Film music historian Nick Redman and Brian Jamieson started Twilight Time in 2011 to license catalogue films from Fox, Sony/Columbia and later MGM for Blu-ray runs usually limited to 3,000 copies. Most discs carried an isolated score track, often with commentaries by Redman and other historians. The label stopped operating on 30 June 2020, and Screen Archives Entertainment took over its 380-title back catalogue and stock.
Twilight Time
11 films on Best BluraysBest video release: 1 in 4K10 in HD3 more for audio only
Based in United StatesFounded 2011
Films where Twilight Time's release is the pick. How picks are made
Films where Twilight Time's release is the pick. How picks are made
1 in 4K
Best video release on UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming
10 in HD
Best video release on Blu-ray or HD streaming · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Cy Endfield
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Video Notes:
> UK Paramount Blu-ray or US Inspired Blu-ray
The UK Blu-ray not only have some DNR applied, it's also squeezed and cropped: see comparison
The color contrast from Twilight Time is however possibly suffering the Quicktime Gamma Bug, but that's an easier issue to fix than DNR or cropped images.
Director: John Cassavetes
Best English-Friendly:
Kino Lorber or Twilight Time?
Best Video:
Video Notes:
Kino Lorber Blu-ray uses same old Sony master
Director: Andrew L. Stone
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: George Cukor
Best English-Friendly & Video:
US Twilight Time Blu-ray or UK Signal One Blu-ray
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Best English-Friendly:
Twilight Time Blu-ray
Best Video:
Twilight Time
Video Notes:
Twilight Time > BFI >> Kino Lorber/MoC
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Upcoming Release:
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut
3 for audio only
The best audio is Twilight Time's; the video and English-friendly picks are other releases · by Letterboxd rating
Director: Fritz Lang
Best Audio:
Twilight Time Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Audio Notes:
Twilight Time Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion 4K Blu-ray. Columbia Hi-Fi VHS probably significantly better (not been checked)
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Video Notes:
See nicolas review: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=841703#p841703 "The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering"
Audio Notes:
All pre-4K BDs (Twilight Time US, Suevia Spain, Imprint Australia, Koch Media Germany) are the same, and significantly better than the 4K restoration (Shout! Factory, Arrow, Kino Lorber), and a bit better than the MGM NTSC DVD.
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Director: Oliver Stone
Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab)
Audio Notes:
Twilight Time Blu-ray or MGM NTSC DVD for the original mono mix
Shout! Factory 4K only has a stereo downmix (which sounds muffled, as do the surround tracks)
Twilight Time Blu-ray has the mono track with seemingly the best fidelity, but its dynamic range has been heavily compressed
MoC UK Blu-ray has a proper dynamics and good fidelity, but bizzarely, everything is repeated after a few miliseconds, rendering echoey and metallic
MGM NTSC DVD has been denoised and has had a strong EQ applied and sounds muffled as a result, but it retains proper dynamics
Koch Media DE BD had poor dynamics and wrong pitch
Perhaps the digital JP LD would be better.
Best English-Friendly & Video:
Know a film where the Twilight Time release is the one to buy? Suggest it