7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A renegade USAF general escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Roscoe Lee Browne, Joseph Cotten, Melvyn Douglas, Charles DurningThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Olive Films is trumpeting its release of Twilight’s Last Gleaming as the most sought after title ever on home video, something that may be a bit of hyperbole (how about that original Orson Welles cut of The Magnificent Ambersons, for example, and, no, I don’t care if it doesn’t exist). But Twilight’s Last Gleaming has indeed had a long and tortured history with promised releases on home video which never quite materialized. The kind of funny thing about the interest in this release (which is undeniable) is that Twilight’s Last Gleaming wasn’t exactly a barn burner in its theatrical exhibition, and some even alleged it was a case of Robert Aldrich, an iconoclastic director if ever there were one, reaching for a mass market brass ring and perhaps selling out in the process. Aldrich couches his typical liberal tendencies in some interesting ways in this film. If Seven Days in May offered Burt Lancaster as a right wing military man out to put the kibosh on a peacenik President who had the temerity to work toward nuclear disarmament, Twilight’s Last Gleaming casts Lancaster as another rogue military man out to counter yet another President, although in this scenario, Lancaster’s character wants the truth to be told about Vietnam. The whole “MacGuffin” (to use Hitchcock’s term for a plot device that sets everything in motion but which may have no intrinsic meaning) in Twilight’s Last Gleaming will probably strike modern day audiences as straining credulity, especially since the Vietnam conflict has tended to fade into the dim vestiges of memory over the intervening decades. But even in 1977 the thought of a U.S. Army General taking over a nuclear silo and threatening all out war if the President doesn’t release a document that “reveals” our government knew it couldn’t win the Vietnam conflict probably sounds at the very least frightfully naïve and perhaps even laughably ridiculous.
The press sheet accompanying Twilight's Last Gleaming touts the fact that this new Blu-ray from Olive Films was sourced from the original camera negative and presents the director's cut in a completely restored version. This AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 certainly is beautifully sharp and well defined, and is virtually damage free. Even the split screen elements do not suffer from dirt and unwieldy grain, which is frequently the case with this technique (as in Bullitt). (The fact that there's no appreciable uptick in grain in the split screen sequences may indicate some judicious DNR has been applied to this release.) About the only thing that some curmudgeons may find fault with in this transfer is its color timing and saturation. Things seem rather pallid some of the time here, and flesh tones tilt precariously toward the pink side of things on occasion. Otherwise, though, this is a sterling presentation that retains a nicely naturally filmic appearance (as is Olive's tradition) that offers excellent clarity and sharpness and very appealing fine detail.
Twilight's Last Gleaming features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that occasionally sounds a little crowded in the split screen sequences that feature lots of simultaneous dialogue, but which offers it all with top notch fidelity and some excellent dynamic range. Jerry Goldsmith's score works a kind of quasi-Copland territory, sounding both elegiac and triumphant at the same time. There's also a great sounding gospel version of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" by Billy Preston that begins and ends the film.
DisclaimerI was therefore expecting something pretty shoddy looking but in fact the disclaimer is actually not all that necessary as the video quality here is certainly not very problematic. More importantly, the content of this piece is outstanding and includes interviews with a number of insightful people, including Aldrich's daughter Adell. While this focuses on Twilight's Last Gleaming, there's a more generalist approach on hand as well, giving some great background on Aldrich and helping to put his entire oeuvre in context.
This making of documentary has some minor ghosting throughout. We did everything possible to fix these issues, but unfortunately the problems existed in the original source master. We had two choices; to keep this great and informative making of documentary or release TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING without the extra.
Robert Aldrich may have worn his feelings on his sleeve more than some other directors, and evidently in private life he wasn't very shy about espousing his views, but you don't need to agree with Aldrich's point of view to enjoy Twilight's Last Gleaming. The film in fact presents a relatively balanced approach where Dell's overweening idealism which may lead to calamity is contrasted with an indecisive or timid response that boils down to a paraphrasing of Jack Nicholson's famous line in A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!", which may in fact in its own way lead just as much to calamity. The film is rather slyly cynical, but never archly so. Despite its length, it's often viscerally exciting and it contains one of Lancaster's best later performances. This Blu-ray looks great and sounds fine and comes with a very impressive documentary. Highly recommended.
Warner Archive Collection
1964
The Domino Killings
1977
1964
2017
1954
1977
2008
1967
1971
1976
2015
Special Edition
1967
Limited Edition to 3000
1969
1990
1950
Warner Archive Collection
1949
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1941
2000
1961
1978