At some point, home DVD and Blu-ray releases may cease altogether with broadcast television and streaming the only way to bring movies into the home. That may be fine for the average consumer but not for collectors. Availability will then be totally at the whim of the copyright holder and licensee. Already we’ve seen streaming content disappear from streaming sites after just a few months. Storing streamed video in the cloud may be a way of holding onto product but cloud content, too, could disappear.

In 2011, filmmakers and film preservationists Brian Jamieson and Nick Redman founded Twilight Time, an independent DVD label that releases a limited quantity of classic films exclusively through Screen Archives Entertainment, although re-sales do find their way to Amazon and other sites, often at exorbitant prices. Originally focused on the Cinemascope films of Twentieth-Century-Fox from the ‘50s and ‘60s, by the end of 2011 the label signed a deal with Sony Pictures to release Columbia Pictures films as well. The Fox deal was expanded in 2013 to include films from the United Artists, Orion, Polygram and Cannon catalogues and films from MGM from 1986 to the present. By the end of 2014, Twilight Time also entered into a deal with England-based Film4 to release films from its catalogue. While initial releases were DVD only, later releases including Blu-ray as well as standard DVD, but now is almost exclusively Blu-ray. The label will not release a film on standard DVD that has previously been released in that format on DVD. Kino Lorber has recently announced that it will release standard DVDs only of several United Artists titles available on Blu-ray exclusively from Twilight Time.

The irony of the Twilight Time situation is that in order to fund the classic product Jamieson and Redman want to release and collectors want to buy, the label must also release newer, primarily action titles, that the wider public wants. These titles, which appeal to young people as much as older collectors, quickly sell out their allotted limited 3,000 copies. 1986’s Fright Night sold out within a week of its release in December 2011 and a 5,000 copy re-issue sold out in pre-orders nineteen days before its release on January 1, 2015. 1983’s Christine sold out within 7 hours and 9 minutes of its being available for pre-order. The 1988 remake of The Blob sold out within ten days of its release in October 2014. Oddly enough 1959’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, which sold out in two in July 2012, and was given a 5,000 copy re-release in 4K resolution in March 2015 has not yet sold out.

In contrast, the beautifully restored Blu-ray of 1955’s Picnic, released in January 2012, did not go out of print until April 2015. The ever popular Bye Bye Birdie, released in April 2012 did not go out of print until May, 2015. Even a more contemporary adult-leaning film such as those released in 1997 will not sell out as quickly as a title that appeals primarily to young people. 1997’s As Good As It Gets, released in June 2012, did not sell out until February 2015.

Among the titles still available are such gems as 1939’s Drums Along the Mohawk, (the oldest released film controlled by Twilight Time); 1943’s The Song of Bernadette; 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven; 1955’s Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and The Man from Laramie/ 1960’s Inherit the Wind; 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg; 1966’s A Man for All Seasons; 1967’s To Sir, With Love; 1968’s Oliver!; 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; 1972’s The Other; 1973’s The Way We Were; 1974’s Lenny; 1977’s Equus; 1979’s Breaking Away; 1983’s Under Fire; 1984’s The Bounty, 1989’s Crimes and Misdemeanors and Steel Magnolias; 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia and The Remains of the Day; 1995’s Richard III; and 1999’s Titus (the newest released title controlled by Twilight Time.)

Their release schedule has been particularly valuable to fans of Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand, whose film titles have been released beyond the one film I cited for each. Musicals are also well represented beyond Bye Bye Birdie and Oliver! .

There’s something very odd going on here. While there may not be a market for such titles as 1957’s The Wayward Bus or 1958’s The Roots of Heaven, the twenty-five films I cited are among the most popular films of all time, films that appeal to a wide swath of the general public or so I would have thought. It’s inconceivable to me that a collector wouldn’t want every one of those films and then some. While all of them have had prior release, most, if not all of them, were released years ago when reproduction technology wasn’t nearly as good as it is now. A true collector will always want the most pristine copy available provided it is reasonably priced.

Many of these releases include brand new commentaries, while some import the commentaries from previous releases. Many of them have isolated audio tracks of the film’s score. Other extras include full-length documentaries and the occasional availability of signed copies by directors and stars of the films. All contain informative booklets usually prepared by film historian Julie Krigo.

Among the joys of the collection have been the stunning black-and-white location cinematography on Judgment at Nuremberg and the vibrancy of the colors on Picnic, Journey to the Center of the Earth, A Man for All Seasons and Oliver! . The latter two simply take your breath away.

Sometimes the films themselves contain a surprise to two. A perfect example is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ends with Rod McKuen’s singing of his Oscar-nominated song, “Jean,” which was missing from the Fox DVD.

This week’s new releases include the Blu-ray releases of 1776 and The John Wayne Western Collection.