a lot of digital noise in these kinds of cases. It's not something that I particularly blame TT for, because I also see a lot of it in the CC release of Repulsion, to a more distracting degree than The Big Heat, which is another transfer that comes directly from Sony.

I also see it in the BD for La grande illusion (not a Sony title, obv), which is interesting because it was also present on the 35mm print I saw of the recent restoration. Which, if I understand correctly, despite being 35mm would have been based on a digital intermediate (or some other digital source).

I have a 55 inch LED, if it makes a difference to anyone.

From Twilight Time's Facebook page:

We're very happy to announce that THE EGYPTIAN on Blu-ray joins the ranks of the SOLD OUT. It is however still available as a TT DVD for those that may have missed out. (This is the only title we released on both digital formats.)

So I read in this Sunday's NY Times that "Leave Her To Heaven" was coming out on Twilight Time in mid-May. I ordered it fast and furiously before checking what was said about the company here. It sounds as if I may have made a big mistake. Dang!

Well, if you were worried about the company's quality, there's nothing to worry about, they release some top notch standard stuff.

Hard Times (1975)

Pre-order date: May 17th, 2013
Release Date: June 11th, 2013

Cover art:


Booklet art:

The Only Game in Town (1970)

Pre-order date: May 17th, 2013
Release Date: June 11th, 2013

Cover art:

Hard Times is a 1975 film starring Charles Bronson as Chaney, a drifter with freakishly large arms who travels to Louisiana during the Great Depression and begins competing in illegal bare-knuckled boxing matches.