MovieChat Forums > Violent Saturday (1955) Discussion > About the DVD from SAE

About the DVD from SAE

posted 13 years ago by hobnob53
6 replies | jump to latest

I just got the new DVD of Violent Saturday, made by the new company Twilight Time for release exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment (SAE: screenarchives.com). In two words -- it's great. This is the first and only time VS has been released on home video of any kind, and it won't be around for very long. Some information and reviews:

Availability. Unfortunately, this and all Twilight Time's DVDs of Fox films are limited editions -- only 3000 copies, and again, available only at SAE. The price is $19.95, but you can be sure that when the 3000 have all been sold, they'll be rare and available only on sites like eBay and Amazon Marketplace at some exhorbitant price.

Quality. Excellent. This is a proper, pressed DVD, not a DVD-R. Sound and picture are superb. Now, as noted elsewhere (and on SAE), the manufacturers have stated that the film is not presented in anamorphic widescreen, apparently because no anamorphic print still exists (or at least not a good one). To some people this is a big deal. Actually, however, it isn't -- in fact, the film may be the better for it. The picure is in its correct aspect ratio (2.35:1), but the shift in focus among the elements in the picture, common in an anamorphic presentation, don't occur here: the picture is perfect and consistent throughout. Also, as the DVD has not been formatted to fit 16x9 screens, this means that you're getting the whole picture: formatting for widescreen TVs means slicing off a slim portion of the picture at top and bottom, so you're actually losing some of the original picture. This is not the case with Violent Saturday, where you see the entire picture in a strong, clear, fully restored, pristine print.

Extras. This is another area about which some people care deeply, while others (like myself) have little concern. In recent years, most DVDs of classic films have carried few if any extras, and unfortunately, perhaps, the DVD of VS follows this trend. There are virtually no extras on this disc -- no commentary, no bios, no theatrical trailer, not even something as basic as scene selection. Besides the film, the lone extra here is the isolated soundtrack of Hugo Friedhofer's effective score, something you might expect from SAE, an outfit devoted primarily to CDs of movie soundtracks. To me, the only important thing is having the film -- the rest is padding, often very poorly done. Still, even I wouldn't mind a trailer, or at least scene selection. However...

...there is a six-page booklet giving a critical review of the film included with the disc, and this is both interesting and informative, albeit in this case it's a bit breathless and overheated in its writing. The treatment given Violent Saturday by Twilight Time is apparently on a par with the presentation of the other films they've released, or plan to, and while extras are limited, having a top-quality print coupled with a booklet giving solid background information on the movie isn't bad, especially given the very reasonable cost and the DVDs' rarity.

In sum, fans of this movie need to move fast to obtain a copy before they're all gone. Violent Saturday is one of those rare movies that many people seem to have little or no knowledge of, and the chance -- at long, long last -- to actually own it is not something that should be passed up.

See this excellent, surprising movie!

[–] hoov-4 13 years ago

You've done your homework. I ordered it from SAE too. Any suggestions on other movies like this one? Thanks for your great insight.

[–] hobnob53 13 years ago

Thank you, hoov. I can also recommend the third release from Twilight Time via SAE, the 1964 aviation drama Fate is the Hunter. It's not like VS in terms of plot or anything, but a very enjoyable movie.

But for a similar kind of film, try The Narrow Margin (1952), from the same director (Richard Fleischer). An excellent film noir, only 70 minutes, but considered by some to be the best B movie ever made. It's out of print now but can still be bought from Movies Unlimited (moviesunlimited.com). Or see Bad Day at Black Rock, with Spencer Tracy, also 1955 and co-starring two of Violent Saturday's cast members, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Another unique crime film (which also has two VS co-stars in its cast, Stephen McNally and Richard Egan) is Split Second, a 1952 thriller with a trio of escaped convicts holding hostages on an atomic test site in Nevada. Very unusual. That one's available from Warner Archives directly at $19.99, or from other outlets at a usually higher price (but check MU too, as they may have a "sale" on it for its normal Warner retail price). Finally, you might like the tongue-in-cheek noir His Kind of Woman, with Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Vincent Price. This 1951 RKO film is in one of Warner' Film Noir sets from two or three years ago and was not available separately, though you might find it as a single from Amazon Marketplace. That whole set was quite good, though.

Those are a few off the top of my head. I think you may like them, but read up on them to see if they really might appeal to you.

[–] hoov-4 13 years ago

Thanks hob. Never saw Fate is the Hunter. I do have Narrow Margin. Who couldn't love Charles McGraw. I did see Bad Day at Black Rock, excellent movie. Haven't seen Split Second so I'll check that out. I do have His Kind of Woman, another great one with Mitchum and Vincent Price. You have great taste. Keep posting suggestions like you do, you really have helped me out. Thanks again.

[–] hobnob53 13 years ago

hoov, you're very kind -- actually, my taste is all over the place! I also like some bad movies precisely because they're so much fun. But I'm happy to see you already have many of the films I suggested -- that's a compliment to you. If I think of others I'll let you know. I post a lot on IMDb so you might look in on some of the titles where I've been for other suggestions. (Doing so might also lower your opinion of my taste, but that's a risk one has to take!) See you.

[–] hoov-4 13 years ago

Hobs, long time no talk to. Just saw SAE listed Flim Flam with George Scott a really great comedy movie in my opinion. The late great Michael Sarrazin too.

[–] hobnob53 13 years ago

Hey, hoov, how are you? Yes, and now they've listed My Cousin Rachel as their next Twilight Time film, which I believe comes out Sept. 13 or so. It's a good film, but what makes me happy about it is that this shows TT is looking at older, non-widescreen Fox films as well as their post-1953 CinemaScope or other w/s movies. (Originally they spoke of releasing only 'Scope films.)

There are so many great films from that studio still awaiting release, I could program them for the next five years. Among the standard-screen films I'd like to see them bring out are No Highway in the Sky and 5 Fingers, and many others. Then there's my widescreen list...!

I wish Twilight Time would list the films they're planning to release during the next six months or so. When they first came into being last year they announced their first five films right off. Now it's just one announcement a month. They also once spoke of increasing their releases to two a month, but I haven't heard any more about that.

SAE is holding a 25%-off sale all this month on the MGM Limited Edition Collection, that studio's MOD series (which consists almost entirely of United Artists, not MGM, films!). Lots of good titles there too. One film I'm looking forward to later this month is The Quatermass Xperiment. They just came out with another fave, Master of the World. Many other neat titles available in that line, which you might like to check out.

By the way, I ran Violent Saturday for my summer classic movie audience a few weeks ago, and I drew a huge crowd who (mostly!) liked it very much. But TT's Fate is the Hunter went over even better.