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Time-Life Video

From Home Video

Background[edit]

Time-Life Video was the home video division of Time-Life Films, established in 1977 to distribute content from Time-Life Films, Time-Life Television, BBC, Masterpiece Productions, PBS, WGBH Educational Foundation, HBO, and a few other studios on the VHS, Betamax, and 16mm formats. Their most notable releases are Stagecoach (which, according to film review site Rotten Tomatoes, is their highest-rated title, at a 100% "fresh" critic rating), a western film released in 1939 that was directed by John Ford and starred John Wayne and Claire Trevor, and The Kinks: One for the Road, a live concert music video album by the rock and roll band, The Kinks. In 1982, the assets of the original Time-Life Video were rearranged to form Vestron Video, which reissued many of Time-Life's titles (including the aforementioned Stagecoach).

The rights to the company's library as of now are as follows:

  • Time-Life Films, Time-Life Television, HBO, and Masterpiece Productions in general: Home Box Office Inc.
  • British Broadcasting Corporation: BBC Worldwide
  • Public Broadcasting Service and WGBH Educational Foundation: PBS

Individual releases:

  • The Private Eyes: Hen's Tooth Video
  • My Brilliant Career: The Criterion Collection
  • The Kinks: One for the Road: BMG Rights Management (Sony Music Entertainment)
  • Rust Never Sleeps: BMG Rights Management (Sony Music Entertainment)

After Time-Life was absorbed into Vestron, Time-Life Video continues to exist as a mail-order service, similar to Avon and Columbia House. Time-Life distributed videos such as collections, as well as PBS shows, namely Nature, Barney & Friends and Nova. Most of Time-Life's VHS tapes do not contain any opening or closing previews, rather they just use their own openings and closings, and sometimes reuse print masters.

Distributed libraries[edit]

Released under the Time-Life Video label[edit]

1979[edit]

Catalog number Title Country of origin Original year Length Version MPAA rating Film format Tape count Tape break placement (if applicable) Color Released Note(s)
1000 Stagecoach
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1939 96 min Masterpiece Productions version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1001 Foreign Correspondent
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1940 120 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1002 The Woman of the Town
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1943 90 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1003 And God Created Woman France/Italy 1956 90 min Uncut English language version NR CinemaScope 1 N/A TBD June 1979 TBD
1005 Go Tell the Spartans
From Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation		 USA 1977 114 min Standard version R Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color June 1979
  • The original Avco Embassy logo that started the picture is intact.
1006 Slightly Honorable
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1939 86 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1007 Sundown
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1941 90 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1011 Trade Winds
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1938 94 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1013 Slumber Party '57
From The Cannon Group, Inc.		 USA 1976 89 min Standard version R TBD 1 N/A Color June 1979 TBD
1014 52nd Street
From Masterpiece Productions		 USA 1937 80 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Black and white June 1979 TBD
1017 Pepper: Agent OOX USA 1973 88 min Standard version R TBD 1 N/A Color June 1979 TBD
3000 The Lenny Bruce Performance Film/Thank You, Mr. Mask Man USA 1967 72 min Standard version NR Matted 1.66 1 N/A Black and white/Color June 1979 TBD
3001 HBO On Location: Young Comedians Jamboree
From Home Box Office		 USA 1977 76 min Standard version NR Video (NTSC-M) 1 N/A Color June 1979
  • Originally titled "The Second Annual Young Comedians Jamboree".
3003 HBO On Location: An Evening with Redd Foxx
From Home Box Office		 USA 1978 60 min Standard version NR Video (NTSC-M) 1 N/A Color June 1979 TBD

1980[edit]

Catalog number Title Country of origin Original year Length Version MPAA rating Film format Tape count Tape break placement (if applicable) Color Released Note(s)
1004 Good Guys Wear Black
From Mar Vista Productions		 USA 1978 96 min Standard version PG Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color January 12, 1980 TBD
1010 Picnic at Hanging Rock Australia 1975 115 min Standard version PG Matted 1.66 1 N/A Color January 12, 1980 TBD
3002 HBO On Location: An Evening with Billy Crystal
From Home Box Office		 USA 1979 60 min Standard version NR Video (NTSC-M) 1 N/A Color January 12, 1980 TBD
4001 Rust Never Sleeps USA 1979 111 min TBD NR Academy 1 N/A Color January 12, 1980 TBD

June 1980[edit]

This point is where Time-Life would retire their brown clamshells for any new release in favor of the slightly more common gatefold boxes with a neon Time-Life marquee inside the box and a rainbow colored banner on the front of the cover, which would become their standard packaging for future releases. At the time, the company also introduced a new catalog numbering system: TLV XXXX (XXXX indicates a four-digit numbering system; 4000 from The Kinks: One for the Road was given as an example of this).

Catalog numbering systems (all start with "TLV"):
1000 series: Feature films
2000 series: Short subjects (up to 60 min. in length)
3000 series: Stand-up comedy material
4000 series: Music material
5000 series: Standing Room Only specials
6000 series: Public Broadcasting Service and/or WGBH Educational Foundation programs
7000 series: British Broadcasting Corporation programs
8000 series: Media Home Entertainment and/or The Nostalgia Merchant releases


Catalog number Title Country of origin Original year Length Version MPAA rating Film format Tape count Tape break placement (if applicable) Color Released Note(s)
1008 My Brilliant Career Australia 1979 101 min Standard version G Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color June 25, 1980 Released on home media in the United States only a few months after being screened at the New York Film Festival on October 6, 1979, and being given a limited theatrical release in the United States on February 1, 1980.
1016 Hawmps!
From Mulberry Square Productions		 USA 1976 120 min Standard version G Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color June 25, 1980 TBD
2003 The Greatest Adventure: The Story of Man's Voyage
Narrated by Orson Welles with official NASA films		 USA 1979 54 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Color June 25, 1980 TBD
3004 Richard Pryor Filmed Live in Concert
From Home Box Office		 USA 1979 79 min Standard version NR Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color June 25, 1980 TBD
4000 The Kinks: One for the Road USA 1980 54 min Standard version NR Video (NTSC-M) 1 N/A Color June 25, 1980
  • The face label incorrectly lists the length as 60 minutes.

1981[edit]

Catalog number Title Country of origin Original year Length Version MPAA rating Film format Tape count Tape break placement (if applicable) Color Released Note(s)
1024 The Private Eyes
From New World Pictures		 USA 1980 ?? min TBD PG Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color 1981 TBD
1030 Tribute
From Pan-Canadian Films		 Canada 1980 125 min TBD PG TBD 1 N/A Color 1981 TBD
1033 Blonde Ambition USA 1981 84 min Standard version NR Academy 1 N/A Color 1981 Two packaging styles were released for this title: the standard gatefold packaging and the older brown clamshell packaging.
1036 The Changeling
From Associated Film Distribution		 Canada 1980 107 min Standard version R Matted 1.85 1 N/A Color 1981
  • The original Associated Film Distribution (AFD) logo that started the picture is intact.
  • Original 1970 MPAA rating card intact at the end.

Duplicators[edit]

See also[edit]

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