Blu-ray now out of print (April 2013)

Yes, same here. Still, as I said before, DVD is fine with me; I'll get a Blu only when I have no choice, or in a very few rare cases of favorite films. I actually have a few Blu discs even though I haven't gotten around to getting a Blu-ray player yet! It's a good investment because it plays standard DVDs as well. Actually what I'd like to find is a Region 0 BD player so I can play anything on it. I have an R0 DVD player, but have to look into the availability of a Blu-ray one.

Twilight Time has some interesting titles, and a lot of not interesting ones, in my opinion. They began in March 2011 and switched from DVD to Blu-ray-only that November. (The Egyptian was one of the first five titles they announced and the only one released on both DVD and Blu.) Originally they released films only from Fox but branched out to Sony/Columbia when they went all-Blu. All their Columbia films have been previously released on standard DVD. The Fox films were initially all new to DVD/Blu but they're now also doing Blus of films that have had a DVD release. A lot of the new-to-DVD/Blu Fox titles are lesser films. When the guys who started the label announced their first five titles they included one film that was so poor and little-known (Woman Obsessed) that they subsequently acknowledged it would probably take 20 years for them to sell all 3000! Apparently they love it, but no one else does. That and many other choices call their judgment into question, in my view.

Have you seen Violent Saturday? It's a great crime picture that was TT's second release (DVD only), and it's still in stock. Still my favorite of all their releases. Recommended -- I think you'd like it.

Yes, I tend to doubt Colossus will get a Blu release anytime soon, if ever. The best version (of the two available) is the DVD in the box set, as opposed to the MOD from Warner Archives (same print). This applies also to Land of the Pharaohs. The set is still by far the cheapest way of getting the films so even though it contains The Prodigal it's worth it. The Prodigal is mostly just a silly if lavish costume epic with Lana Turner, but you might at least find it amusing. I think it was her last film for Metro before they kicked her out, and it's interesting to compare Purdom to his role in The Egyptian. Being cast in too many costume pictures helped kill off Purdom's Hollywood career fast, and after leaving in 1956 he eventually settled in Italy, where from about 1960 he appeared in many movies and TV shows (many of them British or American) and remained until his death on New Year's Day 2009.

I agree with you about Sodom. There was a region-free DVD from Brazil, of all places, that wasn't bad and was letterboxed but a proper US release is long overdue. To me it's the best of the Italian-made sword-and-sandal epics of the early 60s.

Re Solomon and Sheba, the few clips I've seen of Power do seem to show he played the part much better, though unfortunately it's not much to go on. Vidor's complaint was that Brynner played Solomon in too "macho" a way and not as the more sensitive, complex character he intended. Vidor himself never made another movie.

S and S was filmed in Spain in the fall of 1958 and Vidor was later criticized for taking up too much time shooting crowd scenes and similar establishing footage -- which is usually filmed after principle photography is completed -- instead of concentrating exclusively on the dramatic scenes first, as is customary. The feeling was that had he done so Power might have lived to complete the role. We can never know. Power suffered from a serious but largely undetected heart condition, although there had been a few warning signs. During filming he increasingly complained of exhaustion, pains in his left arm and an inability to move his hand properly, and almost certainly suffered a warning attack about a week before his fatal one. He was a very heavy smoker, which also didn't do him any good. Of course, today all these things would be recognized as warnings of an impending coronary but back then either no one paid much attention, or attributed the problems to other causes (as did Power, who refused to believe anything serious might be wrong), especially in an outwardly healthy-looking 44-year-old man.

George Sanders, whom Power was "dueling" when he collapsed, always blamed himself for bringing on Power's fatal heart attack. Sanders was very clumsy with a sword while Power was highly skilled, which meant that in shooting the scene from various angles Sanders often had to be doubled, while Power did all his own swordplay, meaning he was exerting himself twice as hard if not more than Sanders. Sanders was extremely fond of Power, who was genuinely loved by his peers in Hollywood, and he never got over the actor's death. The film's producer, Ted Richmond, who had formed a production company with Power in 1955 and was a very close friend, was so distraught after Power's death that he wanted to quit the production, but was persuaded to stay on since their company would profit and this would financially benefit Power's widow and children. Richmond never returned to America but stayed on producing films in Europe, where he died in 2013 at the age of 103.

Hope you don't mind the history!