By Frank Lovece HBKAIOLNBLDATSIZNTING: Despite Renewed Interest, Only A Handful Of Buster Keaton’s Classic Comedies Are On Tape harlie Chaplin may be the quintessential silent film comedi- an, but Buster Keaton is the silents’ consummate clown. His Great Stone Face squeezes out pure, unthinking laugh- ter using the inexorable logic of nature. In The General, Sherlock, Jr., The Navigator and other masterpieces, Keaton is an in- nocent in a mechanical universe—often in universe-like mechanisms. Unlike slapstick’s other great clowns—Laurel & Hardy, the Key- stone Kops, Fatty Arbuckle—Keaton is not a buffoon. And unlike the eternal freshman Harold Lloyd (who with Keaton and Chaplin com- prised the box-office power trio of silent comedy), Keaton portrays characters whose travails and triumphs result less from nature’s ' benevolence than its miraculous clockwork construction. Keaton’s long career peaked in the 1920s, withered in the ’30s, then experienced a renewal that lasted until his death in 1966. Now he may be about to regain his rightful place next to Chaplin in silent comedy’s pantheon. This summer, PBS plans to broadcast a Keaton documentary produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, who also made The Unknown Chaplin. Raymond Rohauer, the controversial film archivist and distributor who controls the rights to virtually all of Keaton’s movies, has just uncovered what he describes as Keaton’s remaining lost film, the 1921 short Hard Luck. Rohauer’s long-in-progress Keaton biography, a major film retrospective, and possible video releases are also in the works. Yet despite the hints of a revival, Keaton’s video legacy is unfortu- nately incomplete. Only four of his thirteen features from the 1920s and a handful of his shorts from 1917 to 1923 appear on video. VCR owners can also see him in his later years, as a supporting player in everything from Sunset Boulevard to Beach Blanket Bingo. Keaton video odds-and-ends also include a 1965 Canadian short and a fascina- tingly awful local TV show made in the ’50s. Regarding the video future of what’s not presently in circulation, Rohauer says tantalizing- ly, “We're in no mad rush. Timing is everything.” “Raymond doesn’t want them out and around on videotape,” ex- The Great Stone Face in ‘The Navigator’
plains Keaton’s 66-year-old widow, Elea- would’ve paid Arbuckle for the chance. he Sad.-@ved Buster of ‘Spite M.triage’ nor, now Rohauer’s business partner. “He By the time he was drafted in June 1918, says the films will lose their value if every- structure of Cops with boulders and would- one can have them in their homes. Also, he Buster had shot a dozen shorts with be brides. can’t bear the thought of someone else Arbuckle and was a hot young star. After making money from them.” the army, he moved to Los Angeles, In Go West (1925), Keaton—simultane- where Comique had relocated. Despite of- ously tweaking and paying homage to What is it about Keaton that has traveled fers, he later said, of $1,000 a week from Chaplin—essays a tragi-comic character, so well from vaudeville to video? Film critic both Warner and Fox studios, Keaton Friendless, whose companion and comic Andrew Sarris hinted at the answer when stayed with Arbuckle and his partner/pro- foil is a cow. The highly successful mistak- he observed that Chaplin and Keaton rep- ducer Joe Schenck. en-identity comedy Battling Butler (1926) resent the difference between “the func- gave Keaton the cachet for Joe Schenck— tion of things and the meaning of things, After three more shorts with Keaton, now the shining knight of United Art- between eccentricity and mysticism, be- Arbuckle was farmed out to Paramount. ists—to invest half-a-million dollars in tween man as machine and man as angel.” Schenck in turn let Buster write and direct Keaton’s pet project: The General. But that hardly explains the unmitigated (with Eddie Cline) his own two-reel shorts. fun of watching Buster being chased by Keaton’s genius flowered. The General (1926) is routinely cited as armies of cops, angry brides, or head-hunt- one of the greatest movies of the American ers. Or dodging vindictive boulders (in a The 19 two-reelers he concocted for cinema. Essentially two long chases sequence from Seven Chances that inspired Metro and First National between 1920 framed with expository material, it pre- the opening of Raiders ofthe LostArk). You and 1923 showcased not only his long-in- sents Keaton as Civil War-era train engi- don’t need to contemplate why Keaton do- stilled comic talent, but an intuitive grasp of neer Johnnie Gray. He and his train, The ing brilliant things with a steam engine, a cinema. Keaton fell in love with the cam- General, are considered too valuable for swordfish, or some wackadoo device for era, tinkering with it to expand its creative Johnnie to fight for the Confederacy. Mis- plucking eggs out of boiling water is funny. capabilities. In The Playhouse (1921), takenly thinking him a coward, his sweet- You just laugh. Keaton used multiple exposures to play heart Annabelle spurns him. every role ina minstrel show, as well as the BORN IN A TRUNK orchestra and audience! In Cops (1922), a Union spies make off with the train (and simple misunderstanding is taken to ex- Annabelle), planning to destroy the tracks Joseph Frank Keaton was born to medi- tremes as lonely city landscapes are sud- and telegraph lines behind them. Johnnie cine-show performers on Oct. 4, 1895 in denly filled with impossible numbers of po- gives chase, first in a handcar, then in a Piqua, Kansas. The Two Keatons often licemen chasing a bewildered, acrobatic, second train. He finally kidnaps The Gen- kept their first-born infant bedded down in stone-faced fellow. It ends with the cops eral (and Annabelle) back, with Union an offstage trunk while they performed. It nabbing: Buster and (on complete prints) a troops in frantic pursuit. The film over- was an unconventional crib, but Buster final shot of a tombstone topped by his whelms the viewer with one miraculously was an unconventional kid. He earned his familiar hat. This surreal, almost disturbing inventive gag after another. It was, at the nickname, so legend goes, after falling touch ; et Keaton apart from his contempo- time, a flop. down a flight of boarding-house stairs. Fel- raries. Yet Keaton’s vision made him a low performer Harry Houdini picked up the superstar with only polite but steady After a Los Angeles premiere on Dec. unhurt, laughing infant and told his mother, box-office receipts, much like Woody Al- 22, 1926 and a Tokyo premiere on New “That’s some buster your baby took!” len’s present profitability. Year’s Eve, The General opened in New York City in February 1927 to scathing Buster made his stage debut at nine After succeeding in a full-length comedy reviews. The New York Telegram called it months, crawling from the trunk to tug at (1920’s The Saphead) over which he had no “tired and stodgy.” The World stated, “It his father’s leg and earn his first round of behind-the-scenes control, Keaton was is one of the boasts of Mr. Keaton that applause. The Two Keatons soon graduat- given full rein to produce features for Met- throughout his pictures he never cracks a ed to vaudeville with Buster as The Human ro/MGM in 1923. He often used co-direc- smile. In the case of The General, neither Mop. This routine ended with Buster’s fa- tors and a team of writers, but from then did I.” However, the Herald Tribune re- ther, Joe, grabbing a valise handle sewn until his decline five years later, Keaton’s into his son’s clothing and throwing the movies were unmistakably his own. June 1987 Video 53 child wildly into the wings. Schenck had formed Buster Keaton Pro- ductions, whose films would be distributed It sounds cruel, but Buster loved it. The by established studios. (Apparently at three-year-old budding star also learned Buster’s naive insistence, the star was not that a deadpan expression drew bigger a shareholder.) The company was dis- solved in 1940; the firm’s assets were sold laughs. to Rohauer in 1971. In 1917, Myra Keaton left her alcoholic, THE KEATON FEATURES battering husband. Buster moved to New York to try his luck as a solo. His agent, Keaton constructed the first of his clas- Max Hart, also handled the popular film sic features, The Three Ages (1923), essen- comedian Fatty (Roscoe) Arbuckle. Hart tially as three shorts with the same players got Keaton a top-dollar part in a Broadway performing the same story in the Stone revue, but a few days before rehearsals Age, ancient Rome, and Prohibition-era began, Keaton ran into Arbuckle. As Elea- America. His first true feature was Our nor Keaton relates, “Roscoe said, ‘Why Hospitality (1923), a comic thriller about don’t you come down and watch us make a genteel murder plans in the South. movie? You'll have fun.’ Buster went down [to Arbuckle’s Comique Films studio on The films became increasingly, dazzling- East 48 Street] and the next thing Buster ly inventive. In Sherlock, Jr. (1924), knew he was in front of the camera work- Keaton is a movie-theater projectionist ing.” who dreams he’s entered the movie. (This is 60 years before The Purple Rose of Cat- The project was a one-reel comedy ro!) The Navigator (1924) uses an aban- called The Butcher Boy. Keaton loved it. doned freighter more as a character than.a He got out of his lucrative contract with the prop. Seven Chances (1925) reprises the revue to earn $40 a week in the movies. He
TPA eieeeepc teeaten TN Se eae DScanna ORS een aOR OrRowe AERO eeeer SS91, -Fal | marked that, “perhaps, judged by and opened L.A.’s Coronet as an art-house/retrospective theater. other standards, it is a fine and The Coronet’s bill mixed every- subtle thing with ‘epic qualities’.” thing from classic silents to the homoerotic works of Kenneth An- The relative failure of The Gen- eral did not derail Buster’s career; the funny College (1927) and ger. One day in 1954, The General Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) fol- was the film du jour. lowed. But when Schenck left in- “Buster hadn’t seen The Gener- dependent production, Buster alin years,” says Eleanor, ‘and he signed with MGM as a star and, wanted me to see it. Raymond rec- tragically, gave up creative control ognized Buster and their friendship of his films. Neither The Camera- started.” man (1928) nor Spite Marriage “I was in the projection room,” (1929) matched his previous Rohauer remembers. “I got a ring work. that Buster Keaton was in the lob- Compounding matters, Buster by. I go down and there he is with began developing a serious drink- Eleanor. The next day I met with ing problem in 1925. His populari- him at his home. I didn’t realize we ty continued to decline through were going to join forces. But I Free and Easy, Doughboys (1930) realized he had this I-don’t-care at- and Parlor, Bedroom and Bath titude about his stuff. He said, ‘It’s and Sidewalks of New York (1931). valueless. I don’t own the rights’.” MGM teamed the increasingly Rohauer, who has amassed a alcoholic Buster with Jimmy Du- huge library of both silent and rante, and they made three films sound films, decided to mount a together: The Passionate Plumb- Keaton crusade, collecting and er, Speak Easily (1932) and What, “1 never had the pride other actors are afflicted with.” saving from decay as many films as No Beer? (1933). Ironically these he could find. Keaton himself had lame efforts were sizable hits. prints of at least six films: The Buster grew increasingly unreliable. For one thing, I’d had ten years to forget Three Ages, Sherlock, Jr., Steamboat Bill, During the shooting of What, No Beer? my old grievances. For another, I never Jr., College (missing one reel), and shorts Keaton, in an alcoholic stupor, flew with his The Boat (1921) and My Wife’s Relations nurse, Mae Scribbens Hawley, to Mexico, had the sort of pride other actors are afflict- ed with.” (1922). “There is no other known print of where they married. Finally, in 1933, with BACK ON TRACK The Boat,” says Rohauer. “And that one was rapidly decomposing.” Rohauer and a few months left on his seven-year con- Keaton’s inventive gags soon earned Keaton began to transfer the films from tract, MGM fired him. Keaton was out of him raises; he also began to lay off the highly combustible nitrate stock to safety work. It was a hell of a year. Arbuckle passed away; Keaton was so out of it, re- booze. Occasional acting jobs turned up; negative stock. (No one knew it at the ports author Tom Dardis in Keaton: The Nelson Eddy once recalled that Buster was time, but MGM, according to biographer Man Who Wouldn’t Lie Down, that Mae fired from one 1940 film for stealing scenes Dardis, had saved all of Buster’s 1920-26 sometimes turned courtesan to raise cash. from the stars. features, as well as his first eight two- The only viable job offer was from Educa- While a gagwriter, Keaton appeared in a reelers.) tional Films. For $5,000 a shot, Buster parodic melodama, The Villain Still Pur- But saving a film is not the same as starred in 16 horrendous two-reel come- sued Her (1940), and as the Indian Lone- releasing it on video, and Rohauer has cho- dies between 1933 and 1937. (RKO Home some Polecat in the 1940 adaptation of Li’] sen to limit the distribution of the works he Video appended two of them—/ail Bait Abner. He had bits in other films, including controls to film screenings. In addition, the and Mixed Magic—to a pair of Katharine a memorable moment in the classic Sunset status of three Keaton features and five Hepburn film releases, Christopher Strong Boulevard (1959). Word went around that shorts that the U.S. Copyright Office says if not the star he once was, Keaton was at are in the public domain (PD), and which and Morning Glory, although the packaging doesn’t specifically mention them.) least dependable. This set the stage for a have been released by various video labels, Between 1939 and 1941, he made ten vaunted “comeback” in Charlie Chaplin’s is gray. Rohauer states that since College more “cheapies” for Columbia, home of the poignant Limelight (1952). and Steamboat Bill, Jr. opened in England, Three Stooges. He also made a well-re- Keaton was soon deluged with TV offers a country covered by the Berne In- ceived French vehiclet,he recently redisc- and more small movie roles. He even had a ternational Copyright Convention, they overed Le Roi des Champs Elysees (1934), weekly half-hour comedy series (1950- were automatically protected here. Kim but it got no U.S. distribution. A British 1951) on Los Angeles’ KTTV. About 40 Brown, an information specialist with the bomb (The Invader/An Old Spanish Cus- episodes were broadcast to the West Copyright Office, asserts that “the mere tom) that unfortunately did play here Coast; it was reportedly popular, although display of works in a foreign country does helped bury Buster even more. contemporaneous reviews and a viewing of not in itself constitute protection.” On the a surviving example (Life with Buster other hand, even if a film is PD, no one can Mae filed for divorce in July 1935. By Keaton, Shokus Video) confirm how 1937, Keaton was on the MGM payroll asa copy a particular print or negative that you lowly staff writer. He got $100 a week to bad—albeit fascinatingly surreal—Bust- own without permission. If you possess pen gags for Red Skelton and others, in- er’s TV sojourn was. the last existing copy of a PD work, then cluding the Marx Brothers, who derided The strongest impetus for Keaton’s re- his routines. that’s that. You control it. newal was undoubtedly his third marriage, “Y’m always surprised,” Keaton later to Eleanor, in 1940. Eleanor’s love and One of Rohauer’s harshest critics is Paul wrote, “when people ask me if it was a support solidified Keaton’s life. Fourteen Killiam, a rival film distributor who has liti- years later, Raymond Rohauer solidified comedown to take a job like that at such a gated at least two suits against Rohauer that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme small salary at the studio where I’d been a his past by securing for Keaton and himself Court. It is Killiam’s copy of The General $3,000 a week star. The answer is no. I virtually all the rights to Keaton’s films. that Blackhawk Video distributes. In the had not the slightest sense of humiliation. Rohauer had founded a film society continued on page 119 54 Video June 1987
cisioneist le ofa natics threatening America. And hellwasteno timeae out the trash OG Ae WORLD V)Le eMCREDS PICTURES aed BALCOR imINVESTORS i i aweTeProduction ; : , ; ; ‘Starring — = bes can €. ene EME WrittenbyMICHAEL PATRICK COONAN ERMAN -Co-producedByBARRY BERNARDI For additional information. cirdje Ngha.z on. Reader Service Care THUR M SARKISSIAN » Priduced by RORERT 0: PETERS Trinected by GARY SHERMAN
Kidcorders, Playroom VCRs, Interactive Robots, or parents television has often gave kids, like the rest of us, alternatives not their parents are ready. Toy compa- nies are introducing sophisticated, easy- been an “electronic babysitter,” a to broadcast TV. Yet children’s relation- to-use hardware—TVs, VCRs, even a ship to the TV remained largely passive. camcorder—that kids can use without pa- way to keep children quiet. The Once mom or dad inserted a tape and pushed “play, ” all a kid could do was watch. rental supervision, plus bears, dolls, and VCR gave parents more control robots that respond to light and sound cues over what children saw, while the tremen- Not any more, however. A new genera- from television sets. VCR board games, a dous proliferation of videos for children has tion of innovative toys and programs is let parents buy and rent more entertaining preparing to thrust upon children full citi- new success with both children and adults, and educational programs, decide how are rapidly multiplying (see sidebar). Even much and when kids should watch, and zenship in the video culture—whether or aTeTe mie EsvVnyiitsddeeteroeotmgataiom(ny$ems1e1nf0cto)ar,rSthryBiis-adttngeedecmash)i,’p(sl$aS1yFe5.agmaeiTaloccyhpo):n,tFrSuoPnelrgeafSsittsLinmcieakgsnhst’asnmPdahta‘STsph(eor$rre4te5sa)nSPdatanodSdopgi(Aen$xsnl2’ao0knVe’eCrsaR’cshT)ge,ac‘hAmageanFtdoh(ra$cF4ei0sC)hh,rreoirbsN-otiPtirnesit:cee(n’B$ds2eo5h’0isP)ni.dxZealtpvhpieseirSocnarnecedan’mRcoobVroCtdRiecrgaO(mp$ee1r5a0)t(.i$n2g0BoetBatucodhmd):.y Center: Sega ($180 with Nintendo Sega videogame 56 Video June 1987
3D Games Give Childhood A Hi-tech Twist the videogame console, the hottest toy of Some of Pixelvision’s innovations, like the The optional WonderVision Smart the early ’80s, has returned to entertain a fixed recording head, were explored dur- Stand, for $149, is a simple docking system ing early efforts to build a videotape re- with a single plug for a wall outlet. Other new generation of kids. corder in the 1950s. But this camcorder’s WonderVision modules can be snapped The most astonishing new video toy is low cost—one-tenth of most adult mod- into the stand. Options include an AM/FM els—is bound to attract a lot of attention. radio and cassette player, a remote speak- Fisher-Price’s Pixelvision, a lightweight er, and wireless headphones, each for $49. camcorder that will sell for an amazing THE REAL THING ACD player is also planned for the system. The $800 cost of the entire system puts $150 when it is introduced this fall. Adult Lots of kids have TVs in their own WonderVision out of the range of most rooms, and a few even have their own parents, but if you’re tired of the kids camcorders typically cost $1,000 to VCRs. Soon, they may be able to start watching cartoons on the family set and $2,000. Of course, at this price, you want to get a system just for them, it’s shouldn’t expect the features or picture Worlds of Wonder’s WonderVision something to consider. quality of an adult camcorder. Pixelvision’s with TV, VCR, and Smart Stand. SHOOTING BACK black & white image has only 120 vertical their own mini-media dens with hardware Since the debut of He-Man and the Mas- by 90 horizontal pixels. They produce a crafted for kidsize spaces. Worlds of Won- fairly sharp image on a small TV screen, der, the folks who gave us Teddy Ruxpin ters of the Universe in 1983, toy companies but a slightly fuzzy one on larger sets. The and Lazer Tag, are trying to move into have used cartoon shows as vehicles for kids’ rooms with a modular entertainment selling toys. Now, they’re taking the next video also suffers from a slight ripple, and system designed for children. WonderVi- step, making toys—including robots, the sound from the unidirectional micro- sion, due out later this year for $499, com- spaceships, and animals—that actually phone is a little whooshy. However, the bines a 13-inch color TV and a VHS video- respond to the action on the screen. image is watchable and the camcorder is cassette player in one cabinet. The TV simple to use. Kids are bound to enjoy features automatic color tuning, a remote Three companies, Mattel (the firm be- making their own videos, and the $150 control with on-screen channel display, hind He-Man), Impulse, and Axlon, are pricetag may seduce a few adults as well. programmable channel selection, and cable offering competing interactive products. compatibility. Both the TV and the VCP Mattel’s Captain Power and the Soldiers of The plastic-encased Pixelvision weighs are available separately for $299 each and the Future is a weekly program mixing live amere two pounds with tape and batteries. are housed in rounded cabinets that come action and computer animation. The high- There are only five controls: record, play, in red, ivory, blue, or charcoal. light of the toy line is a $35 jet that fires at rewind, stop/eject, and on/off. All are in the on-screen enemies from up to ten feet handle under the cassette hatch. It records away and scores points each time it hits the on any high-bias C-90 audiocassette with a target. On-screen enemies can return fire fixed recording head that whips through and deduct points. The jet’s cockpit ejects the tape at 13.7 inches per second, for 5.5 when the score hits zero. minutes of video recording on each side. It will run for five hours on six AA batteries Two other accessories can also fire at packed into the camcorder’s handle. It can the screen: the Power Base, which is Cap- also be powered through an AC adapter. tain Power’s fortress, and the Interlocker, the home of his foe, Lord Dread. The four- The fixed focus reportedly works from inch Captain Power figure comes with a four inches away to infinity, and the lens Power On Energizer that lights up on a cue from the show and causes the jets and adjusts for indoor or outdoor use. It has a fortresses to gain or lose points. Each simple optical viewfinder and LED indica- weekly Captain Power installment will tors to keep tabs on light levels and battery have five minutes of such interactive foot- age. Mattel will also release three 15-min- power. The Pixelvision comes with an RF ute VHS cassettes with Battle Training adapter that allows it to be connected to scenes. The toys operate independently any TV set, although a 4.5-inch black & from the TV show so kids can fire at each white monitor is available for an additional other’s toys. $50. Impulse’s entry is a daily cartoon called “Kids won't be intimidated by the cam- Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs that in- teracts with a car and a spaceship through corder, so they can concentrate on the an infrared receiver hooked to the TV. The subject of the video rather than on getting June 1987 Video 57 the camcorder to work for them,” ob- serves Fisher-Price product design man- ager Bob Fisher. Though color recording is at least a few years down the road, Pixelvi- sion has already been hailed as a break- through in video technology—a compli- ment rarely accorded a low-end product.
~ Se Mattel’s Captain Power jets ($35 each) let kids shoot back at the bad guys tes — Select’s Video Voyagers ($70) teaches — in a weekly, live-action TV show. kids math and spelling. $50 Interactor spaceship lets a child shoot Let’s help him out.” Again, all the toys cartoon series called Tech Force and the back at villains on the screen while keeping have independent controls, so kids can play Moto Monsters. Tech Force, a $250 set of score. The infrared device also controls a with them without the TV. The car and the robots, imitates the action of the charac- $50 vehicle, turning it on if it’s near the TV Interactor will debut before Christmas, ters on screen by responding to inaudible and racing it around the living room. with Tumbleweed to follow next year along tones. The program controls the red with a line of videocassettes and other still Moto-Monsters while the child operates Tumbleweed, a talking prairie dog, re- unspecified toys. the blue Tech Force robots. When the ceives voice cues from the broadcasts and show isn’t on, the robots are controlled by talks to child viewers during the show, Axlon, the company owned by Atari saying things like “Saber Rider’s in trouble. continued after next page founder Nolan Bushnell, will introduce a VCR Games: The Tangiers, and Rangoon. Clue II fea- action and will be released pending ap- Next Generation tures 18 different cases and 40 murders proval from the respective leagues. When VIDEO last looked into VCR on its 60-minute tape, which sells for Prices are not yet available. board games (“Let the Games Begin,” $39. Parker’s other new entry, Let's Go CSI Video will also have a line of Nov. ’86), toy companies were still to the Races, lets players bet on 40 dif- learning how to use the video format. ferent horse races. This $29 game sports games, with promotional sup- comes with party invitations, and fast * forwards to random parts of the tape so port from famous ex-jocks. Mickey the game can be played over and over. Mantle’s All American Baseball uses Parker Brothers’ ‘Clue If.’ They succeded well enough with the Spinnaker is trying its hand at mys- cards, dice, and 60 minutes of footage public to inspire a new generation of tery games with Agatha Christie: Be- of the Mick to simulate the national pas- games. Here’s a look at this year’s ef- hind the Screen and Ellery Queen: Oper- time. Pele’s World Class Soccer pack- forts. ation Murder. Each tape features a sin- ages a similar set-up with a 60-minute tape of the Brazilian star in action. Parker Brothers, whose Clue is still gle murder, but the clues to the culprit’s the model for VCR games, has devel- identity change each time the game is Milton Bradley’s VCR games are de- oped a sequel, Clue II: Murder in Dis- played, allowing 48 possible resolu- guise. It takes the familiar characters tions. Each game sells for $20. signed for three-to six-year-olds. They like Miss Scarlet and Colonel Mustard feature simple game play and lack out of Boddy Mansion and moves them Pressman’s The Three Stooges game, fast-forwarding, rewinding, and paus- to more exotic locations like Paris, ostensibly for adults, requires competi- ing. Candy Land and Chutes and Lad- tors to play cards against each other ders are animated adaptations of the fa- based on the on-screen abuse per- miliar board games, while Disney's Car- petrated by Moe, Larry, and Curly. toon Classics and Disney's Movie Clas- (Shemp, alas, doesn’t appear.) ‘“Nyuk sics require children to match game nyuk” cards ask players to cross their eyes, bop other players on the head, pieces with scenes from Snow White, yell “soitanly,” or mimic other Stooge activity. Good, stupid fun for $40. Cinderella, Pinocchio, and Mickey VCR Enterprises had one of last Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy car- year’s surprise hits with NFL VCR toons. Each game retails for $20. Quarterback, which mixed football Scholastic/Lorimar also has a series of VCR games for kids using the popular strategy with clips from NFL games. Colorforms characters. Each Col- This year, VCR Enterprises will try to orforms Learn 'n’ Play Adventure duplicate its success with NBA Basket- ball, NHL Hockey, and Major League comes with an animated tape. Kids imi- Baseball. All use footage of the pros in tate the action of the on-screen figures by moving the Colorforms along the game board. The games cost $25 each. —Louis Kesten
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Pleasant Allen Stret Video, State College Pik A Flick Co., Toms River Mikes Video |, State College COLORADO MARYLAND Bound Brook Video Studio, Bound Video Vision Theater, Mount Joy Video Connection, Somerset OQ Video Country Inc., Denver Video Tek Inc., Temple Hills Video Biz, New Brunswick Home Video Center, Lancaster Video Visions, Northglenn Gude Video, Rockville Video 54 Inc., Lancaster Picaflic, Avon Video Store, Silver Spring NEW YORK Video Connection, Quakertown OQ Columbia Video Center, Columbia New Video, New York Video Library, Philadelphia CONNECTICUT Greetings & Readings, Towson Rare Bird Video, New York Videotape Library IX, Philadelphia OQ National Video, Avon Laser Video, New York Top Hat Video, Frazier OQ Movies And More, Manchester MASSACHUSETTS Video Stop Inc., New York West Chester Video, West Chester OQ Video Galaxy X, Einfield Video House Inc., Hadley Vaccaros Video, Reading OQ Playtime Video Inc, Newington Video Dimensions, Auburn Classic Video, New York OQ Robar’s Video, Branford Video Nook, North Brookfield Tower Video, New York RHODE ISLAND OQ Video World of Derby, Derby Video Dimensions, Southbridge Giffen Video Corp., Staten Island National Video, Middletown Video Movies of Monroe, Monroe Sake Video Take, Natick Captain Video, Staten Island Video Ecetra, Middletown Video Connection, Bridgeport Video Station, Woburn Video Investers Inc., Staten Island Video Movies of Brookfield, Brookfield Video Revolution, Andover SOUTH CAROLINA Candlewood Video, New Fairfield Act 1 Video Inc., Dracut Popcorn & Movies, Bronx Showbiz Video Sales, North Myrtle Beach Video Connection of Riverdale, Riverdale Video Showcase, Teja DELAWARE Video Connection, Saugas Bay Electronics, Bronx Family Flicks Unlimited, Amesbury Prime Video, Bronx Star Video, Larchmont Video Station, Wilmington Video Biz Northshore, Gloucester County Video Inc., Elmsford SOUTH DAKOTA OQ Towne Video, Fenwick Island Action Video, Salem Plaza Video, Pleasantville Video Pro, Spearfish Towne Video, Milford Video Ventures Inc., Hingham Video Scape, Middletown TEXAS OQ Towne Video, Rehoboth Beach Avenue Video, Malden Future Video, New Hyde Park DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Westend Video, Waltham Arthans Home Video, Port Washington Video Store, Carrollton e) Savrez Inc./Metro Video Centers, Washington TS V Video, Medford Parkway Video & Electron Mart, Brooklyn Audio Video Plus, Houston OQ Video Biz, Washington Video Biz, Needham Shore Road Video, Brooklyn Sci-Fi & Screams Video, Willis OQ Home Video Center, Plymouth Video Star, Flushing Northwest Video Club, San Antonio O FLORIDA Video Paradise, Plymouth Video Village, Whitestone Video Station, Cedar Park Everything Video, Tallahassee Mr. Video, New Bedford Video Cinema, Bayside Video Video, Pensacola National Video, North Dartmouth Video Connection, Bayside UTAH National Home Video, Tavares MICHIGAN Movies Ill, Littleneck Video Flicks, Ozone Park OQ Video Express, Palm Bay New York Video World, Farmington Hills Video Plus, Richmond Hill VERMONT Variety Records & Video, Miami Video Connection, Farmington Hills Future Video, Mineola Hollywood Video, S. 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Toy Chest a programmable computer console that the technology “creates two classes of chil- who don’t have the robots won't feel left comes with them. Separate video and au- dren: those who can afford the toys and out.” Captain Power's interactive se- dio cassettes with the signals will also be those who can’t.” Even Impulse’s Paul sequences, says Mattel’s Candace Irving, available. The Captain Power, Saber Rid- Roberts admits that “it’s kind of like re- “will be seamlessly integrated within the er, and Tech Force shows should premier mote control in reverse. Instead of the show,” so kids who don’t have the jets this fall on syndicated stations. human controlling the TV, the TV controls won't know what they’re missing. The toy the human.” companies, meanwhile, are proceeding full The programs are already stirring a con- steam ahead, as the Federal Communica- troversy. Rather than inviting creative Phil Quigley, a spokesman for Axlon, tions Commission has approved their plans play, argues the Academy of Pediatrics, disagrees. “You don’t need the show to to broadcast signals to their own toys. the toys and shows limit children’s re- play the game, and you don’t need the toys sponses. Peggy Charren, president of Ac- to watch the show,” he argues. “The cues WHAT IS INTERACTIVE? tion for Children’s Television, objects that on the program are imperceptible, so kids Some of Mattel’s and Axlon’s competi- THE POWER Revitalize your camcorder or portable VCR tors have complained that their use of the NGL CNC] = with the replacement batteries you've been word “interactive” is a misnomer because searching for! the child’s play doesn’t affect the on-screen A new line of action. Worlds of Wonder claims that its products de- POWER EXTENSION new Teddy Ruxpin series will allow the signed to extend child to influence the outcome. Details of the performance VDO-PAK’s complete line of replacement batteries supplement the life of the program were still top-secret at of your cam- presstime. corder through even the oldest camcorder and portable VCR. These are the batteries you innovation, haven't been able to find before that will keep your camcorder/VCR in Meanwhile, Select Merchandise is in- quality, and de- troducing Video Voyagers, an educational pendability. top shape for a guaranteed year! Ifyou can’t locate VDO-PAK’s extensive game that will feature that second level of replacement battery line—ask your dealer. Tell him VDO-PAK has the interactivity. The basic module, priced at AN TIE power extension your camcorder/VCR needs! $70, is a keyboard attached to a spaceship, which houses Victor and Vicki Voyager. Manufactured EQUIVALENT TO The spaceship connects to a VCR. Over- lays for the keyboard correspond to a se- only b Sony NP-1 ries of videotapes. In the tapes, Victor and VDO-PAK RCA NB-009 Vicki appear on-screen and ask the child to rele lett JVC NBP-1 answer questions using the keyboard. The JVC NBP-4 tape then jumps forward or back depending (vpo-Pak) JVC NBP-8 on the child’s response. Portions of the JVC PBP-1 tape are also chosen at random so that the Sony NP-22 game varies each time it is played. The Sony BP-60 eyes and mouths of the figures in the spaceship move in sync with the audio. Panasonic LCR-1812 Additional tapes will cost $20 each. Panasonic LCS-2012 Select declined to discuss the indexing Panasonic PV-BP80 and coding system that allows the VCR to fast forward to appropriate sections of the Panasonic PV-BP20M tape, but it will use the same system in its RCACB-120 upcoming Video Challenger. Priced at $30, it consists of a light gun the player uses to Now Available Matsushita (Olympus) 8mm engage in battle with footage from war Hitachi (Pentax) 8mm movies or computer animations. The wire- 87* less gun works as far away as 20 feet and 300* automatically keeps score. It may not be as educational as Video Voyagers, but the P.0. Box 290969 ~ CES Booth 1756 *not pictured coding system lets the VCR randomly se- Port. Orange, lect battle scenes from the supplied tape. Florida 32029 Outfit your camcorder and portable VCR with the products that support “We could conceivably program any mo- Toll Free U.S.A. the professionalism of your video hobby—only from VDO-PAK Products. tion picture or TV footage for use with the 800-874-5906 Video Challenger,” claims Select president Jack Winters. Fc2aiNCRSoiodne3aenr.dfraciovdldtrieeimcroaentailon, Lewis Galoob’s two interactive toys en- Fla: 904-756-9770 courage children to sing along with vid- eotapes. Both the Baby Talk and Smarty Bear dolls, which each cost $80, talk back to the TV when tethered to a VCR viaa $50 transmitter. As the dolls’ eyes and mouths move on cue, the tapes teach children about numbers, the alphabet, grammar, manners, and the like through participa- tory songs and games. The dolls can also talk without being connected to the TV. Another educational toy designed for continued after next page 60 Video June 1987
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TIODEXGH{iFi = 8.:29 1H120OUSS.H.EG. :HiFi 62.25——«SODESHG iFi ‘;as any bis GE 9-9610 1100* > 1420 GOLD HiFi ie Aaa ce HRX451W/CPRO 8.29 1830 EESSXHHiGFi 55..2999 1571 DD 209 GE 9-9710 VHS-C 999 || 7TR11X66P00RHOGWX/C 1T1111662000 EXG PRO 676...896999 17B11A66S00F S1.6H0.G. 6.29 L500 55..7999 GE 9-9712 1029 EG 75..4859 LL873500 EESSXXHHiiFFii 64/1541 319 GE 9-9806 FEH 1039 -| 1L172500 BHOGXPROW/C 750EG 4:19 BASF 160 H.G. 6.89 Senet: a 128/1571 439 MAGNAVOX 8292w/c 3=—-929 L750 GOLD HiFi MEMOREX PROw/c =4.99 MAGNAVOX 8293 w/c =:1099 L750 HGX PRO 750 EXG 4.69 8MM 90 Min. 6.99 PROL500 8MM 30 Min. 5.69 JVC 120 3.69 8MM 120 Min 7.69 1902 MONITOR 249 MAG 8297 VHSC 1049 BO PROL500 MAGNAVOX 8294 949 rious..S. ™ 3.: 99 JIVCVHSC H SHG 41449 120 UAG HiiFFi 3i30 ALL GOODS WITH 1120 EHG 4.99 SKC T120 3.69 eee is VHS-C GOLD JVCGRC7UVHS-Cw/e 391029 8MM 2HR EOENEwWAWYSENOURoNWCOMoOoNTT1LLWo17I7IM25GnSU020OO0MoHUHHHSHiioDNFFIDiiPoPRRNcROROoWNM/WnCNCOo5 DoO=o=Do76485.....nU3223499999oDn TSCRKRAECIRWPRITOYN1DD4S0ECARSSES 1621.9274...(9999555&&UU&PPUP TT11117i1252280000EE3SSPRx0O 7CC53,..AA997LL999LL MANUFACTURERS 88MMMM6090 MMiinn.. JVC GRC 9U WOW! NEW! U.SSi.Ag.h WARRANTY ZENITH 6200 VHS-C 859 ZENITH 7100 HiFi 1289 ZENITH BESCOR CANON PIONEER SONY NEC EMA8U 1269 W/CANON AV PROCESSORS L100 269 VR 1810 269 VMT 275 249 |TRP25TRIPOD 54.95 PROJECTION SETS $L.250 279 RCA CPR 100 w/c 1039 VMT 285 280 | NC2 59.00 RCACMR 200 w/c 939 VR 1820 299 VR 1870 379 vVMMTT 239905 330190 | WLIEDNESKIATND TELEPHOT69O.95 |600 USA WT1Y8 AUCDAIRO SSTYESRTEEOSMS SHELP70100 29989° RCA CMR 300 w/c 1189 VR 2230 439 VMT 395 DISC PLAYERS HFP 200 209 VR 3220 499 VMT 400 409 |SAKAR WIDELENS 89.95 |710 COW LASER DISCS SL.450 399 HITACHI VM5000 w/c 1149 VR 3300 565 VMT 590 430 | SAKARTELELENS 89.95 med ke HIT VM50 VHS-C w/c 1069 VR 4100 649 409 HIT VM2100 1049 PENTAX PC800 wow! VR 4100Y 689 VMT595 419 PVP2A700NASONIelCe VeMeEn2 S1t18a9r SANSUI eSLeHnF 900 6b0s9 ‘|SLHF650 479 VM 6200 859 VVMMTT 663700 5C5A9LL ||ppvy 11336643 226499 TYPEWRITERS Sxv1000 365 | SL750 719 MINOLTA CR8000 wow! 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ADAPTER 5900 509 GXNBU 400 PV 300 w/c 1199 KV 2080R 6-A/V WIRES OUTPUT |PV320 1099 MINOLTA VIDCRAFT 569 7-AN WIRES INPUT 5330 309 GRCQU cALL KV 2084R 659 8-SHOULDER STRAP 4320 299 | AIR fo ON MEPueaOD Me gayBll beeing 339 |KV2775R 9-CARRY HANDLE soasrncGs.E 3 839 10-PROTECTIVE HOOD HITACHI 5026 WOW 280° |CONDITIONERS TO PRINT $ i 1269 11-PROTECTIVE LENS COVER 1100 259 7320 HiFi 349° 12-BLANK TAPE FREDERICKS | mveo 5Heaps |4/V PROC. 27 ccovs 659 13-ENGLISH INSTRUCTION BOOK 1320 275 7400 TOP OF LINE 499* CHRYSLER CR 80005 gmm =:|VIDCOLORPROC. CALL |CCDV110 829** 14-CARRY CASE IN STOCK 15-COAXIAL CABLE 1370 DGTL 395 6038 10XCOLOR 799° FEDDERS CR 30005 LOW SUPERDUPER = 24 PAK8 16-VHS FORMAT ADAPTER 17-MICROPHONE ' 1400 279 CAMCORDERS SANYO CR1200 CALL SHOWTIME BMC 660 18-A/B SWITCH KIT 1410 280 AC/DC BATT., T.V.S 19-REMOTE CONTROL 1430 319 CR 3300 NEW! 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Toy Chest younger children is Connor’s Videosmarts, tional 30-minute cassettes are available for activity cartridges with games, puzzles, a $50 computer that attaches to any VHS $15 each. and items to be colored. The cartridges will VCR. Videotapes for the system use live have different skill levels and feature li- action puppets and animation to ask ques- COLORIZATION FOR KIDS censed characters like Mickey Mouse, tions about letters, numbers, or safety, Spiderman, and Hulk Hogan. which the child can answer by pressing one LJN’s VideoArt, for $90, is a sort of of four large buttons on the computer con- electronic coloring book also due this fall. RETURN OF THE ARCADE Using a joystick, a child can draw on the sole. Lights and sounds from the computer screen in any of 16 colors, record the draw- Videogame makers seem to have tell kids whether their answers are right ings onto a blank VHS or Beta tape, save learned what Walt Disney figured out long the work, flip to a blank page, or erase the ago: Every seven years there’s a new gen- or wrong. The Videosmarts system, in- current page and start over. The joystick eration of kids who haven’t seen Snow cluding the cassette “Numbers 1-5/ connects to a control module that accepts White. It’s been that long since videogames first invaded homes. Unfortunately, the =Comparisons,” retails for $50, and addi- market was soon swamped by fly-by-night companies with inferior games. Consum- - ie THE ELECTRONIC MAILBOX ers had no way of distinguishing the bang- up from the boring, and sales plummeted. ORDER TOLL FREE: 800-323-2325 Some of the companies say they learned their lesson from the shakeout, and now 10-12 Charles St, Glen Cove, NY 11542 « 516-759-1611 are promising imaginative, carefully-li- censed software for the new videogame COPYGUARD machines. PROBLEMS? Indeed, the videogame industry has ral- The 1987 Video Stabilizer Eliminates: lied in the last year, thanks largely to three players: Nintendo, Sega, and Atari. When e Picture Flashing Me nciinc Nintendo introduced its Nintendo Enter- tainment System (NES) in late 1985, it e Color Shifts reportedly sold 90 percent of its units. The deluxe system, for $180, comes with a e Picture Jitters All Guard Stabilizer control deck, two pushbutton controllers, e Picture Roll a light-gun, two games, and R.O.B. (for Robotic Operating Buddy). The 27 NES Imagine rock solid viewing of your favorite movies-including all the latest games include arcade chestnuts like Popeye and Donkey Kong, sports games based on titles. That’s what you get with the VideoLink All Guard Stabilizer. Single baseball, tennis, and football, and driving and shooting games. The graphics are control adjusts for your combination of video components. Video inputs and clear and colorful and a few cartridges, like the clever running and jumping game Super outputs only. Easy hook-up. Comparable performance to units costing 2-3 Mario Bros., are seriously addictive. The $5995 ORDER TODAY Nintendo games that use the light-gun and times more. R.O.B. are less involving, but you can buy the control deck alone for $99. Add $6 for Shipping & Handling Two new NES peripherals will be availa- Also Available: ble later this year. Bandai is introducing the Family Fun Fitness center, a mat that con- Hook-up Cable Kit ®1Q®° Gold-end Cable Kit $15\" nects to the NES and senses when the player runs in place, jumps, or squats. An Solidex — _>,, Azden WMS-30 Ney. on-screen character then matches the Digital %& player’s movements. It’s a unique ap- gy Hand Held an ee Oe) proach to working out. Nintendo will also counter Wireless have a knitting module that helps an NES owner create scarves, sweaters, and other Rewind/Fast Microphone Detailer III handknit items. Forward vus or Beta 2 channels-100 foot Our most popular enhancer Sega’s videogame system is more im- range s i 4995 with split screen pressive, thanks to a better looking, more SALE °39°%° interesting game lineup. It includes sports ON SALE $149 games, recent arcade hits like Choplifter and Hang-On, movie spin-offs like Rambo 3 Piece € BC$2495 and Ghostbusters, and such Sega standbys as Astro Warrior, an outer-space shoot- QO rViildteeor Kit ’em-up, Fantasy Zone, a psychedelic space journey, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, a Includes video clear, neutral one running and jumping game, and Action Fighter, a road race/air war game James density & flourescent Digital Copyguard cine’ Macro Lens Bond fans should love. The basic Sega Eliminator model, with pushbutton controls, goes for es 95 NEw: Converts home movies & $140. Accessories include a joystick, a The Play-Right from Vidicraft. Internally con- track-ball, a light gun, and a graphics board verts signal to digital pulses. Processes the slides to video. digital signal to eliminate all copyguard view- continued on page 119 Deluxe Deluxe Video ing problems and reconverts the signal to VIDEO video. Digital technology means no com- Telephoto/ patibility problems. Wide Angle CAMCORDER wa Lens Set CASE #V-93 $4995 SALE $3995: Aluminum Alloy (19x 14x7) Camcorder Batteries Battery Fluid Head 1220 Pana 220, 300 $39.95 Light Kit Tripod ge14uve vHs-c $39.95 1215 RCA 200, 300 $49.95 PLaecakdaci&d 50W 12VEDFC ae Extra smooth FiaC2NcRSoodniaoe5enrdf.racidovdl.trieeimcroaentailon, Video Light. movement with true’ Up to 45 min operation $7995 fluid pan head $6995 62 Video June 1987
SONY sass 49 \"379 ET“3399SLHF450 x DIRECT ACCESS REMOTE + SUPER BETA HIF GE VHS x 8 EVENT/ 14 DAY 4 MTS TUNER HIFI * CLEAR SLOW MOTION + CLEAR SIOW MOTION * 35 FUNCTION REMOTE - * 35 FUNCTION REMOTE x REMOTE PROGRAMMING * REMOTE PROGRAMMING * HQ CIRCUITRY x HQ CIRCUITRY NEC CALL! Pus $399 965 * BELOW DEALER COST + AHEAD HQ HIF * HQ STEREO + DOLBY * MTS TUNER * REMOTE PROGRAMMING * VARIABLE SLOW-MOTION bx2000 CALL!J|QUASAR HRD 70 $269 |T:OP OF THE LINE $589 @ |TOP OF THE LINE $588 * DIGITAL 4-HEAD x TRU-TRACK 4-HEAD * FULL HQ CIRCUITRY * 4-HEAD HIFl * HIFI, MIS TUNER * HIF + DOLBY STEREO * 4/14 DAY * 8 EVENT / 21 DAY * DIGITAL SPECIAL EFFECTS x AUDIO 20-30,000 HZ * WIRELESS REMOTE * 169 CHANNEL TUNER BELOW VHHITSA-CCHI iff ofSf e TU a NT Hin * DEALER x CALL! CcosT & SPECIAL PURCHASE HITACHI * MOS CAMCORDER °269RCA VHS * BRAND NEW MODEL CALL!vT1710 STEREO CALL! $9610 x FULL STEREO x 3-HEAD HIFl * FULL SIZE VHS x MTS TUNER x CCD CAMCORDER Cur* WIRELESS REMOTE & REMOTE PROGRAMMING * 7 LUX, 8:1 ZOOM aa aD For additional information, circle No. 26 on Reader Service Card.
ey q vt er ea must be going crazy. Nothing in Ho Wie svit 9 my house looks the way it used to, I find myself forgetting what to say, and, worst of all, I can’t shake these deja vu experiences. Do all actors feel this way? I suppose they do, especially if their di- rector is as demanding as our ten-year-old son. We’ve made several home videos with Matt, ranging from one to ten minutes in length. All have been based on our own home-made stories, all have been made for no more than the cost of a VHS videotape, and all have been more fun than frustrating. As anew home video producer, you will, of course, learn by doing, as we did. But this article will help you avoid some of the pitfalls. First, select your equipment carefully. After our first effort with a rental camera and portable VCR, we decided to buy a camcorder. Its electronic viewfinder al- lows you to see exactly what’s shot, and the zoom lens is a real grabber for kids. Like- wise, the more automatic the camera—fo- cus, zoom, light reading—the better. In time, children will learn to use the manual controls, but at first they should be able to just shoot away. Although the added weight of the cam- corder (over the average camera) has been a problem for Matt at times, its portability is a strong asset. Matt has learned to put it down when necessary or use a tripod. The only other accessories we’ve found helpful are a remote start-stop switch and a line to connect the camcorder to a monitor or a television. The latter gives you, in effect, a second VCR, albeit just for playback since it lacks a tuner. Second, become familiar with your equipment ahead of time. We were well into our third production before we real- ized we had a “quick review” function on our camcorder. This button allows you to review the last four seconds of recorded material without rewinding the tape, an invaluable aid in “editing” a video in produc- tion. Without it, you may cut off some scenes too soon or allow others to go on for too long. Third, despite your probable high ex- pectations, be prepared for a finished prod- uct that is somewhat less than perfect. If you let your child do some of the videotap- ing, for example—and what fun will it be if you don’t?—the picture will be shaky. And, depending on how much creative con- trol she or he is allowed, it’s bound to be more or less incoherent. It’s the rare child—adult even—who can fashion a fully comprehensible audiovisual production the first time around. So try not to be too critical. The important thing is to let the child’s creativity flow; with experience his or her video savvy will grow. 64 Video June 1987
° = a 2 a dt wa Saz3sA aoaoE=a<oaxOe4} Roll ’em: A key scene from ‘The Cocoa Code Caper,’ starring mom as the magician. GETTING STARTED Matt: Wow, it’s a map! Cool! (while pick- no story in advance. My husband, my son, ing it up and pointing) This looks like my and I sketched out the plot and scripted it For us the do-it-yourself video bug bit as we went along. Murder mysteries have when we learned that film director Steven house and... to be worked backward: from the murder Spielberg began by making little films at Zack: (interrupting) No, you turn it around itself, complete with murderer, victim, home. (Today he totes a video camera motive, method, and opportunity, back to around the house, usually aimed at his and this is your house. The other is the earlier scenes that convey true clues as young son.) So it’s not surprising that vet’s office. well as false ones. With such a complicated Matt’s first home video was a Goonies- Matt: (while following the dotted line with puzzle, in which every piece had to fit, type adventure called The Skull Map. his fingers) So you go up through the gar- scripting occurred as we rehearsed and The first—and, without doubt, the most dens and then through here. taped. Levi: It’s getting late and Matt’s dad said difficult—part of the project was turning One caution, however: for your own Matt’s story into a script. The trick is to to get back soon because they’re going peace of mind don’t let yourself fall in love re-define a storyline into discrete scenes, shopping. C’mon, let’s go! with what you’ve written. Not only are the clarifying action and dialogue. In The Skull Action: They all run out of the garden. actors bound to make small changes in Map story, for example, two kids (Zack Matt drops the skull. and Levi, friends Matt recruited for his their lines, but major shifts may be dictated cast) discover a skull with some strange In our second effort, Wong is White, a by problems in shooting. In The Skull Map, markings in an abandoned, overgrown gar- ten-minute murder mystery that takes den. Here’s how it finally came out: The Skull Map, Scene III place in a “Chinese restaurant,” there was Action: Matt runs toward garden. Zack, in Step one: assemble the props; step two, discuss the scene... the middle of the cornstalks, at the count of 10, jumps out and yells... Zack: boo! Action: Matt falls over and uncovers skull, but only Zack sees it. Zack is staring at it. Matt: What are you doing—scaring me like that? What are you staring at anyway? Action: Zack points at skull. Matt turns around and says... June 1987 Video 65
Kidvid Blues Brothers’ “Soul Man,” we found the in, b) zoom out a bit to catch them being startled by the first two, and c) zoom out for example, the kids were supposed to garage had the right gritty atmosphere. further to show it was the same house all hide in the creek, but the worst drought That, plus good acoustics and plenty of four were circling. The effect was both in decades necessitated a change in lo- elbow room, made it the perfect place to smooth and dramatic. cation—so bushes sufficed. shoot this acrobatic scenario. The final rehearsal—and three may well be the limit for kids this age—should bring Wee OF Ke KO ae When rehearsal time rolls around, the everyone together in costume to be vid- Wi me eo oa actors, who’ve been given scripts in ad- eotaped. Why? For one thing, it may go vance, should be ready to read. A good without a hitch and be your final version. \\ AYN way to iron out difficulties, such as rear- More likely, it’ll reveal whatever flaws have gone undetected thus far. ranging lines to suit kids’ abilities or wish- es, is to read sitting around a table. You Our taped rehearsal of Wong Is White may lose their interest, however, unless revealed videotaping errors (cutting into you let them dig into the action soon. Take previous scenes) as well as plot deficien- it slowly the first time through, letting ev- cies (insufficient motivation for one sus- pect). The objective here—and it’s not so This brings us to the staging. Sites must eryone hold on to scripts if necessary. easy to achieve, even for professionals—is be selected, props assembled, and cos- detachment. Step back and try to see this tumes put together, with the actors’ help if The time to make director’s notes on the preliminary tape as an outside viewer possible. In setting a scene without a Hol- videographer’s script is during the second would. Does it make sense? Does it flow lywood budget, most of us have to keep in well? Are the scenes too short and choppy, rehearsal. Encourage your child/director or too long and irrelevant? Children’s work mind what’s available. Wong Is White, for to be specific. Every detail, from shooting especially needs this scrutiny. example, takes place in a Chinese restau- angle and distance to zooms, should be rant because we have Oriental accessories recorded. (For this reason, the script’s When you think you're ready for the real (wall hangings, kimonos, bowls, paper lan- margins should be ample.) Bear in mind thing, pop a brand new tape into the cam- terns). Your possessions may suggest a that the videographer usually remains sta- era. You not only want a work of art that’s tionary throughout each scene’s taping. free of faulty pre-recorded material, you Mexican locale, a campground, or a toy want the highest quality recording. Unless store. Think about what you or your gener- In The Skull Map, one scene had two ous friends have before getting locked into kids searching on one side of a house, two you plan to edit to a final version (see searching on the other, and then the four “Clean Cuts,” Oct. ’86), you should be well an impossible-to-shoot idea. meeting each other. At Matt’s suggestion, prepared for taping by now. This is the time, too, to use a homemade after taping the first two kids, I paused the camera and moved to a position where I Pausing, of course, creates the cleanest version of a director’s lens to preview each could a) tape the other two while zooming “edits,” but if breaks are too long, you'll scene. Simply cut a one-and-a-half by two- have to shut the camera off between inch rectangle out of a large index card and scenes. Before you tape again, use the have your child look through it to assess review button to check the last few seconds of recorded material. This way, the scene. Do you need to add anything or you won't erase precious scene endings or eliminate background clutter? What can’t include unwanted blank tape. Still, it’s a be removed may be hidden by the old paint- good idea to let the camera run at the end of ed-sheet-as-backdrop trick. If you keep each scene so that it doesn’t matter if the the artwork simple and non-specific, it can tail end is cut off. be re-used in subsequent videos. Let the kids have at it—they’re the best abstract Not surprisingly, it’s this actual vid- expressionists around. eotaping stage that kids find most exciting. Matt may have overdone it, but he had a Think, too, about what ready-made sets you have. For our lip-synched video of the continued on page 119 Step three, choose a director; step four, rehearse. 66 Video June 1987
When | puton the pair of glasses what | saw | coul not believe. Nor will you. By Joseph Sugarman for skin, UV light is worse for eyes and They look like sunglasses. is believed to play a role in many of today’s I am about to tell you a true story. If eye diseases. In addition, people with con- ounce and fits over prescription lenses and you believe me, you will be well reward- tact lenses are at greater risk because con- the second is a precision-molded plastic ed. If you don’t believe me, I will make it tacts tend to magnify the light thus in- frame that looks identical to the aluminum worth your while to change your mind. creasing the sun’s harmful effects. model but without the tension hinge. All Let me explain. models include a padded carrying case and SUNGLASS DANGER a one-year limited warranty. Len is a friend of mine who knows good products. One day he called excited Finally, by eliminating the blue and I urge you to order a pair and ex- about a pair of sunglasses he owned. “It’s UV light during the day, your night vision perience your improved vision. Then take improves. The purple pigment in your eye, your old sunglasses and compare them to so incredible,”’ he said, ‘‘when you first called Rhodopsin, is affected by blue and the BluBlocker sunglasses. See how much look through a pair, you won’t believe it.” ultraviolet light and the eyes can take clearer and sharper objects appear with hours to recover from the damage. the BluBlocker pair. And see if your night ‘What will I see?” I asked. ‘What vision doesn’t improve as a direct result. could be so incredible?” But what really surprised me was the If you don’t see a dramatic difference in danger in conventional sunglasses. Our your vision—one so noticeable that you Len continued, ‘“‘When you put on pupils close in bright light to limit the light can tell immediately, then send them back these glasses, your vision improves. Ob- entering the eye and open wider at night anytime within 30 days and I will send you jects appear sharper, more defined. like the lens of an automatic camera. So a prompt and courteous refund. Everything takes on an enhanced 3-D ef- when we put on sunglasses, although we fect. And it’s not my imagination. I just reduce the amount of light that enters our DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE want you to see for yourself.”’ eyes, our pupils open wider and we allow But from what I’ve personally witness- more of the harmful blue and ultraviolet ed, once you wear a pair, there will be no COULDN’T BELIEVE EYES light into our eyes. way you'll want to return it. Pilots, golfers, hunters, athletes and When I received the sunglasses and DON’T BE CONFUSED anyone who spends a great deal of time put them on I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m often asked by people who read in the sun, who drives a car or who just I kept taking them off and putting them this, ‘‘Do those Blu-Blockers really wants to protect their vision—all will find on to see if indeed what I was seeing was work?” They really do and please give BluBlocker sunglasses indispensable. indeed actually sharper or if my imagina- me the opportunity to prove it. I Our eyes are very important to us. Pro- tion was playing tricks on me. But my guarantee each pair of BluBlockers to tect them and at the same time improve vision improved. It was obvious. I kept perform exactly as I described. your vision with the most incredible putting on my $100 pair of sunglasses and breakthrough in sunglasses since they comparing them. They didn’t compare. I BluBlocker sunglasses use ophthalmic- were first introduced. Order a pair or two was very impressed. Everything ap- quality CR-39 lenses with a hard anti- at no obligation, today. peared sharper, more defined and indeed scratch coating. Over 85 percent of all Credit card holders call toll free and had a greater three dimensional look to doctors’ prescriptions are now filled with order by product number below or send it. But what did this product do that made CR-39. No shortcuts were taken. a check plus $3 for postage and handling. my vision so much better? I found out. Aluminum Deluxe (0029LQ) . . . .$69.95 The black, light-weight anodized al- Clip-On Model (0028LQ) ........ 29.95 The sunglasses (called BluBlockers) uminum frame is one of the most comfor- Precision Plastic (0031LQ) ...... 39.95 filter out the ultraviolet and blue spectrum table I have ever worn and compares with light waves from the sun. You’ve often many of the $200 pairs you can buy from 0) heard the color blue used for expressions France or Italy. of bad moods such as “‘blue Monday’”’ or ONT “T have the blues.”” Apparently, the color The weakest link in any pair of glasses blue, for centuries, has been considered is the hinge. So there’s a precision two- One JS&A Plaza, Northbrook, Illinois 60062 a rather depressing color. way tension hinge that not only bends CALL TOLL FREE 800 228-5000 when you close the pair, but is spring- For eyesight, blue is not a good color loaded to bend outward too. You get a IL residents add 7% sales tax. OJS&A Group, Inc.,1987 completely flexible frame that will com- too. There are several reasons. First, the fortably contour to any size face. blue rays have one of the shortest wavelengths in the visible spectrum (red There are also two other models. One is the longest). As a result, the color blue is a clip-on pair that weighs less than one will focus slightly in front of the retina which is the “focusing screen” in your eye. By blocking the blue from the sunlight through a special filtration pro- cess, and only letting those rays through that indeed focus clearly on the retina, ob- jects appear to be sharper and clearer. The second reason is even more im- pressive. It is harmful to have ultra-violet rays fall on our eyes. Recognized as bad
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hen Home Box Office began to scram- ing oie pic like the packages offergdby cable | ble its satellite signals 18 months ago, - doomsayers predicted the skies would systems. 2 #4 quickly darken forthe nearly two million The home dish nace ha t fullyrecovered only did that fail to come true, but there are more from the body blow of scrambling, but neither has signals available today for free than there were in 11986. In fact, home satellite reception is easier to it toppled. It’s moved, if anywhere, far enou channels, there are several compet- back from the brink of ruin to permit a new look at scrambling’s impact on viewing habits and the dish industry’s response. Is the field once again healthy enough to justify investments in home arth stations by video-hungry consumer 3? The answer may surprise you. On the day scrambling June
Home Dishes eere eae there were about 1.8 million backyard sat- with virtually all the better satellite receiv- Fine tuning is necessary because the stan- ellite systems, worth an estimated $5.8 ers. This year, several satellite receiver dards for satellite transmission are fewer billion at retail, in use in the United States. makers built decoders into their new mod- Last year, according to the Electronic In- els. This not only eliminates the need for and less rigid than those for terrestrial TV, dustries Association’s Consumer Elec- yet another video component, but also particularly when it comes to the Ku-band. tronics Group, another 375,000 families yields receivers that cost less than the combined price of the models they re- Installers hate these new units because — joined the ranks. This year the CEG pre- placed plus their component decoders. dicts another 560,000 systems, worth pre-programming them is complicated and © $1.12 billion, will be sold. In a little over a Houston Tracker, R.L. Drake, Channel year, the average price of a home satellite Master, Chaparral, and M/A-Com are time-consuming. But once the job is done, — system declined from $3,000 to $2,000— among the manufacturers offering so- the receivers become simple enough for a and these lower-priced systems not only called IRDs (integrated receiver/decod- do more, but operate better and more con- ers) at prices ranging from $1,200 to child to use. veniently. $1,300. But remember, merely owning a decoder doesn’t give you access to scram- For just that reason, most of the new Satellite Orbit, the bible of birdwatchers, bled programs; you must have it author- “smart” receivers also have a parental lists the programs for 82 regularly-sched- ized for the channels you wish to receive. uled channels, 18 of which are scrambled. lockout feature to let parents maintain That number will increase by six to eight Today’s satellite this year, estimates publisher David Wol- systems do more, control over the system’s use even when ford. In addition to those 82 channels, there are another 17 unlisted chan- operate better, they’re not home. Some lockouts merely nels, eight of which are scrambled, and are easter to use— about two dozen “occasional video” chan- and their prices let you rule certain channels or satellites off nels that are used to relay the road games have dropped from limits. Others can be programmed to block of your favorite teams, the Eyewitness $3,000 to $2,000. News’ nightly Washington report, and syn- out certain channels at specific times, or all dicated shows like The Oprah Winfrey You do that by subscribing to one or more Show and Entertainment Tonight. As ifthat of the program services mentioned above. channels during homework time. Some re- were not enough, there are also “wild” channels: offbeat relays of sports, news, Twelve hundred dollars may sound like a ceivers provide an on-screen guide to help and features to Japan and Australia—and lot for a satellite receiver—and it is when the NASA channel, which used to permit you can simply buy a no-frills model you program the satellite and channel you viewers to eavesdrop on space shots. for about $300—but today’s top-of-the-line receivers incorporate several other items want to watch. | Not all these channels operate all the that used to be stand-alone components. time. No matter how you count, however, They include a satellite positioner, used to SHRINKING DISHES | there’s been a clear gain of a dozen or more operate the remote-drive mechanism at “free” channels since scrambling created the dish, a stereo audio processor, and dual While dish size is still a function of C/Ku-band capability. Most or all of these the impression that free channels were on extra features are available from almost where you live—farmers in Kansas can get the way out. Free channels include Jerry any Satellite receiver manufacturer for Falwell’s Liberty Broadcasting Network, as low as $500. by with antennas significantly smaller than the Home Shopping Network, commer- cial TV in Spanish from Mexico City, three But the most expensive receivers have those needed in Oregon or New En- PBS channels, the Canadian Broadcasting one feature not found on less expensive units, or even on high-end units of a year or gland—there’s been an overall reduction in Corporation, several regional sports chan- two ago: a vastly expanded memory. They nels and sports feeds, plus such cable fa- have enough memory to remember not size, mass, and cost, and a consequent vorites as The Weather Channel, Bravo, only the position of every one of the 18 C First Choice Superchannel (premium mov- and 4 Ku-band satellites, but also details improvement in appearance. ies), and music video channels. about fine-tuning both the audio and the video on 100 or more satellite channels. For example, New Englanders used to The scrambled channels, which number more than 30, include those most familiar need 12-foot antennas to properly receive to cable subscribers: premium movie chan- nels like HBO, Showtime, The Movie all the C-band satellites. Thanks to advanc- Channel, SelecTV, and Cinemax; basic es in electronics, residents in the same channels like CNN, CNN Headline, super- stations WGN and WTBS, and ESPN; and area today can get by with ten footers. a couple of porn channels. While program- mers are still learning how to package Likewise in Kansas, where most satellite these channels, it is possible to subscribe to a single channel, CBN for example, for signals are strongest, it’s possible to view as little as $1.25 a month, or toa package of 15 basic channels and two premium movie the entire spectrum with an eight-foot channels for $23.50, about what a cable subscriber would pay for the same pro- dish, and some viewers get by with dishes grams. as small as six feet in diameter. DECODER PROGRESS Six-footers are able to deliver about If you’re planning to subscribe, you will need a decoder. Last year, that meant three dozen of the strongest C-band chan- $395 for a stand-alone box built for use nels in an area ranging from the Appala- 70 Video June 1987 chians to the Rockies, as well as handle Ku-band signals. But because systems that use them cost nearly as much as the sys- tems to receive it all, they have not proven widely successful. There’s another reason why dishes look better. In the past, cheap and shoddy tend- ed to equal ugly. Most of those manufac- turers have left the business. Dish design- ers today pay as much attention to the appearance of their equipment as to per- formance. There are more black mesh re- flectors which blend better with their sur- roundings. Until recently, would-be dish owners in many communities faced the problem of getting the approval of local zoning boards or building inspectors to install antennas. In 1985, the Federal Communications Commission removed most of the authori- ty of local officials to prevent dish installa- tion. While some communities still resist, the FCC has acted even more forcefully to knock down remaining barriers to dish con- struction. continued on page 121
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INBLEOLNRUDMSETLRLATION: aneNiaece ie BY MARK FLEISCHMANN super mini-speaker but to a unique audio move more air than higher-spectrum product from Yamaha. The NS-W2 Natural sounds and therefore pose a strain on the xploding spaceships in The Empire Sound Electronic Super Woofer is the first Strikes Back make the floor rumble. video-ready subwoofer, a single speaker amplifier that feeds them. That results in The room vibrates pleasantly as the that produces only low-frequency sound. It weakening the level at volume peaks, double bassists in a simulcast of the can extend the low-frequency response of when the amp is overtaxed and balks at its Boston Symphony saw back and forth; any audio/video system without impairing workload. Many subwoofer buyers face tympani rattle the windowpanes. You not the unpleasant choice of living with clippmg only see and hear, but feel a Hi-Fi rock ’n’ the performance of your TV or monitor (overdriving their present amp), buying a roll video. Those mini speakers that came because it is shielded especially for video more powerful amp, or not using their with your monitor never sounded so good. brand-new subwoofers. The credit for this wave of low-frequen- use. And at $249.95 list, it costs a lot less cy sound goes not to some new genre of than a pair of high-quality loudspeakers. The NS-W2’s internal 40-watt amp pro- vides all the power the unit uses without The NS-W2 includes a built-in amplifier, an unusual, though not unique feature. One drawing away from the amp in your A/V system. Many of these—especially early problem with subwoofers is power: to be ones—have low-power amps feeding audible, low-frequency sounds need to June 1987 Video 73
The subwoofer soundtrack subtly enhances everything from the most pristine Beta Hi-Fi to the grungiest mono linear tracks. mini-speakers, so Yamaha’s design in- The NS-W2 is a roughly 27-pound black work better”—better than relying on box measuring 17.7 x 14.2 x 12.4 inches creases compatibility. The subwoofer with only two controls: a power switch and shock effects, that is. “But,” he allows, “it is most useful with small and medium a horizontal slide control. The slider is is hard to let go of the established con- numbered 1 through 10, with a clickstop at cepts.” speakers, provided they have relative- ly poor bass response. (Yamaha recom- 5; use it to regulate volume carefully. Mis- Learning to listen to a subwoofer isn’t use it and you're likely to be much less the only learning process that goes on mends its NS-L1 speakers). enthusiastic about your new baby. when you get one. It doesn’t take long to Where you put a subwoofer once you’ve At first, I found the sound at the mid- start noticing that you don’t always agree got one depends on the kind of viewscreen with the way an audio engineer or producer point unsatisfying. Looking for an epipha- mixed a soundtrack. When I listen to you've got. Yamaha cautions that “some ny, I got a subtle difference. Cranking it up MGM/UA’s digitally reconstituted Wizard of Oz with the subwoofer on, I go for the types of TV may show abnormal color re- from 5 to 8, the sound became muddy and production” when placed next to an NS- too bass-heavy. But the problem was not bass control every time the musical score the subwoofer performing inadequately: I goes for the kettledrums—too boomy! W2. (Moving the subwoofer a few inches wasn’t listening adequately. It took months With the subwoofer off, hearing it as other of listening to Hi-Fi videotapes, LaserVi- away should solve the problem. )With most listeners would, I marvel at its clarity and monitors and TVs, however, you can lo- sion discs, LPs, CDs, and audio cassettes cate the subwoofer and screen near each before I began to appreciate the NS-W2. richness. The MGM/UA engineers mixed other. I’ve had no problems using the NS- this movie for mini speakers or garden- W2 with my Proton equipment. True, during that time I heard the predicta- ble spaceship blasts and tympani thunder variety bookshelf speakers operating by You can even stack your monitor/TV and that immediately reveal low-frequency themselves. They didn’t reckon on this subwoofer. According to Yamaha product power. But what matters most to me now merchandising manager Phil Grieves, the is how the subwoofer soundtrack subtly video-ready subwoofer stuff. unit “was designed at a specific width so In some cases adding a subwoofer lets— enhances anything from the most pristine that a monitor can be set on top of it.” Beta Hi-Fi to the grungiest mono linear or forces—you to rethink your main speak- Wouldn’t that rattle the viewscreen to tracks. (The latter are limited more at the ers. My AR 38 system, a two-driver death? No, he answers, “There are so high end than at the low end, so an old speaker (including 10-inch woofer), had many microprocessors in there, and the orchestral score can actually sound much gotten good reviews. I had to keep them on richer with the subwoofer on.) components are so locked down onto cir- the floor to strengthen bass response, but cuit boards that the only thing prone to Yamaha’s Grieves says the design team their liquid-cooled tweeters were so pow- vibration would be the yoke”—the delicate “went through that same learning curve. erful that half my records sounded pierc- back of the picture tube. Even then, “in It’s just giving way to a newer way of think- ingly trebly. The standard solution to this problem is to take the speakers off the modern television design the yoke is so ing that is more sophisticated and does floor, de-emphasizing both the treble and well isolated that you won't have a prob- bass and leaving the midrange more room lem. Yokes get a lot more vibration in ship- to resonate. But I didn’t want to give up what little bass I had. ment than they would ever get from this kind of low-frequency output.” Yamaha’s After installing the NS-W2 I realized manual, however, recommends against that I didn’t need the woofers in the ARs to produce low bass anymore. So I got my placing the unit on a bookshelf or in a cabi- net that would block ventilation of the built- speakers off the floor, and for the first in amp. time, I’m completely happy with them. The arrangement of my speaker system Most subwoofers, including this one, now resembles an inverse triangle, with disperse bass sounds widely through a the Yamaha as the bottom point. Low bass room—in audio parlance, they’re not high- notes come mostly from the subwoofer; ly directional. So while the NS-W2’s mag- higher bass disperses nicely from all three speaker units. The tweeters, now at shoul- netic shielding lets you put the subwoofer near the screen, you could just as easily der height, deliver crisp, detailed sound without undue eardrum assault. The whole have it clear across the room and still get set-up—with the subwoofer thrown in—is less fatiguing for long listening periods than roughly the same benefits. Connecting the NS-W2 is fairly easy, the AR 38s alone were. Adding the Yamaha though it helps to be handy with a wire cost a lot less than replacing the ARs would have. stripper. If your amp has two pairs of speaker terminals (A+B), simply leave So if you’re not happy the way your vid- the main speakers connected to A and at- eo, audio, or audio/video system sounds, don’t despair. The answer may come ina tach the Yamaha to B. Ifyour amp has only little black box. one set of speaker terminals, hook the amp to the Yamaha, then connect the main speakers in parallel to the Yamaha. You can still use your regular speakers with the Yamaha’s power off. 74 Video June 1987
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FELD BE Be itd tnsncosuscseiien 79 NEW TAPES & DISCS VIDEO: REVIEWS 64-2. --snnand 86 PROGRAMMING SOURCES ..94 NEWS AND VIEWS SSCSCHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHSSSSSSSSSSSSESSESESESEE BY MARK FLEISCHMANN eled on our own: “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their crea- tor with certain inalienable nghts.” A small plane circles overhead. “When it avid Attenborough has come to ee swooped down over us,” a man in the crowd of thousands later recalled, “we EJ grips with samples of virtually all ereveeoerreescognized the American flag. The the world’s fauna, so facing a room full of reporters is a cakewalk. One asks him to crowd cheered enthusiastically.” compare his BBC series, Life on Earth, “Ho Chi Minh was ona silver platter in now a four-hour Warner videocassette 1945—we had him,” states Archimedes release, with his book of the same name. eoerererertee Patti, then a U_S. intelligence agent. Ho “There are only so many things you can was “first a nationalist, and second a say about the bird of paradise,” he replies eoeeerereee in a Cambridge accent. But to see it: Communist,” according to Abbot Low Moffat, then of the State Department. “Natural history is the one experience eveeereee These provocative vignettes are m that robs people of words.” This natural- “Roots of a War,” one part of a 13-hour ist, however, is never at a loss for words, PBS series called Vietnam: A Television gracefully narrating the eyecatching foot- History, now a Sony videocassette re- age without ever descending into tedium lease. The full set costs $195.95; the or repetition. The double cassette distills seven volumes are also available individ- 13 hours, originally produced between ually. (For information on obtaining the 1977 and 1980. tapes, call 800-446-6388 or 212-315- 5000.) Attenborough acknowledges the su- perficiality of naturalist documentaries, “The whole story is a series of wrong citing a horror story about filmmakers Naturalist David Attenborough during his turns,” says Stanley Karnow, a former who tried to drive lemmings off a cliff to quest for ‘Life on Earth.’ Time and Life Indochina correspondent stage a spectacular shot. The problem, $39.95, he may be right. Warner execu- who helped write and prepare the series. tive Edward Bleier explains the low price He also wrote the companion book, Viet- he remarks dryly, was “that the animal hadn’t read the book.” He does admit to nam: A History. “You find people having staged at least one mating ritual in by noting, “We do so well in the rental throughout who understood what was Life on Earth. “You just can’t travel the business with feature films that it’s nice going on. We did have people in the State desert all day looking for two scorpions.” to do this.” Department, for example, who were Index signs in a corner of the screen warning against getting involved [in sid- mark off “chapters,” videodisc-style, eeCeroreeorerreeseeeeee ing with the French against the Vietnam- making the tapes a reference tool as well ese].” Thenereeeeeveeeeveeresereeeerneeese who was responsible? In as entertainment. “We are still shackled this story, he says, “everybody’s a cul- to the idea that people will look at this prit, including the American public.” only once,” says Attenborough, describ- n the capital of a newly free nation, in The war in Vietnam has never really ing the attitude inculcated by broadcast acrowded public square, aman who is ended in our minds, even as it fades into TV. “Video is going to change this.” the George Washington of his land reads history. Today, “people who weren't With the videotape retailing for just a “Declaration of Independence” mod- eeebeoerrneraetretrheee time are taking courses on June 1987 Video77
Vietnam,” says Karnow. “I have a kid in : If you can stand the clammy feeling of ee college and he’s taking a course. They - deja vu, you might pair off Platoon some sultry evening with one last documenta- The PBS series ‘Vietnam: A Television His- use the series there.” ry, an uncharacteristically serious Rhino fory’ aims to set the record straight. Sony has just issued five additional ti- release: Destination Nicaragua. tles in a “Vietnam Video Collection.” An- ‘Whe time has come to stop dignifying other exhaustive Vietnam treatment is broadcast television by referring to Embassy’s 13-volume The Ten Thou- sand Day War. The granddaddy of Viet- it merely as “television.” Why should nam documentaries, however, is Emile broadcasters have exclusive use of the de Antonio’s In the Year of the Pig(MPI), term? There was a time when broadcast : which heavily influenced Peter Davis’ TV was the only television available, but Oscar-winning Hearts and Minds (Em- that was long ago. Since then, viewer : bassy). MPI offers other Vietnam titles, options have multiplied. First came ca- : inclTuhe dWair ant Hgome, which charts ble, then cassette and disc. Yet people persist in saying, “I saw it on TV” when the history of anti-war activism at the they're referring to broadcast TV. University of Wisconsin. The Secret Agent relates the sad history of Agent The rise of video has dealt a well-de- Orange and its present-day effects on served blow to: CBS, NBC, and ABC, Vietnam vets. which for decades have afflicted the pub- lic with lobotomized entertainment and Most fictional films on the war— watered-down news. Their viewer e.g., Apocalypse Now (Paramount) and shares shnink as our alternatives expand, The Deer Hunter (MCA)—are not big on and I say: swell. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Video is television too. historical veracity. However, many vets eCeeeoeeeheasveeeeesaeid Platoon tells it like it was for them. Oliver Stone’s beautiful, frighten- ing movie is the first directed by some- one who was in Vietnam. Vestron will : release the videotape this summer. SCANLINES Newsreels were the audio-visual The welcome resurgence of the RKO label brings new releases from the journalism of yesteryear. Embassy deliv- venerable studio, including trios of Cary ers a hunk of vintage reels from the Grant (Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer) March of Time series, originally pro- and John Wayne (Back to Bataan) titles duced between 1936 and 1951. The full at a sweet $19.95 each. six-volume set, entitled American Life- styles, is $149.70; volumes are also avail- The Kitchen, a major Manhattan able separately at $24.95 each. performance-art space, showcases per- Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov formances by Philip Glass, David Byme, reprise their celebrated roles as Paul and Mary Bland (Eating Raoul) in Light- Laurie Anderson, and others in The ning’s Chopping Mall—not, unfortunate- Kitchen Presents Two-Moon July from ly, directed by Bartel. Pacific Arts. PA also offers SalvadoDra- li: A Soft-Self Portrait. Three nostaslcengesifcrom ‘The March of Time’ show America in its myriad aspects.
FILMS PRODUCED FOR THEATERS plant prospers, its cries of “Feed me!” grow louder, and with soul legend Levi Stubbs doing the powerful vocalizing, we eeeReeee know it’s not kidding around. Little Shop of Horrors works so well because every element is executed with care and obvious affection. The charac- terizations are inspired, from the girl- group trio—Chiffon, Crystal, and Ron- ette—who offer a Greek chorus of cool, through the stellar lineup of guests (which also includes Jim Belushi, John Candy, and Christopher Guest), right up to Ellen Greene as Audrey and Vincent Gardenia as the apoplectic Mushnik. Don’t be surprised to find yourself whis- tling “Suddenly Seymour” while making sure crabgrass is the only unwelcome visitor to your garden. —Toby Goldstein Rick Moranis confronts the ravenous Audrey II in ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ 1986. Tracy Camila Johns, Redmond 1986. Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve than on Roger Corman’s original 1960 Hicks, John Canada Terrell, Spike Lee; Martin, Vincent Gardenia; dir. Frank Oz. 93m. (PG-13) Hi St cc $89.95. LV low-budget film classic (now available in br./wr./dir. Lee. 84m. (R) Hi St cc CX St $34.98. Warner. Image: good. both black & white and colorized video $79.98. Key. Image: good. It’s 10 p.m.: Do you know what your houseplants are up to? If they’re anything versions). The plot, a mere framework You gotta have She’s Gotta Have It, the like Audrey II, the Venus Flytrap from outer space with a heart of solid gold for the show-stopping tunes, focuses on low-budget, highly comic love soul, they’re probably making a snack of the next-door neighbors. hapless, girlfriendless Seymour Krel- round-robin, a freshness explosion un- What might seem to the squeamish a born (Moranis) who, after asolar eclipse, like far more lavish Hollywood garbage. totally disgusting concept is actually the acquires a unique plant. By displaying The episodic story of Nola Darling core of the most enjoyable cult-destined movie musical since The Rocky Hor- “Audrey II” (named in honor of Sey- (Johns)—a layout artist who'll seemingly ror Picture Show. It’s easy to imagine le- gions of lookalike Audrey bimbettes mour’s dream girl) in the window of lay out for anyone but refuses to commit wearing push-up bras and epoxy-coated blonde wigs, nerdy Seymours—the Mushnik’s skid row flower shop, Krel- to any of her panting suitors—radiates an unlikely hero of this frivolous fable— and a crop of Audrey IIs, the self-styled born causes business to boom. offhand humor that’s as irresistible as “mean, green mother from outer space.” Unfortunately, he soon discovers a CeNola herself. And no wonder she won’t Muppet-master Frank Oz’s delicious fusion of animatronics and doo-wop is problem: Audrey II only flourishes when commit; her three amigos are enough to based more on the hit off-Broadway play nourished with human blood. Fortunate- make any woman turn celibate. One is a ly, at least one of the plant’s victims de- genial Mr. Right who brutally rapes her serves his fate—Audrey’s sadistic den- eeewehececneeshe gets mad. Another is a narcis- tist boyfriend, played to the molars by a sistic GQ model who barely has any love bewigged and black-leather-clad Steve left once he’s done with his mirror. And Martin. His spirited rendition of the the third is the diminutive Mars, played rock’n’rolling tune “Dentist!” is brilliant, by filmmaker Lee as a jive-talking geek. and an encounter with a masochistic pa- Lee is a kinetic screen presence as tient (Bill Murray) comes close to match- well as a confident, inventive directorial ing the glory of the original scene, which talent. Some of his devices, which might aeeyefeatured a young Jacek Nicholson. As the Ceoeeeoseteheereweisseeseeelciceit groans, are used so win- June 1987 Video 79
ningly they almost seem original. Char- pat and simple moral. Subsequent view- are the central figures and their unique acters talk directly to the screen, but ings, however, reveal how Forster’s relationship. He loves her, but what does since their patter isn’t self-consciously subthemes of intellect and money are that love mean? Pity? Change? Union? cute, and the film does hinge on their subtly interwoven with the broader no- Loss of identity? She is frightened—not conflicting views, the technique makes a lot of sense. Lee’s unpretentiousness tions of romance and sentiment. The film only of him, but of the world. “Don’t do has a way of superceding the gimmicks. may be a seductive tearjerker, but it’s anything you can’t do well,” she tells him His judgment misfires only a couple of times. When one of Nola’s boyfriends not a dumb one; the affirmation of life in sign language. She lives in fear; he brings her to see a dance duet he’s ar- ranged for her birthday, you cringe from and love is properly inspirational. travels with hope. the icky-poo sweetness of it. (The sud- den shift to color photography makes the A Room with a View also works well on What could have been cloying—To Sir scene even more jarring. )And though he contributes a moody, flavorful jazz score, the small screen, particularly when it re- with Love for the deaf—receives wit, Spike’s father is amateurish in a brief role as Nola’s dad. turns to England. Bonham Carter’s fabu- beauty, and believability from Hurt and But, for the most part, the love talk lous brown hair seems to reflect socie- Matlin. Jim is personable, committed, rings truer than life, and Mars’ pleading repetitions (“Please baby please baby ty’s demands in its various settings, but and flawed; Sarah evokes a range of emo- please baby baby baby please”) sound like the eager catchwords of a new gen- her eyebrows become seismographic in- tions with only her eyes and hands. She eration. She’s Gotta Have Itis a sassy riff on the lengths to which people will go to dicators of the real emotions working be- speaks just once, to heart-wrenching ef- possess each other. “You so fine, ba- by,” one of Nola’s suitors says at one neath the surface. —Richard Gehr fect. This actress, partially deaf in real point, “I’d drink a tub of your bathwater.” CHILDREN OF A life, is a joy. —Michael Musto She is not, however, an anomaly, as A ROOM WITH A VIEW LESSER GOD Children of a Lesser God reveals through 1985. Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Julian Sands; dir. James Ivory. 1986. William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Pip- its celebration of the energy, happiness, 117m. Hi Stcc $79.98. CBS/Fox. Image: er Laurie, Philip Bosco; dir. Randa and normality of the deaf. To see a room good. Haines. 119m. (R) Hi cc $79.95. Para- full of hearing-impaired students dancing In this modern world in which we live mount. Image: good. and singing to “Jump (For My Love)” is in (to paraphrase Paul McCartney), ev- ery room witha TV screen is a room with Jim (Hurt) is a bright, handsome, unor- almost as exhilarating as the central sto- a view. During the latter half of the 19th Century, however, the world might not thodox teacher of the hearing-impaired. ry itself—an uplifting tale of stubborn- have revealed its secrets to a young, British aristocrat until her first trip He goes for a swim fully dressed, falls out ness, fear, anger, and, most of all, love. abroad. Such is the case with the lovely, of his chair to get the attention of his —Tom Soter sensitive, and proper Lucy Honeychurch (Bonham Carter), whose life experience class, and teaches his students how to is broadened in many ways during a visit to Florence, accompanied by an overpro- dance and sing. Sarah (Matlin) is beauti- VAGABOND tective spinster cousin (Smith). Lucy’s eyes are also opened—metaphorical- ful, intelligent, and angry. She cleans la- 1985. Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Meril, ly—to the revelations of romance by the trines for a living, refuses to leave her Yolande Moreau, Stephane Fretss; dir. also lovely and sensitive George Emer- high school (where she now works), and Agnes Varda. 105m. sub. $79.95. Pacific son (Sands). Back in the English countryside where fights with almost everyone. Arts. Image: good. her family lives, Lucy becomes engaged Sarah is also completely deaf, and Even amidst the recent spate of mov- to Cecil (Daniel Day Lewis), an aristo- cratic, bookish dandy. Director Ivory Children of a Lesser God is the story of ies that explore despair and suffering, presents him in dark interiors that con- trast with the sunny exteriors framing how she and Jim fall in love and deal with this determinedly enigmatic French film Lucy and George, who re-enters the pic- ture when his father moves into the her affliction and his needs. It is a love makes for a grippingly unhappy viewing neighborhood. Lucy’s choice isn’t as sim- ple as one would think. Propriety clashes story like many others: there is early experience. Unlike the garish cesspool of with instinct, big money with little, lei- sure with labor, and real life with art. attraction and antagonism, failed at- Sid & Nancy, the bewildering dementia At first blush, this detailed and well- tempts at communication, a first date and of Blue Velvet, or Salvador and Platoon’s acted adaptation of E. M. Forster’s novel would seem to be prissy fantasy, a con- argument. Then love blossoms, followed depictions of war’s numbing amorality, densed Masterpiece Theatre epic with a by fights and a separation. Vagabond is the most disturbing portrait What provides the passion, however, of lonelinessHEHEEHSEHHTTPSEHE®HEHEHTHDEHEOHHEHESEEPHEHEPE E and alienation since Last i 80 Video June 1987
¥ Facilitating this slight plot is Hughes’ standard presumption that most adults Wil { are morons, whether well-meaning or Matthew Broderick (center) and his two best buddies play hooky in ‘Ferris Bueller's Day Off.’ comically pompous. Unfortunately, the potshots at authorities lack any real zing. Tango in Pans. lines in stark relief some ot the tragic The kids, on the other hand, possess a The opening/ending—the body of a choices we all must make about our lives. noble streak that’s been extinguished in their elders. Indeed, the real purpose of shabbily-dressed young woman is dis- —lIra Robbins Fermis’ lark is to encourage Cameron, a sovered in a rural ditch, evidently a vic- timid hypochondriac oppressed by his im of exposure—sets up the sketchy DAY OF! hard-hearted, materialistic father. story of a staunchly solitary drifter’s cas- 1986. Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, ial downward slide. Her activities con- Mia Sara; wr./dir. John Hughes. 103m. Scattered images—the excruciating sist of hitchhiking, doing odd jobs, sleep- (PG-13) Hi $79.95. LV $29.95. Para- boredom of class, Richard Edson’s bent ng in a pup tent, hustling people, and mount. Image: excel. parking-lot attendant, Charlie Sheen’s wandering aimlessly through the French surly punk—testify to Hughes’ comic Over 50 years ago, the Little Rascals gifts, but they’re few and far between. countryside. The oddly, remarkably extolled the virtues of playing hooky in Falling between his goofier efforts yeautiful Sandrine Bonnaire, extraordi- sublimely nonsensical two-reelers. So (Weird Science) and more serious outings wary in A Nos Amours, provides further what does John Hughes, celebrated con- (Pretty in Pink), Ferris Bueller lacks the svidence of her dramatic talent in Vaga- temporary chronicler of teen mores, yucks or the insights to satisfy on either yondsonly major role. This bewildering have to add on the the subject? Zip. This count. Buckwheat and Alfalfa could’ve character is a solipsistic believer in free- listless ode to the pleasures of truancy is taught that Bueller brat a thing or two Jom and non-dependence at all costs. milder and less subversive than any of about having fun, that’s for sure. Like a black hole, Mona sucks up peo- the antics devised by Spanky and his le’s emotions and expectations, leaving —Jon Young hem unsettled, unrewarded, and disillu- gang. ioned. 52 PICKUI Young Ferris Bueller seems likely to A series of encounters with interre- be remembered as one of the most ob- 1986. Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, John noxious “heroes” in screen history. Glover, Robert Trevor; dir. John Frank- ated characters is recounted through Broderick plays him as a smart-alecky enhetmer. 111m. (R) $79.95. Media. Im- 10rmal narrative action and suburban high school senior with a mis- age: good. ace-the-camera testimony by the bewil- sion: first, con his gullible parents into lered casualties. Mona’s atavistic believing he’s too sick for school, then 52 Pickup was not conceived as a con- recruit bland girlfriend Sloane (Sara) and tender for Best Picture honors. Nor did If-sufficiency proves irresistible to the shy buddy Cameron (Ruck) for hijinks in its producers envision the monster in- ople she meets, yet their offers of downtown Chicago. Ferris pulls it all off come of a Star Wars or Ghostbusters. The mfort and stability—the promise of an with the kind of cocky panache that enterprise behind this film was more in leaves his peers in admiring awe. But keeping with the plots of potboilers sasier but more confining exist- those not beguiled by his sparkling smile by Elmore Leonard—a modest heist, mce—hold no appeal. She consciously and smooth patter, often directed at the well-planned and economically per- ind steadfastly resists involvement on camera, may simply find the twerp in- formed. Not much flash. A recognition sufferably smug. that if one is careful and sticks to the y but the most casual level; whether odds, the chance of a payoff is maxi- tentionally or not, all of her decisions Hughes has the makings of a decent mized. e self-destructive. tall tale: imagine the possibilities raised Director Varda uses this bleak tale to by three temporary delinquents on the So, in translating the similarly-titled loose in a “borrowed” vintage Ferrari! Leonard novel to the screen, the produc- lore the dialectics of independence Instead, they engage in tame pursuits, ers played it smart, not fast and loose. d loneliness, friendship and obligation, lunching at a pricey eatery, attending a They picked reliable Roy Scheider as the verty and purity. No conclusions are Cubs game, visiting the art museum, and lead, steady John Frankenheimer to di- wn and Mona’s death is less a warning taking part in a parade. What rebels! rect, anda rock-solid supporting cast, led by the estimable Ann-Margret and a trio an observation—the unsurprising of superb character actors to portray the d to a life spent avoiding the benefits criminal element. Dutch Leonard himself ind hazards of socialization. With neither co-wrote the screenplay. As a result, ipology nor optimism, Vagabond out- what once might have been a great “B” movie is now the perfect rent-a-video. The plot is a throwaway: a blackmail scheme by small-time hoods gets out of control, and victim Scheider is forced to take matters into his own hands. But there are no Rambo tactics here. Events proceed in a cool fashion, with shocks provided by the villains’ plodding ruth- lessness. The delights are provided by delicious attention to detail. For exam- ple, when the blackmailers show Scheider the video they’ve shot of his extramarital transgressions, we see not only theHEHEECTEHSEHTESEeeHEOHHEOHTEOeESEeEHOTESEOeEeHEOESEEHEHRESHTEEHEEEEHHODE TV monitor screening the low-
rent motel rendezvous, but a glimmering and taboos are all accurate. Yet some- to play the parents and the time to get reflection of the stunned victim. It’s all very affecting. thing’s awry here. Peggy Sue fulfills its really serious about marital disorders. That’s the high point of Scheider’s low- titular destiny, but reluctantly. Turner Garry Marshall has enjoyed a very key work; too much of his acting borders on the soporific. But the rest of the cast and Cage seem ready to break out of the successful career based on being nice, shines, particularly John Glover, Clar- ence Williams III (yes, the Mod Squad pre-fab premise and turn it into a differ- Whether it’s the Fonz, Laverne and Shir grad), and Robert Trevor as the sleazy lowlifes who torment our hero. Ann- ent movie—she with her husky-voiced ley, or Hanks’ Dave Basner, Marshalls Margret does fine and looks great as the wronged wife whose troubles are only womanliness, he with his rigorously protagonists have always had to recon beginning. : one-dimensional smarm, a kind of zen cile demands of the real world with the High on atmosphere and characteriza- tion and always absorbing, 52 Pickup kills : obtuseness that calls attention to his bril- moral need to do the nice thing. In The a couple of hours much better than soli- taire. That might not sound like a lot, but liant impersonation of the perfect young Flamingo Kid, Marshall showed Matt in a world of cheap promises and casual swindles, something that keeps its word Narcissus. Dillon torn between his old man’s nice deserves respect and attention. Long af- ter the clamor for glitzier video releases They’re so good that you wait and wait values and the cutthroat glitter of would subsides, this one will still be in demand. for a searing moment of recognition, an be role model Richard Crenna. But Noth- —Steven Levy acknowledgment that we are all fellow ing in Common’s conflict is mostly inter PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED 1986. Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage; travelers stuck in the youth ghetto of our nal as Basner tries to reconcile his own dir. Francis Coppola. 103m. (PG-13) Ht St cc $89.98. CBS/Fox. Image: good. increasingly conservative pop culture. character in terms of his newly-separat- Peggy Sue Got Marnied offers Kathleen But Coppola undercuts them with a dif- ed father’s. Turner as a 43-year-old accidentally re- turned to being 18 and on the eve of an ferent message: See this pretty scene! That’s where the film first staggers. unhappy marmiage. She wants to go Back to the Future—preferably unmar- How nicely I’ve composed it! Weren’t the The joke of the title is that they, of ried—in this now-familiar time-travel plot. Peggy Sue renovates the repressive 50s swell? Peggy Sue gets married. course, have a lot in common: the young ’50s into the fabulous ’50s without, as the HESHTOESHHOEHHHEHDSEHOEEHHEHE O title implies, challenging the inevitability If you can thrive on that weird creative advertising executive is every of monogamy. hot-shot Golden sunlight flickers over Turner tension, enjoy. For me, though, Peggy bit the glib womanizer that his salesman and Cage as they ride in his nifty convert- ible. The period cars, furniture, clothes, : Sue is the dark underside of JtHappened father ostensibly was. Unfortunately, the One Night, another movie about consum- camera focuses on Hanks for nearly the mation. In Frank Capra’s film, the resolu- first hour, offering little more than apeek tion is exhilarating. Coppola’s is merely at pa. By the time Gleason appears, asa depressing. Welcome to the sexual coun- dour Willy Loman-type, you can’t really terrevolution. Ever had the feeling you’d believe the garrulous Hanks is any rela- been swindled? —Mark Fleischmann tion. Plot pivots that should function in the wink of an eye turn into long-winded esenveNeeOTHING IN COMMON explanations about the nature of person- ality conflict and heredity. The effect in : 1986. Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason, Eva : Marie Saint; dir. Garry Marshall. 119m. this overlong undertaking is that of a : (PG) Hi cc $89.95. HBO/Cannon. Im- lead-bottomed wobble toy that can’t right > age: good. itself. Do you remember the episode of Bos- Gleason acts as if the meter were run- om Buddies where Tom Hanks’ parents ning every moment he’s on screen, and split up and he suddenly matures into a Saint is pleasant but predictable as a con- marriage counselor? Well, this is the fused nouveau divorcee. Hector Elizon- movie version, with enough budget to do and Bess Armstrong are rarely less : hire Jackie Gleason and Eva Marie Saint CoeeOerOetPrheaeneereocekeesetseady as Dave’s fatherly boss and motherly ex-girlfriend. And Hanksis Hanks: not a mean bone and always on (except when the formula dictates the predictable break-under-pressure). Ult- mately, Nothing in Common is the em- bodiment of its star: impossible to dislike but more than a wee bit exasperating. —John Walker . TRUE STORIES 1986. David Byrne, Swoosie Kuri, Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason discuss their similarities in ‘Nothing in Common.’ Spalding Gray, Annie McEnroe; co-wr! dir. Byrne. 89m. (PG) cc Hi St $79.95.| Warner. Image: excel. A stranger comes to the fictional town | of Virgil, Texas, on the eve of its “Cele-| bration of Specialness.” In a rambling narrative, the gawky, curious maf (Byrne) explains how the town’s people are special: there’s one woman who al- ways lies, another who is obsessed with cuteness, a third who, out of sheer laz- ness, hasn’t left her bed for years. There are also a happily married couple who don’t speak to each other and a sad man HEETHECPEeHEOHTEOEESPEHHPEHEEEwEERHhEo’s taken to advertising on television
for a wife. Another young man reads psy- ches with the “radio” in his head; a local mystic changes fortunes with his voodoo chants. The stranger meets these char- acters as he wanders through town, ad- miring its beauty and simplicity. And they take him in, unaware that he’s observing them like an entomologist would an in- Sseck As he showed on early Talking Heads albums, Byrne has love and hate for modern technology, and for the quaint and backward way some people live. His off-kilter attitude makes for some very funny situations. In one sequence, the town’s civic leader (Gray) turns a family dinner into a lecture on industrial devel- opment, using food as models for roads and buildings. Byrne does condescend, but when he mentions that he “had some- thing to say about the difference between Creeeereseeer eeeseseseses American and European cities... but I for- get what it was,” he undercuts his own snobbery. The plot—a series of vignettes in David Byrne contemplates the nature of small-town Americana in ‘True Stories.’ which oddball characters haphazardly collide—has a pleasant laziness about it. eligible for a full scholarship reserved for ordeal with renewed determination to blacks. expand his obscene wealth. There’s no rush to reach a climactic mo- If super-suntan tablets were all there In Mosquito Coast, Harrison Ford ment; while there is an ending, it could was to it, this might be a kind of racial plays a similar role—inventor Allie Fox. easily have been totally different. The Tootsie, with our hero learning how to be Fed up with the decadence of contempo- human by getting—literally—into some- rary American culture and its lack of ap- musical sequences are, for the most body else’s skin. But Soul Man can only preciation for his genius, Fox moves his work as social commentary ifyou believe family to an uncharted South American part, traditional, generally advancing the town on a mission to bring the natives that Mark, whose intelligence is always ice. His wife (Mirren as Donald) and kids plot or our understanding of the charac- assumed but never demonstrated, would (Huey, Dewey, and Louie) cooperate in have no competition from real blacks. his hare-brained scheme, only gradually ters. realizing what a megalomaniac he is. One of the tape’s few weak points is Following its initial ethical gaffe, Soul Man strives to criticize racism rather The Mosquito Coast has a promising that shots with beautiful expanses of sky than remain embroiled in it. At times, premise. Allie Fox, a larger-than-life fig- and land are oddly claustrophobic on the stereotyping becomes the brunt of the small screen. But Byrne’s study of a small town caught in the throes of indus- trialization remains both sad and oddly hilarious. —Adam Philips Every Month Every month, VIDEO ble achievements delivers the facts you ted, is also poten- What’s New, need to buy right, the t Paul Schrader’s What’s Good, information you need 7. We know from What’s Best to enjoy your invest- imbition and arro- in HomeVideo! ment more. m, and he never of introspection to Have VIDEO home- ves. The Mosquito delivered every sds a voice of rea- us lunatic the truth dreams. The only lie Fox is himself, lo that spells his month—and know Imirable perform- what’s what! tharisma and ener- een impressive in SIGN ME UP Name (please print) 1a thankless role. Address {_] Send me a full year of VIDEO (12 ‘st son, seems lost monthly issues) at the low basic sub- City State : oodchuck manual. scription price of $12.00. I save [_] My payment is enclosed phy and the score $11.40 (almost 50%) off the cover Zip but The Mosquito price of $23.40. [1 Bill me later as its main char- arks knew how to and humor to his —Louis Kesten Please allow up to 60 days for delivery of first issue. For Canada, add $4.00, U.S. funds. 476A3 For foreign orders, add $25.00 for Air Mail delivery, U.S. funds. Foreign orders must be prepaid. US I ee ee
haidendaie rent motel rendezvous, but a glimmering and taboos are all accurate. Yet some- to play the parents and the time to ge reflection of the stunned victim. It’s all thing’s awry here. Peggy Sue fulfills its really serious about marital disorders. very affecting. titular destiny, but reluctantly. Turner Garry Marshall has enjoyed a very That’s the high point of Scheider’s low- key work; too much of his acting borders and Cage seem ready to break out of the successful career based on being nal on the soporific. But the rest of the cast shines, particularly John Glover, Clar- pre-fab premise and turn it into a differ- Whether it’s the Fonz, Laverne and Shir ence Williams III (yes, the Mod Squad grad), and Robert Trevor as the sleazy ent movie—she with her husky-voiced ley, or Hanks’ Dave Basner, Marshall’ lowlifes who torment our hero. Ann- Margret does fine and looks great as the womanliness, he with his rigorously protagonists have always had to reco wronged wife whose troubles are only beginning. one-dimensional smarm, a kind of zen cile demands of the real world with High on atmosphere and characteriza- obtuseness that calls attention to his bril- moral need to do the nice thing. In 7) tion and always absorbing, 52 Pickup kills a couple of hours much better than soli- liant impersonation of the perfect young Flamingo Kid, Marshall showed Ma taire. That might not sound like a lot, but eeeCeeoeeesseNeasrecsieseseuess. Dillon torn between his old man’s ni in a world of cheap promises and casual swindles, something that keeps its word They’re so good that you wait and wait values and the cutthroat glitter of woul deserves respect and attention. Long af- ter the clamor for glitzier video releases for a searing moment of recognition, an be role model Richard Crenna. But Noth subsides, this one will still be in demand. acknowledgment that we are all fellow ing in Common’s conflict is mostly inte: —Steven Levy travelers stuck in the youth ghetto of our nal as Basner tries to reconcile his o PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED 1986. Kathleen Turner, Nicolas Cage; increasingly conservative pop culture. character in terms of his newly-separat dir. Francis Coppola. 103m. (PG-13) Hi St cc $89.98. CBS/Fox. Image: good. But Coppola undercuts them with a dif- ed father’s. Peggy Sue Got Married offers Kathleen ees ferent message: See this pretty scene! That’s where the film first stagge’ Turner as a 43-year-old accidentally re- How nicely I’ve composed it! Weren't the The joke of the title is that they, turned to being 18 and on the eve of an unhappy marriage. She wants to go Back 50s swell? Peggy Sue gets married. course, have a lot in common: the young to the Future—preferably unmar- ried—in this now-familiar time-travel If you can thrive on that weird creative hot-shot advertising executive is ever} plot. Peggy Sue renovates the repressive ’50s into the fabulous ’50s without, as the tension, enjoy. For me, though, Peggy bit the glib womanizer that his salesmat title implies, challenging the inevitability Sue is the dark underside of Jt Happened father ostensibly was. Unfortunately, the of monogamy. One Night, another movie about consum- camera focuses on Hanks for nearly Golden sunlight flickers over Turner and Cage as they ride in his nifty convert- mation. In Frank Capra’s film, the resolu- first hour, offering little more than a pee ible. The period cars, furniture, clothes, tion is exhilarating. Coppola’s is merely at pa. By the time Gleason appears, as ¢ depressing. Welcome to the sexual coun- dour Willy Loman-type, you can’t really terrevolution. Ever had the feeling you’d believe the garrulous Hanks is any rela been swindled? —Mark Fleischmann tion. Plot pivots that should function it the wink of an eye turn into long-windec NOTHING IN COMMON explanations about the nature of person: 1986. Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason, Eva ality conflict and heredity. The effect ir Marie Saint; dir. Garry Marshall. 119m. this overlong undertaking is that of z (PG) Hi cc $89.95. HBO/Cannon. Im- lead-bottomed wobble toy that can’t right age: good. itself. Do you remember the episode of Bos- Gleason acts as ifthe meter were run: om Buddies where Tom Hanks’ parents ning every moment he’s on screen, an¢ split up and he suddenly matures into a Saint is pleasant but predictable as a con- marriage counselor? Well, this is the fused nouveau divorcee. Hector Elizon- movie version, with enough budget to do and Bess Armstrong are rarely less hire Jackie Gleason and Eva Marie Saint than rock steady as Dave’s fatherly boss and motherlvHCeEHHEEEeEEEEHOEHeEHDEHEOEEEHEREPEHEHEEEHH ex-girlfriend. And Hanks is NO POSTAGE | NECESSARY | IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 3494 NEW YORK, NY POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE uideo P.O. Box 52255 Boulder, Colorado 80321-2255 Tom Hanks and 82 VidJuene o1987
for a wife. Another young man reads psy- ches with the “radio” in his head; a local mystic changes fortunes with his voodoo chants. The stranger meets these char- acters as he wanders through town, ad- miring its beauty and simplicity. And they take him in, unaware that he’s observing them like an entomologist would an in- sect. As he showed on early Talking Heads albums, Byrne has love and hate for modern technology, and for the quaint eeeveee and backward way some people live. His off-kilter attitude makes for some very funny situations. In one sequence, the town’s civic leader (Gray) turns a family dinner into a lecture on industrial devel- opment, using food as models for roads and buildings. Byrne does condescend, but when he mentions that he “had some- thing to say about the difference between American and European cities... but I for- get what it was,” he undercuts his own : snobbery. The plot—a series of vignettes in : David Byrne contemplates the nature of small-town Americana in ‘True Stories.’ which oddball characters haphazardly collide—has a pleasant laziness about it. eligible for a full scholarship reserved for : ordeal with renewed determination to : blacks. expand his obscene wealth. There’s no rush to reach a climactic mo- In Mosquito Coast, Harrison Ford If super-suntan tablets were all there plays a similar role—inventor Allie Fox. ment; while there is an ending, it could was to it, this might be a kind of racial Fed up with the decadence of contempo- Tootsie, with our hero learning how to be easily have been totally different. The human by getting—literally—into some- + rary American culture and its lack of ap- body else’s skin. But Soul Man can only preciation for his genius, Fox moves his musical sequences are, for the most work as social commentary if you believe family to an uncharted South American that Mark, whose intelligence is always town on a mission to bring the natives part, traditional, generally advancing the assumed but never demonstrated, would have no competition from real blacks. eeeiceee.seHeies wife (Mirren as Donald) and kids plot or our understanding of the charac- (Huey, Dewey, and Louie) cooperate in Following its initial ethical gaffe, Soul ters. Man strives to criticize racism rather : his hare-brained scheme, only gradually than remain embroiled in it. At times, realizing what a megalomaniac he is. One of the tape’s few weak points is stereotyping becomes the brunt of the The Mosquito Coast has a promising joke rather than its governing principle. that shots with beautiful expanses of sky eceCseeroermeeTe sheeeecsoemeisceeeheieghelrieghts are a basketball eoeperceeemeise. Allie Fox, a larger-than-life fig- game in which the bumbling, hot-dogging ure whose considerable achievements and land are oddly claustrophobic on the Mark makes a cultural spectacle of him- are all wrongly motivated, is also poten- tially fascinating. But Paul Schrader’s small screen. But Byrne’s study of a screenplay goes awry. We know from small town caught in the throes of indus- tnialization remains both sad and oddly hilarious. —Adam Philips 1986. C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, James Earl Jones, James B. Stk- king; dir. Steve Miner. 101m. (PG-13) Hi self, and a stiff dinner party at which the start that Fox’s ambition and arro- St cc $79.95. New World. Image: good. everyone’s racial fantasies run wild. gance will destroy him, and he never takes even a moment of introspection to When Soul Man hit the big screen, it —Ed Sikov was accused of being tacky and racist. : question his own motives. The Mosquito Not so, said its director, Soul Man was Coast desperately needs a voice of rea- about racism. The tale of a rich white guy 1986. Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, son, someone to tell this lunatic the truth who finances his Harvard Law School River Phoenix; dir. Peter Weir. 118m. about his overblown dreams. The only education by masquerading as black is in (PG) Hi St cc $89.95. LV CX St cc thing that can stop Allie Fox is himself, fact a semi-comedy about bigotry’s effect $39.98. Warner. Image: excel. and his inability to do that spells his on several reasonably bright future law- Three well-educated friends with doom. yers. It’s also at times both tacky and whom I watched The Mosquito Coast du- Ford turns in an admirable perform- racist, though the latter results more ly pointed out its similarity to Joseph ance, filling Fox with charisma and ener- from mindlessness than overt prejudice. Conrad’s Heart ofDarkness. 1, however, gy. Mirren, who has been impressive in To enjoy Soul Man, you have to buy a was reminded more of plots from Uncle the past, is trapped in a thankless role. bizarre premise. Mark Watson (Howell), Scrooge comic books. Writer/illustrator eeoerPchooesneiexs,seaeseeFox’s oldest son, seems lost the only child of a fabulously wealthy Carl Barks sent Scrooge McDuck, along without his Junior Woodchuck manual. screwball (Sikking), is accepted to Har- with his nephew Donald, and Both the cinematography and the score vard; unfortunately, Dad refuses to pay grand-nephews Huey, Dewey, and are lush and gorgeous, but The Mosquito his tuition. Mark’s cavalier attitude has Louie, off to various Third World Coast is as infuriating as its main char- already nipped his credit rating in the backwaters in search of rare gems. reecvcaecceetser. At least Carl Barks knew how to bud, so his only (?) choice is to take pills : Scrooge usually paid dearly for his greed that color his skin and thus make him and arrogance but emerged from each : add some suspense and humor to his : morality plays. —Louis Kesten June 1987 Video 85
VIDEOS MADE FOR HOME VIEWING SECS SECHSHHSHEHHEHESEESEHEHOOHSEHEEEEESEHHEEHESEEEEEEE . 3.5 billion years’ worth of history in one or two sittings. After an introductory segment retrac- ing Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos islands and laying out evolutionary theo- ry, Life on Earth reconstructs the logical progression of life from the first organic eoeeeeceoemepounds to Homo sapiens. But the ex- traordinary nature of the production and the show’s host are what elevate this above the ordinary video textbook fare. The photography is unbelievable: breathtaking close-ups of birds, bats, and insects hovering in flight; birth sequ- ences of frogs and dolphins that must be repeated in slow motion to be fully seerrereraspspereeeceiated. Even amidst such gloriously intimate observations of the richness and diversi- eoeetoyeeof life on earth, the most fascinating organism here is Attenborough himself. Gunther Gebel-Williams, a tiger trainer who also works with horses, elephants and wolf- His free-flowing diction is as impeccable hounds, leads the parade in the ‘Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Video.’ as it is easily comprehensible, and his delivery exudes boyish enthusiasm for RINGLING BROTHERS act is Eric Braun’s lengthy clown skit the subject matter. It’s impossible not to be envious as we see him emerge in AND BARNUM & BAILEY with a trained dog. eoeesceusbeaecgeear from a coral lagoon, excitedly play recordings of whale songs from a HOME VIDEO All this talent is presented in the sin- boat in the Pacific, or climb up a tree to 1987. Pr. Don Spielvogel. 110m. H1 St cc discourse about primates. $89.95. Family. Image: good. cerely hokey style the circus demands. Other noteworthy sequences span Part of growing up is realizing that Two of the Braun children follow their continents within a single thought. One your parents took you to the circus in “Uncle Tim” in a search for the unicorn which begins in Australia with marsupial part because the experience is a lot more births segues to the Arctic, where Atten- amazing to adults. The acts seem more eeee and, by chance of course, bump into the borough appears in the same sentence to death-defying once you're old enough to : various acts just before they perform. comment about baby harp seals. Unfor- know all there is to fear, the clowns are eeeeerteunraetreeleys, the videocassette edit omits funnier when you understand the context Ringmaster Kenneth Antekeier provides many similar segments that were pres- of their sight gags, and the animal acts ent in the original. But this version does become completely astounding once one short and interesting commentary at the have one advantage: A ChapterSearch has unsuccessfully tried to teach a recal- Index denotes chapters and sections at citrant dog to fetch. So it’s not for nothing right moments, always striking the right the beginning and end of each cassette, that the ringmaster opens each perform- “greatest show on earth” tone. The vid- and corresponding number inserts make ance with the chant, “Ladies and gentle- it easy to scan to desired points. men, boys and girls, children of all ages!” eo could have included more close-us, The adults are invariably the widest- —Jim Bessman eyed kids in the stands. eeeebeuetesbeyceaendcelarge it meets the three-ring challenge, zeroing in on the most in- eoceeeesesese And what a collection of acts to be wide-eyed about. Discounting the “Liv- teresting ring at any given moment. GERMANY—DADA ing Unicorn,” the wonderful 155th edi- 1968. Dur. Helmut Herbst. 55m. $14.95. So, for children of all ages, this tape is Kartes. Image: good. tion of RB&B&B stars on video lots of animals, aerialists, acrobats, and a mo- the next best thing to smelling the saw- MONSIEUR RENE torcycle act that rides around in a steel cage. The most: famous act—Gunther dust. Circus lovers had better get with MAGRITTE Gebel-Williams, the tiger trainer who al- it—this tape will be withdrawn after a 1978. Wr./dir. Adrian Maben. 60m. so works with horses, elephants, and $39.95. Home Vision. Image: good. Russian wolfhounds—never disappoints. year, when the next edition of Thanks to video, one sees exactly how RB&B&b’s big top extravaganza turns As The National Observer's Bill Mar- big the big cats are. Another astounding vel commented, referring to the Kartes to video. —M. George Stevenson Museum Without Walls series, “The camera has made it possible for the first LIFE ON EARTH time in history for anyone to survey the 1980. Hosted/wr. David Attenborough 233m. 2 cas. $39.95. Warner. Image: good. This condensation of the phenomenal 13-hour BBC series lacks the full sprawl and grandeur of naturalist Attenbor- ough’s journey through evolution, but it does retain the most unforgettable sequences, enabling viewers to digest
entire visual culture of the race from an >t . says of his play. “It’s surreal, which is . re : just what it should be.” easy chair.” It’s about time, too—those : —Andrew Roblin boring museum trips were becoming a : real drag. ° If Germany—Dada and Monsieur THE GALAXY BEING Rene Magritte are typical of this best of all Rene Magritte’s paintings: anxious and be- 1963. B&W. Cliff Robertson, Jacqueline : guiling. brave new cultural worlds, then I’d say : Scott; wr./dir. Leslie Stevens. 53m. Hi riding on a smile and a shoeshine or : $19.95. MGMIUA. Image: good. we're about half in trouble. The former is something equally fragile. When the : smile and shoeshine fade and the world a fine example of how a subject can be : stops buying what we have to sell, all : MAN WITH THE POWER : manner of personal hell breaks loose. : 1963. B&W. Donald Pleasence, Priscilla adapted to pedagogic form, while the lat- : Experiencing this Death ofa Salesman : Morrell; dir. Laslo Benedek. 52m. Hi : feels like witnessing your own autopsy. : $19.95. MGMIUA. Image: good. ter is a bore, the kind of documentary Director Schlondorff’s scalpel slices off : the skin-deep lies that allow Willy—and THE HUNDRED DAYS OF most of us spent our Wonder years doz- : us—to cope with life. The characters, as ing off to in class. : played by Hoffman, Durning, Lang, Mal- : 1T9H63E. BD&RW.AGSOidNney Blackmer, Phillip : kovich, and Reid, cut very close to the Germany—Dada treats its subject bone. : Miller is, of course, the chief architect —the irrational, bizarre, and whimsical of Death of a Salesman’s terrible great- ness, but the director and actors wring art movement spawned in post-World every drop of galling truth from the play. As Private Conversation, the behind- War I Zurich—in an appropriately the-scenes companion video, shows, : Pine; dir. Byron Haskin. 52m. Hi Schlondorff pushes his players—espe- dadaesque style. In reverse alphabetic cially Hoffman—to the point of physical : $19.95. MGMIUA. Image: good. exhaustion, a tool for exposing the emo- There ts nothing wrong with your mag- order, the main figures and facets of dada : tional exhaustion of the Loman family. : azine. We are controlling publication. We are represented through artworks and Hoffman is unrelenting in his role. As : can control type size. We can control the director Helmut Herbst’s hyperactive : Willy's sanity unravels, Hoffman falls illustrations. For the next 300 words we apart with him, leaving searching gaps in will control all that you see and think. You editing. Dada slogans, graphics, and his sentences. His eyes grow glassy; the odor of death settles on him. The staging are reading a review that reaches from the manifestos are thrown about with zany offers a magic lantern show of Willy’s inner mind to...The Outer Limits. slipping grip on reality. At Frank’s Chop abandon, sucking the viewer into the House, where son Biff tries to describe If this were an Outer Limits episode, as his latest business failure, flashbacks of : are these videos, scientists would be scene’s energetic illogic. Primary texts an earlier catastrophe intrude on Willy through the windows. standing around, soberly discussing in are used whenever possible. The pro- Private Conversation heightens the : dismal elementary terms some theory impact of Death of a Salesman. In it, : concerning atomic or electromagnetic gram was produced with the cooperation Hoffman compares the play to a bad acid : energy. The Outer Limits (1963-65) spe- trip, a horror movie of the soul. Play- : cialized in such explanations, especially of original dadaists Hans Richter and wright Miller is on the set, too, adding his : long, drawn-out ones. Then the Special voice to the director’s in shaping the pro- Richard Huelsenbeck, and includes two duction. “It’s a combination of the fantas- : Effect of the Week—usually someone in films (Rhythm, 1921, and Ghosts Before tic and a kind of super-reality,” Miller : aclunky costume lovingly photographed : in negative imagery—would be intro- Breakfast, 1927) by the former as wellas a poem (“Phantastische Gebete”) recit- : duced. ed by the latter. A good portion is also After the SEOTW caused a few un- devoted to the work of Kurt Schwitters : intentional deaths and wreaked havoc on (who eventually disavowed dadaism). He : a power station or a small town, a suicide is seen reading his famous 1932 sound : was usually necessary to rid the world of piece, Die Sonate in Urlauten. : the latest menace and restore the natural Conversely, Monsieur Rene Magritte : family order. At the end of the show, a plods through the Belgian surrealist’s : bored voice recited the week’s moral: “It oeuvre, desperately trying to impart fur- : is only by understanding ourselves and : others that we can continue to preserve ther mystery to these already anxious : our American way of life and freedoms in : a hostile universe.” and beguiling objects by means of slow, : Formulaic and utterly lacking in inten- : tional humor, The Outer Limits is the ne creepy zooms. Things pick up towards the end, when we get a gander of home movies chez Magritte. He casts off the eeeeeeee esober persona otherwise instilled by the film’s editing and narration, goofing for the camera and dressing his wife in mask and tuba. —Richard Gehr DEATH OF A SALESMAN : plus ultra of fictionalized television sci- 1986. Dustin Hoffman, Charles Durn- ing, Stephen Lang, John Malkovich, Kate : ence. Of these three episodes, Donald Reid; dir. Volker Schlondorff. 135m. $79.95. Karl. Image: excel. : Pleasence as The Man with the Power PRIVATE CONVERSATION: : best exemplifies the series in its most ON THE SET OF DEATH : schematic form. The Galaxy Being fea- OF A SALESMAN : tures Cliff Robertson as an obsessed sci- 1987. Pr./dir. Christian Blackwood. 82m. Hi St $59.95. Karl. Image: excel. : entist tinkering around ina radio station's : transmitter. The Hundred Days of the How good is this interpretation of Ar- thur Miller’s masterpiece? Good enough : Dragon, which would have made a better to convince me of a terrible truth: I am Willy Loman, and you probably are, too. : Twilight Zone, involves the old Like Willy, most of us live in the blue, : plastic-surgery switcheroo between a : newly-elected United States president : and the cold and unlovable agents of an > unnamed Oriental government. Filmed in 1963, it’s about as racist as you’d ex- ; pect. —Richard Gehr dune 1987 Video 87
Ditrec it; NEW RELEASES ON TAPE AND DISC Ceoveeeeeseeeeeeeoeseeeeeeoeeeeeeseeeeeesees he plans to steal. 109m. Hi $59.95. tralians on safari get hostile recep- Bozo the Clown Vols. 1-4. 1987 MCA. tion from New Guinea natives. comp. anim. TV fare, 5 per cas. 91m. Hi $59.95. Charter. 30m. ea. $14.95 ea. Congress. America 3000. 1986. Chuck Wag- The Horsemen. 1971. Omar Sharif, ner, Laurene Landon. Future Leigh Taylor-Young, Jack Palance; Blockbuster Magic with Bob Children’s Heroes of the Bible. world ruled by women. 94m. (PG- dir. John Frankenheimer. Afghani McAllister. 1987. 24 magic tricks. 1987. anim. Four cas. The Story of 13) Hi ss $79.95. MGM/UA. tribesman enters grueling compe- 60m. $14.95. Congress. David, The Story of Moses, The tition to please his father. 109m. Story of Elijah, The Story of the The Best of Bonanza Vols. 1, 2. : (PG) Hi $69.95. RCA/Columbia. Apostles. 23m. ea. $19.95 ea. 1959-1973. Lorne Greene, Dan : Vangaurd. Blocker, Michael Landon. Vintage : In the Shadows of Kilimanjaro. Ponderosa, 2 episodes per cas. : 1986. Timothy Bottoms, John : Disney’s Sing-Along Songs: Vol. 1:ARose for Lotta (pilot), The : Rhys-Davies. Drought drives bab- : Heigh-Ho. 1987 comp. anim. Musi- Underdog (with Charles Bronson). + cal sequences from Snow White, Vol. 2: The Dark Gate James boons to prey on humans. 94m. (R) : Mary Poppins, Three Caballeros, Coburn), The Honor of Cochise $79.95. USA. (DeForest Kelley). 120m. ea. PROGRAMMING LEGEND $39.95 ea. Republic. The Persuaders: Overture, Five Miles to Midnight. 1972. Tony DATE IMAGE QUALITY Blood Debts. Yr. n.a. Richard Har- eee Curetis, Roger Moore. Episodes of For theatrical releases, this rison. Man tracks hunters who TV series with Imogen Hassal Varies according to type of raped his daughter. 91m. $59.95. (Overture), Joan Collins (Mid- program. Films: original theat- rating refers to the transfer quali- Continental. night). 60m. ea. Hi $39.95 ea. rical release. Made-for-broad- ty and overall visual appearance. Sony. cast: first telecast. Made-for- For non-theatrical programs, it Captain Blood. 1935, czd. 1986. video: first release in any for- refers to overall visual quality. Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Quiet Cool. 1986. James Remar, mat. Compilations: production Basil Rathbone; dir. Michael Cur- Jared Martin. Cop pursues pot of collected work. excel.: exceptionally attrac- tiz. Wrongiully imprisoned doctor : growers who killed his ex- tive and/or faithful to becomes pirate leader. 99m. Hi St : girlfriend. 80m. (R) Hi St $79.95. FORMAT the original (simulated) cc $59.98. CBS/Fox. * RCA/Columbia. All programs are available in good: adequate but Choke Canyon. 1986. Stephen Col- eeeRaw Courage. 1983. Ronny Cox, Beta and VHS unless noted. All unremarkable lins, Janet Julian, Bo Svenson. Nu- Art Hindle, M. Emmet Walsh. Trio programs on disc are also avail- clear accident jeopardizes scien- of runners in New Mexico assault- able on tape unless noted. The fair: passable, but below tist’s research. 96m. (PG) Hi ed by citizen’s army. 90m. (R) B Hi following abbreviations apply: average. $79.95. Media. V $69.95. New World. B: Beta videocassette poor: seriously flawed The Corsican Brothers. 1941. The Return of Josey Wales. 1986. V: VHS videocassette B&W. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Michael Parks, Raphael Campos. 8: 8mm videocassette ETCETERA Ruth Warrick. Adaptation of the Mysterious gunman returns to LV: LaserVision videodisc Dumas swashbuckler: separated rescue comrade. 90m. (R) $79.95. Official MPAA ratings (G, PG, siamese twins remain linked in Magnum. in either in CLV or PG-13, R, X) are provided when spirit. 111m. Price n.a. Late. CAV playing format. available. All programs are in Scorchy. 1976. Connie Stevens, CED: CED videodisc color unless noted. List prices The Deadly Companions. 1961. Cesare Danova. Stevens as under- are not given for CED discs. Maureen O’Hara, Brian Keith, eoeccosveers agent determined to break AUDIO FEATURES Chill Wills; dir. Sam Peckinpah. drug-smuggling ring. 100m. (R) All available audio information anim.: animated Cavalry officer leads funeral pro- $69.98. Lightning. B&W: black & white cession through Indian territory. is provided. Dolby noise reduc- cas.: videocassette 90m. B Hi V $59.95. New World. Thrashin’. 1986.- Josh Brolin. tion, which is used on virtually all comp.: compilation Skateboarding teens. 92m. (PG- VHS tapes, is not noted. The czd.: colorized Gambit. 1966. Shirley MacLaine, 13) $79.95. Continental. following abbreviations apply: dir.: directed by Michael Caine, Herbert Lom; dir. Ronald Neame. Burglar meets Three Bullets for aLong Gun. 1973. St: stereo m.: minutes dancer who resembles the statue Keith Van Der Wat, Patrick Hi: Hi-Fi rseeeeeceMecuenheasredt. Lure of buried treasure ss: Dolby surround stereo n.a.: not available sparks competition. 89m. Hi cc: closed-captioned nar.: narrated by $59.95. Charter. CX: CX encoded pr.: produced by Walk into Hell. 1957. Chips Raffer- RE: reissue. ty, Francoise Christophe. Aus- sub.: subtitled wr.: written by Editors’ choices in the Directory are highlighted with red titles. ePreerecseessseeesesesesseseseseseseseses 88 Video June 1987
{ie etc. with lyrics appearing on gun blast. 90m. Hi $29.95. Viddy- : LABELS FOR LESS screen. 30m. Hi $14.95. Disney. Oh! : Special promotions and other pricing news The Dragon That Wasn’t (Or Was He?). 1983. anim. Dutch feature Laurel and Hardy Vols. 1-4. 1987 ‘ @ CBS/Fox’s Playhouse label reduces the prices of 26 about bear who adopts baby drag- comp. anim. Made for TV. 30m. Faene Tale Theatre titles from $39.95 to $19.98 each. Included on. 96m. Hi $29.95. MCA. ea. $14.95 ea. Congress. are Little Red Riding Hood, The Tale of the Frog Prince, Rum- Five Lionni Classics: The Animal Fables of Leo Lionni. 1987. anim. Lightning—The White Stallion. stiltskin, and The Princess Who Never Laughed. Includes Frederick, Cornelius, It’s 1986. Mickey Rooney, Susan Mine, Fish Is Fish, Swimmy. 30m. George. Girl cares for injured @ Key Video throws a “Spotlight II” on selected features ce Price n.a. Random man’s stolen horse. 93m. (PG) Hi $79.95. Media. starring Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney, Here’s Donald!. 1987 comp. anim. Three shorts: Wide Open Spaces Little Women: The Other Beth. now permanently priced at $29.95. Bette headlines All About (47), Crazy with the Heat (47), 1987. anim. Shy sister learns to Donald’s Ostrich (37). 30m. Hi overcome timidity. 30m. Hi Eve, Jezebel, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Madame Sin, Now $14.95. Disney. $14.95. Sony. Voyager, The Letter, Watch on the Rhine, and Juarez; Cagney Here’s Goofy!. 1987 comp. anim. Mister Jaw Cartoon Festival Fea- carries White Heat, What Price Glory, Public Enemy, Footlight > Includes For Whom the Bull Totls turing ‘‘Monster of the Deep.” 1987 comp. anim. Made for TV; Parade, The Roaring 20s, 13 Rue Madeleine, andAMidsum- (53), Lion Down (’50), A Knight : includes To Catch a Halibut, Fly- _ for a Day (45). 30m. Hi $14.95. ing Fool, 3 more. 32m. Hi $14.95. mer Nights Dream; Bogey cools his way through The Big Viddy-Oh! Disney. Sleep, Dark Passage, High Sierra, Key Largo, They Drive by The Mother Goose Video Treasury Here’s Mickey!. 1987 comp. anim. Vols. 1-4. 1987. Actors, puppets Night, Passage to Marseilles, Treasure ofthe Sierra Madre, The Includes Mickey’s Garden (’35), recite favorite nursery rhymes. Petrified Forest (with Davis), The Barefoot Contessa, and The Orphans’ Benefit (’41), Mickey’s Approx. 30m. ea. $14.95 ea. J2. Birthday Party (41). 30m. Hi Left Hand of God. $14.95. Disney. My Sesame Street Home Video. 1987. Four cas.: Getting Ready for @ Walt Disney Home Video launches “Classic Disney at a Here’s Pluto!. 1987 comp. anim. : School, Learning to Add and Sub- Includes Mail Dog (47), Pantry Pi- tract, Sing Along, Big Bird’s Story Goofy Price” with eight $14.95 cassettes: Here’s Mickey, rate (’41), Springtime for Pluto Time. 30m. ea cc Price n.a. Here’s Donald, Here’s Pluto, Here’s Goofy, Silly Symphonies, (44). 30m. Hi $14.95. Disney. Random. Disney’s Sing-Along Songs: Heigh Ho, The Reluctant Dragon, Jem Vol. 2: Last Resorts. 1986. The Mysterious Island. 1975. anim. Two stories in rock/pop set- anim. TV adaptation of Jules Verne and Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (see Directory ting. 67m. $24.95. Family. novel. 49m. Hi $19.95. MGM/UA. listings). Kidnapped. 1973. anim. Stevenson 101 Things for Kids to Do. 1987. @ IVE’s Family label releases a trio of Chuck Jones animat- adaptation for TV: Uncle sells or- Shari Lewis. Tricks, riddles, pup- ed programs at $14.95, each under the banner “The Jungle phaned nephew into slavery to grab inheritance. 49m. Hi $19.95. pets, games, stunts, crafts, more. Book Stories”: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, The White Seal, and Mow- MGM/UA. 60m. cc Price n.a. Random. gli’s Brothers. Kids in Motion. 1987. Scott Baio 115th Edition of Ringling Bros. and @ Sony reprices 26 music titles in their “Midline II” promo- hosts program of coordination-en- hancing routines, among them : Barnum & Bailey Circus. 1987. tion, a follow-up to last summer’s “Midline I.” Video 45s featur- “The Freeze,” “Balancing Act,” ing Phil Collins, Tears for Fears, Sheena Easton, Coney and “Tummy Tango.” With the Highlights from latest “Greatest” Temptations. 67m. Hi St cc plus backstage visits with stars. Hatch, and Helix now go for $9.95; $14.95 gets you Video EPs ' $19.98. Playhouse. 110m. cc $89.95. Family. by Katrina and the Waves, Pete Townshend, Bananarama, Lassie in the Miracle. 1975. Mute The Perils of Problemina. 1987. boy saves Lassie’s litter from shot- anim. Plucky pair of ants save colo- David Bowie, WASP, Bon Jovi, Golden Earring, the Jam, ny from anteater. 90m. $59.98. Lightning. Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the Everly Brothers; Video LPs by American Suite, Brian Eno, Donnie Iris, Michael Stan- ley Band, Rick Derringer, Split Enz, and Devo drop to $19.95. In addition, all children’s titles now sell for $9.95 to $29.95; these include Curious George, Black Beauty, The Hobbit, and Voltron. —Steve Daly : Potato Head Kids. 1986. anim. Toy : ture series. 103m. Hi $59.95. tie-in starring progeny of Mr. Po- : Sony. tato Head. 40m. $19.95. Family. Silly Symphonies. 1987 comp. Rambo: Exercise in Terror. 1986. anim. Three shorts: Water Babies anim. Cartoon tie-in with Stallone (35), Toby Tortoise Returns (’36), film. 100m. $39.95. Family. Three Little Wolves (’36). 30m. Hi $14.95. Disney. Reader’s Digest Children’s Clas- sics. 1987. anim. Four separate Swiss Family Robinson. 1972. cas.: The Little Mermaid, nar. anim. TV adaptation: family Richard Chamberlain; The Selfish stranded on South Seas island. Giant; The Remarkable Rocket, : 49m. Hi $19.95. MGM/UA. nar. David Niven; The Happy : Tijuana Toads Cartoon Festival : Prince, nar. Christopher Plum- : Featuring “Go for Croak.”” 1987 mer, Glynis Johns. 26m. ea. cc : comp. anim. Frog duo in five Price n.a. Random. shorts. 33m. Hi $14.95. Viddy-Oh! Donald Duck rea’ ches for stardom in ‘Here’s Mickey! The Reluctant Dragon. 1987 comp. : Travels of Marco Polo. 1972. anim. anim. Featurette Dragon (’41) plus C TV cartoon of trek to China. 48m. cartoon Morris the Midget Moose : Hi $19.95. MGM/UA. (50). 28m. Hi $14.95. Disney. Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Runaway Island—The Exiles. : Eeyore. 1983. anim. Residents of 1987. Episode of Australianadven- * Hundred Acre Wood nearly over June 1987 Video 89
look Eeyore’s birthday. 25m. Hi ‘ of foreign legion dramas. 80m. Hi $14.95. Disney. : $24.95. MGM/UA. Zoobilee Zoo: The Land of Rhymes : Burns & Allen. 1950. B&W. Joe Piscopo struts his stuff in the ‘Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special,’ and Other Stories/Laughland and : George Burns, Gracie Allen. Two Other Stories. 1987. Ben Vereen : episodes from TV series. 60m. low Zero). 50-85m. ea. $19.95 ea. : Flicks. 1983. Pamela Sue Martin, leads cast of animal characters in $ $14.95. Congress. Roach. > Martin Mull. Parody of Saturday songs and stories. Two cas. 70m. + matinee featuring newsreel, car- ea. Hi $29.95 ea. Magic. : Detective School Dropouts. 1985. : Ferris Bueller's Day Off. 1986. : toon, horror film, space serial. : David Landsberg, Lorin Dreyfuss. : 79m. (R) Hi $69.95. Media. Another Thin Man. 1939. B&W. Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Vir- : Inept duo bungle their way through : Mia Sara; wr./pr./dir. John : Haunted Honeymoon. 1986. Gene ginia Grey. Third outing for hus- : kidnapping case. 92m. (PG) Hi ss : Wilder, Gilda Radner, Dom De- band-wife sleuths Nick and Nora : $79.95. MGM/UA. Hughes. High school seniors cut Charles; first appearance of Nick Luise; dir. Wilder. Spoof of ’40s Jr. 105m. Hi $24.95. MGM/UA. > Down by Law. 1986. B&W. Tom : class to spend day in Chicago. : horror movies. 88m. (PG-13) Hi Armed and Dangerous. 1986. John 103m. (PG-13) Hi ss cc $79.95. Candy, Eugene Levy, Robert Log- Waits, John Lurie, Roberton Be- $79.95. HBO/Cannon. gia. Bungling ex-cop and inept : nigni; wr./dir. Jim Jarmusch. Pair : Paramount. ex-lawyer sign on at crooked guard : of New Orleans drifters break jail company. 88m. (PG-13) Hi ss cc : with help of cellmate, an eccentric $79.95. RCA/Columbia. Bob Hope Entertains the Troops. Italian tourist. 107m. (R) Hi St 1951. B&W. TV special with Hope (simulated) cc $79.98. Key. and guest Dorothy Maguire in South Korea. 30m. $14.95. Con- : Eat and Run. 1986. Ron Silver, gress. R.L. Ryan. Visiting alien develops Bonnie Scotland. 1935. B&W. taste for Italian food—people, not Laurel & Hardy, June Lang. Spoof pasta. 85m. (R) B Hi V $79.95. New World. : El Gordo y el Flaco: Laurel and Hardy. 1930-1931. B&W. Shorts re-filmed in Spanish (not dubbed) with different supporting casts. Five cas.: Los Calaveras/El Cane- lo (Be Big/Laughing Gravy), La Vida Nocturna (Blotto), Ladrones (Night Owls), Politiquerias (Chick- ens Come Home), Noche de Duendes/Tiembla y Titubea (The Laurel & Hardy Murder Case/Be- NEW 8mm RELEASES : In Search of the Perfect 10. 1986. Andrew Nichols. Burlesque of “Lifestyles”-type programs. 60m. $39.95. Magnum. An American in Paris. 1951. Kate Capshaw. Action. 118m. 92m. $29.95. MGM/UA. The Jack Benny Show. 1954. Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron. Musi- (PG) ss $29.95. Paramount. B&W. Benny, Bing Crosby, cal. 113m. $29.95. MGM/UA. Ninotchka. 1939. B&W. Greta George Burns, Kirk Douglas, Fred King Kong. 1933. B&W. Robert Garbo, Melvyn Douglas; dir. MacMurray. Two episodes of | Brigadoon. 1954. Gene Kelly, Armstrong, Fay Wray. Monster Ernst Lubitsch. Comedy. 110m. Benny’s variety series. 60m. movie. 100m. $29.95. RKO. $29.95. MGM/UA. $14.95. Congress. | Cyd Charisse. Musical. 108m. St | $29.95. MGM/UA. Little Women. 1933. B&W. Pink Panther: A Fly in the Pink. : Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special. Katharine Hepburn. Melodrama. 1987 comp. anim. Children’s. 1985. Eddie Murphy, Danny De- Citizen Kane. 1941. B&W. Co- 100m. $29.95. MGM/UA. 57m. $29.95. MGM/UA. vito. Piscopo impersonates David wr./dir. Orson Welles. Drama. Hartman, Andy Rooney, Joan Riv- 119m. $29.95. MGM/UA. Meet Me in St. Louis. 1944. Judy Pretty in Pink. 1986. Molly Ring- ers, David Letterman, Spring- Garland; dir. Vincente Minnelli. wald, Andrew McCarthy. Teen steen, and Sinatra. 60m. Hi Dinner at Eight. 1933. B&W. Musical. 113m. St (simulated) romance. 96m. (PG-13) ss $59.95. Vestron. $29.95. MGM/UA. $29.95. Paramount. | John Barrymore, Jean Harlow. The Lemon Drop Kid. 1951. B&W. Comedy/drama. 113m. $29.95. Motown 25: Yesterday, Today The Secret of NIMH. 1982. anim. Bob Hope, Fred Clark, Lloyd MGM/UA. and Forever. 1983. TV special. Dir. Don Bluth. Children’s. 82m. Nolan. Hope as bookie on the run 130m. St $29.95. MGM/UA. (G) ss $29.95. MGM/UA. from gangster. 91m. Hi $69.95. Gigi. 1959. Leslie Caron, Mau- RCA/Columbia. rice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan. Mutiny on the Bounty. 1935. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Musical. 116m. St $29.95. B&W. Clark Gable, Charles 1954. Howard Keel, Jane Powell. Milton Berle: His Famous Dragnet MGM/UA. Laughton. Drama. 132m. Musical. 103m. St $29.95. Parody. 1954. B&W. Berle, Vic $29.95. MGM/UA. MGM/UA. Damone, Jackie Cooper. Two epi- Gung Ho. 1986. Michael Keaton. sodes from Berle’s TV show. 60m. Comedy. 111m. (PG-13) ss National Velvet. 1944. Mickey Top Hat. 1935. B&W. Fred $14.95. Congress. $29.95. Paramount. Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor. Chil- Astaire, Ginger Rogers. Musical. dren’s. 125m. $29.95. MGM/ 99m. $29.95. MGM/UA. More Moron Movies. 1987 comp. High Society. 1956. Grace Kelly, UA. Short films by Len Cella including | Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra. Mu- Young Sherlock Holmes. 1985. The Blind Dentist, The Bra Un- | sical. 107m. St $29.95. MGM/ A Night at the Opera. 1935. Nicholas Rowe, Alan Cox, Sophie hooking Champion, Broccoli | UA. B&W. Marx Brothers romp. Ward. Action/mystery. 109m. Abused. 55m. $19.95. MPI. (PG-13) ss $29.95. Paramount. | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Night Call Nurses. 1972. Patricia Doom. 1984. Harrison Ford, T. Byrne, Alana Collins, Dick Mill- 90 Video June 1987
er. Hospital shift noted for its bed- True Stories. 1986. David Byrne, fair with young suitor. 108m. Hi Romance Theatre. 1987. Melodra- side manner. 85m. Hi $59.95. John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz; $24.95. MGM/UA. mas produced by Granada TV: Charter. co-wr./dir. Byrne. Mock-docu- mentary set in mythical Texas The Citadel. 1938. B&W. Robert Mona, A Dedicated Man, Office Nobody's Foo/. 1986. Rosanna Ar- town. 89m. (PG) Hi ss cc $79.95. Donat, Rosalind Russell, Rex Har- Romances, Letting the Birds Go Warner. rison; dir. King Vidor. Doctor quette, Eric Roberts; wr. Beth abandons ideals in drive to build Free, MissA and Miss M. 60m. ea. Henley. Romance between small- Weekend Warriors. 1986. Chris V only $11.95 ea. Prism. town actress, visiting set design- Lemmon, Lloyd Bridges; dir. Bert er. 107m. (PG) $79.95. Karl. Convy. Film studio employees en- lucrative practice. 112m. Hi Scenes from a Murder. 1972. Telly list in National Guard to dodge $24.95. MGM/UA. Savalas, Anne Heywood, Giorgio The Odd Squad. 1986. Vincent draft. 88m. (R) $79.98. Lightning. Gardenia, Johnny Dorrelli. Misfit The Clock. 1944. B&W. Judy Gar- Piazza. Actress’ curtain call may be WWII platoon defends bridge. : Abe Lincoln in Illinois. 1940. land, Robert Walker, Keenan her last. 91m. $69.98. Lightning. 82m. $79.95. Prism. B&W. Raymond Massey, Gene Wynn; dir. Vincente Minnelli. Sol- Secret Honor. 1985. Philip Baker Shoot Loud, Louder...! Don’t Un- Lockhart, Ruth Gordon. Bio adapt- derstand. 1966. Marcello Mas- : ed from Robert Sherwood play. dier on leave falls in love with girl Hall; dir. Robert Altman. Filming troianni, Raquel Welch. Day- 110m. $29.95. RKO. of Hall’s one-man show, including dreaming antique dealer thinks : AboLaust tNight. 1986. Rob Lowe, : he meets in Grand Central Station. Richard Nixon impersonation. he’s witnessed a murder. 101m. Hi Demi Moore, James Belushi. Ad- 90m. Hi $24.95. MGM/UA. : aptation of David Mamet play: two $59.95. Charter. + young singles tired of Chicago bar Club Life. 1985. Tom Parsekian, 90m. $69.95. Vestron. Sincerely Charlotte. 1986. Isabelle +> $s7c9e.n9e5.begRiCnA/aCffoaliru.mb1i1a3.m. (R) Hiss Tony Curtis, Dee Wallace Stone. The Shoes of the Fisherman. 1968. Huppert, Niels Arestrup. Adven- turess suspected of boyfriend’s : The Berlin Affair. 1985. Gudran Mob tries to turn nightclub into Anthony Quinn, Leo McKern, murder. 92m. Hi sub. $79.95. : Landgrebe, Kevin McNally. Japa- Laurence Olivier. Russian bishop RCA/Columbia. + nese seductress manipulates trio drug clearing house. 93m. (R) imprisoned for political views be- : in 1930s Berlin. 97m. (R) Hi ss $79.95. Prism. Stewardess School. 1986. Brett Cullen, Mary Cadorette. Sex farce : $79.95. MGM/UA. The End of August. 1982. Sally comes Pope. 152m. (G) Hi $69.95. with wings. 84m. (R) Hi $79.95. MGM/UA. RCA/Columbia. : Beulah Land. 1985. Lesley Ann Sharp. Young wife takes a lover, - Warren, Don Johnson, Meredith ca. 1900. 104m. (PG) Hi $59.95. A Sunday in the Country. 1984. They Might Be Giants. 1971. : Baxter Birney. TV miniseries: in- Charter. Louis Ducreux, Sabine Azema; co- George C. Scott, Joanne Wood- : trigue at Southern plantation dur- ward, Jack Gilford. Psychiatrist : ing Civil War. 267m. (2 cas.) Hi Fatal Vision. 1984. Karl Malden, wr./dir. Bertrand Tavernier. Ri- named Watson attempts cure of : $69.95. RCA/Columbia. Eva Marie Saint, Andy Griffith. : valries surface during children’s patient who fancies himself Sher- : Camille. 1936. B&W. Greta Gar- Docu-drama about Jeffrey McDo- lock Holmes. 98m. (G) Hi $59.95. + bo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barry- nald, Green Beret doctor convict- ! visit to aging painter’s estate. 94m. MCA. : more; dir. George Cukor. Adapta- : (G) Hi sub. $79.95. MGM/UA. + tion of Dumas novel: Parisienne’s ed of murdering his family. 192m. Three’s Trouble. 1985. Jacki Weav- + reputation forces her to break af- (2 cas.) Hi $69.95. RCA/Columbia. : The Tenth Month. 1979. Carol Bur- er, John Waters. Wife of stuffy aca- demic fancies handsome male : nett, Dina Merrill; wr./co-dir. Joan babysitter. 93m. B Hi V $69.95. New World. The Flame Is Love. 1979. Linda : Tewkesbury. TV movie: pregnant Purl, Timothy Dalton. Heiress is middle-aged divorcee resolves to Tillie’s Punctured Romance. 1914. raise child alone. 123m. $59.98. B&W. Charlie Chaplin, Marie * unaware her new beau is a Sat- Dressler; dir. Mack Sennett. Lightning. Chaplin plays sophisticate out to anist. 98m. $69.98. Lightning. swindle naive young woman. 42m. Price n.a. Late. > The Game ls Over. 1966. Jane Fon- The Virgin Soldiers. 1969. Hywel > da, Michel Piccoli; dir. Roger Bennett, Nigel Patrick, Lynn Red- : Vadim. Wife seduces stepson. grave. British army recruits in 1960 Singapore. 96m. Hi $69.95. : 97m. (R) Hi $69.95. Media. : RCA/Columbia. The Girl from Petrovka. 1974. Gol- Wetherby. 1985. Vanessa Red- die Hawn, Hal Holbrook, Anthony grave, Judi Dench, Ian Holm; dir. Hopkins. Russian ballerina in love David Hare. Uninvited dinner with visiting journalist. 103m. (PG) guest returns to apologize to host, Hi $59.95. MCA. then kills himself. 104m. (R) Hi cc $79.95. MGM/UA. The Great Impostor. 1961. B&W. Tony Curtis, Raymond Massey, Winner Takes All. 1986. Jason Karl Malden. Life of ’50s hoaxter Connery, Diane Cilento. Fresh- Waldo Demura. 112m. Hi $59.95. man adjusts to 1965 campus scene. MCA. 94m. $59.95. Academy. Little House on the Prairie: The A Woman’s Face. 1941. B&W. Lord Is My Shepherd. Yr. n.a. Mi- Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, chael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, Er- Conrad Veidt; dir. George Cukor. nest Borgnine; dir. Landon. Fea- Plastic surgery changes woman’s ture-length episode of TV series. life. 105m. Hi $24.95. MGM/UA. 94m. Hi $69.95. RCA/Columbia. Manhunter. 1986. William L. ceeeeeeYcucrei Nosenko, KGB. 1986. Tommy Petersen, Dennis Farina; wr./dir. Lee Jones, Oleg Rudnik. Agent re- Michael Mann. Detective ob- sessed with guessing serial killer’s veals Soviet role in JFK assassina- tion. $79.95. HBO/Cannon. next move. 119m. (R) Hi ss cc $79.95. Karl. The Morning After. 1986. Jane Fon- re da, Jeff Bridges; dir. Sidney Lumet. Woman wakes from drink- ing binge to find lover murdered. (R) Hi $79.95. Karl. Goldie Hawn is ‘The Girl Fro m Petrovka. Place of Weeping. 1986. James And Now the Screaming Starts!. Whyle. South African woman 1973. Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee. Newlyweds struggles against injustices of apartheid. 88m. (PG) B Hi V in haunted mansion. 87m. (R) $79.95. Prism. $79.95. New World.
Jerry Baker's Lawn Care Tips and :‘ Der Freischutz. 1985. Rosalind Tricks. 1987. Advice on growing a : Plowright, Franco Bonisolli. Verdi vigorous lawn. 30m. $19.95. Si- ° opera taped at Arena di Verona. mon. 146m. Hi St sub. $49.95. Home Vision. Karatecise Workout. 1987. Self-de- Der Rosenkavalier. Yr. n.a. Kiri ePee Te Kanawa, Aage Haugland, Anne Howells. Sir George Solti conducts fense instruction by karate master Dominick Giacobbe. 60m. $29.95. Continental. Ken O’Brien’s Quarterback Clinic. : Royal Opera House orchestra in 1987. N.Y. Jets QB on warm-up, : performance of Strauss opera. play execution, more. 30m. $14.95. Congress. 204m. (2 cas.) Hi St sub. $59.95. Home Vision. Reader’s Digest Videoguides: Sewing Basics/Creating Your Own Earl Thomas Conley—Greatest Wardrobe. 1987. Two cas. 119m. Video Hits. 1987 comp. “Too Many ea. Price n.a. Random. Times,” “Once in a Blue Moon,” more. 22m. Hi St $19.95. MusicVision. Asylum (a.k.a. House of Crazies). side the Closet, The False Prophet, The Reader's Digest Videomanual George Thorogood and the De- 1972. Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Grandma’s Last Wish. 70m. of Home Repair. 1987. Step-by- stroyers Live. 1987 comp. Concert Charlotte Rampling. Quartet of $29.95. Thriller. step instructions for repairing footage plus videos of “Bad to the stories explaining how patients Terror at Tenkiller. 1986. Mike faucets, rewiring light switches, Bone,” “Nobody but Me,” “I Drink wound up in asylum. 100m. (PG) Wiles, Stacey Logan. Possessive replacing windows, more. 110m. Alone.” 45m. Hi St $19.95. Sony. $79.95. Prism. boyfriend stalks girl he’s sure will ce Price n.a. Random. jilt him. 87m. Hi St $79.95. United. Hugh Shannon: The Saloon Singer. Chopping Mall. 1986. Paul Bartel, The Science of Hitting with Ted 1981. Performance taped at New Mary Woronoy. Malfunctioning The Acupressure Face-Lift. 1987. Williams. 1987. Batting instruc- York’s David K club. 30m. $19.95. security robots declare open sea- Lindsay Wagner demonstrates tion for all ages and abilities. 45m. Congress. son on shoppers. 77m. (R) $79.98. skin-toning techniques. 25m. $29.95. Simon. Lightning. $19.95. Karl. Il Trovatore. 1985. Placido The Art of Landscaping. 1986. Smart Cookies Don’t Crumble. Domingo, Anna Tomowa-Sintow. Class of Nuke 'Em High. 1986. Howard Garrett outlines budget- 1987. Self-help program for wom- Taped at Royal Opera House in Janelle Brady, Gilbert Brenton. ing, layout, site analysis, irriga- en hosted by Dr. Sonya Friedman. Covent Garden; cond. Julius Nuclear accident transforms high tion, more. 52m. $29.95. United. 30m. $24.95. J2. Rudel. 145m. Hi St sub. $39.95. school into gallery of grotesques. Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Home Vision. 84m. (R) Hi $79.95. Media. Kitchen Vols. 1, 2.1987. Preparing Tennis to Win Vols. 1, 2. 1987. Cajun cuisine. 37m., 32m. $19.95 Evil Judgment. 1984. Pamela Col- ea. J2. Host John Newcombe. Analysis of + Jermaine Stewart—Frantic Ro- lyer, Jack Langedyk. Knife mur- derer anxious to silence witness. Wimbledon matches featuring : mantic. 1987 comp. Includes “The 93m. Hi $69.95. Media. Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, John : Word Is Out,” “We Don’t Have to From Beyond. 1986. Barbara McEnroe, Billie Jean King. 75m. Crampton, Jeffrey Combs. H.P. ea. $19.98. ea. Congress. : Take Our Clothes Off.” 16m. Hi St Lovecraft story: doctor attempts to develop sixth sense in humans. : $19.95. MusicVision. 88m. (R) Hiss cc $79.95. Vestron. - Too Busy to Cook? 1987. Four cas. : Keith Jarrett Trio: Standards. Killer Workout. 1986. Mystery series: Easy Entertaining, Light : 1985. With Gary Peacock, Jack gunman targets health club pa- and Fresh Cooking, WeeknighItn- : DeJohnette. Tokyo concert; trons. 89m. $79.95. Academy. spirations, Festive Desserts. With pieces include “Stella by Star- Mutant Hunt. 1987. Rick Gianasi, menus, recipe cards, shopping Mary Sahey. Made-for-video lists. 60m. ea. $14.95 ea. Karl. : light,” “It’s Easy to Remember.” gore-fest: deranged robots with + 105m. Hi St $29.95. Sony. penchant for pulling human bodies apart. 90m. $69.95. Wizard. Victory Garden Recipes: From the Mabel Mercer: The Singer's Sing- Garden to the Table. 1987. Marian er. 1981. Live at Cleo’s, New Nail Gun Massacre. 1979. Rocky Patterson, Ron Queen. Title says Morash prepares vegetable dish- : York. 30m. $19.95. Congress. it all. 90m. $79.95. Magnum. °eCeeerers.es9e0sme.sePeriecceesn.sae. esReasndsoeme.es Orfeo ed Euridice. 1982. Dame Sorority House Massacre. 1986. : Janet Baker, Elizabeth Gale, Elisa- Angela O’Neill, Wendy Martel. Co-ed’s premonition of imminent ; beth Speiser. British production of bloodbath comes true. 74m. (R) $79.95. Warner. ° Gluck opera. 127m. Hi St sub. Tales from the Darkside Vol. 5. $49.95. Home Vision. 1984. Fritz Weaver, Ronee Blake- ly. Episodes of TV anthology: In- Classic Books on Video. 1987. The Barber of Seville. 1982. Maria : Presenting Lily Mars. 1943. B&W. Capsule adaptations with voice- Ewing, London Philharmonic. over plot summaries, study guide- Rossini opera taped at England’s Judy Garland, Van Heflin, Fay lines, enactments of key scenes: A Glyndebourne Opera House. Bainter. From Booth Tarkington Tale of Two Cittes, The Scarlet Let- 156m. Hi St sub. $49.95. Home novel: small town girl becomes ter, Crime and Punishment, Ham- Vision. Hollywood star. 104m. Hi $24.95. let, The Iliad, Thomas Jefferson. MGM/UA. 40m. ea. $19.95 ea. Best. Bobby Short at the Cafe Carlyle. 1981. Tin Pan Alley standards by The Prince’s Trust All-Star Rock How to Have a Money-Making Ga- eeotehcecccreesnowned cafe singer. 30m. Concert. 1986. Phil Collins, Paul caeewcerrcaegseecSealcec.cc1e987. Phyllis Diller. In- $19.95. Congress. McCartney, Tina Turner, Sting, : others. Benefit taped at Wembley cludes stratagem for re-selling the Broadway Melody of 1940. 1940. Stadium, London. 59m. Hi St tape. 24m. $19.95. J2. B&W. Fred Astaire, George Mur- $29.95. MGM/UA. phy, Eleanor Powell. Rocky Jerry Baker's House Plant Tips and friendship between dance part- The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala. Tricks. 1987. Pointers on diagnos- enersy. 102m. Hi $24.95. MGM/UA. 1982. Performances by Pete ing floral ailments, selecting spe- Townshend, Kate Bush, Robert cies appropriate to light conditions, - Plant. 60m. Hi St $19.95 (RE). controlling insects, more. 40m. MGM/UA. $19.95. Simon. nNtae 92 Video June 1987 it
The Unheard Music. 1987. Filmed Wizards. 1977. anim. Voices of vegetation study on voyages to the Life on Earth. 1986. David Atten- Bob Holt, Mark Hamill; wr./pr./ New World. 60m. $39.95. Home borough hosts condensation of his documentary on L.A. rock band X. dir. Ralph Bakshi. Sorcerer wages Vision. acclaimed nature series. Chapters 87m. (R) Hi St $79.98. Key. war on brother’s kingdom. 81m. indexed for easy access. 233m. (2 (PG) Hi St (simulated) cc $79.98. The Fabulous ’60s Vols. 1-10. cas.) Hi $39.95. Warner. Playhouse. 1987. Nar. Peter Jennings. Por- trait of 1960-1969; one year per Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness. eceeeeeceesesece cas. Events include student dem- 1987. Six separate cas.: Hunters of onstrations, Beatles’ arrival in the Chubut, Master Hunter of the The Outer Limits. 1963. B&W. Epi- Banks’ Florilegium: The Flowering U.S., first moon walk, much more. Night, Old Dog New Tricks, Fro- of the Pacific. 1984. wr./nar. Rob- 60m. ea. $19.95 ea. MPI. zen Eden, The Ascent of the sodes from TV series: The Galaxy : ert Hughes. 18th century botanist Chimps, Pretty Poison. 22m. ea. Being (with Cliff Robertson), The : Banks compiles groundbreaking Far from Poland. 1984. Dir. Jill $14.95 ea. Prism. Hundred Days of the Dragon, The Godmillow. History of the Solidari- Man with the Power (Donald Plea- ty movement by filmmaker denied Love Tapes Vol. 1. 1982. B&W. permission to shoot in Poland. Various subjects offer monologues sence). 52m. ea. Hi $19.95 ea. 106m. $69.95. Facets Video, 1517 on love and longing. 28m. $40. MGM/UA. W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, Ill. Mystic Fire, 24 Horatio St., New 60614; 312-281-9075. York, N.Y. 10014; 212-645-2733. NEW VIDEODISC RELEASES About Last Night. 1986. Rob Bobby McFerrin: Spontaneous In- 102m. (PG) ss CX $36.95. Sidney Lumet. Drama. 116m. Lowe, Demi Moore. Come- ventions. 1987. Saxophonist Image. CX $34.95. Image. dy/drama. 113m. (R) ss CX Wayne Shorter joins McFerrin in $29.95. RCA/Columbia. concert. Includes ‘‘Walkin’,” It’s a Wonderful Life. 1946. Plan 9 from Outer Space. 1958. “Blackbird,” more. Disc only. B&W. James Stewart, Donna B&W. Bela Lugosi, Vampira. All- The Adventures of Mark Twain. 48m. Digital St CX $24.95. Reed; dir. Frank Capra. CAV for- time worst horror flick. 78m. CX 1986. anim. Children’s. 86m. (G) Pioneer. mat (2 discs); includes production $34.95. Image. CX $29.95, Paramount. still scrapbook, commentary on Destination Moon. 1950. Warner second audio track. $89.95. Rolling in the Sky: The Snow- Alabama: Greatest Video Hits. Anderson, Tom Powers. Sci-fi. Criterion. birds. 1986. Aerobatic feats set 1986 comp. 37m. Digital St CX 91m. CX $36.95. Image. to music. CAV format. 55m. Dig- $24.95. Pioneer. The Last Radio Station. 1986. Fu- ital St CX $29.95. Pioneer. An Early Frost. 1985. Aidan ture DJ revives Motown hits. Aliens. 1986. Sigourney Weaver. Quinn, Gena Rowlands. Drama. 60m. St. CX $24.95. Pioneer. Short Circuit. 1986. Steve Gut- Sci-fi/Horror. 138m. (2 discs) (R) 97m. $29.95. RCA/Columbia. tenberg, Ally Sheedy. Comedy. ss CX cc $44.98. CBS/Fox. Liquid Sky. 1983. Anne Carlisle, 98m. (PG) ss CX cc $34.98. Elvis Memories. 1986. Col- Paula Sheppard. Sci-fi fantasy. CBS/Fox. The Ambushers. 1967. Dean or/B&W. Music. 48m. $29.95. 114m. CX $36.95. Image. Martin, James Gregory. Spy Vestron. Slaughterhouse Five. 1972. Mi- Live at the Village Vanguard. chael Sacks, Ron Leibman. Anti- /Ve, tJ 1987. Jazz club performance fea- war fantasy. 104m. (R) CX Jumping in the nick of time in Rob Reiner’s ‘Stand by Me.’ turing John Abercrombie, Mi- $36.95. Image. chael Brecker, Peter Erskine. spoof. 102m. $29.95. RCA/ Extremities. 1986. Farrah Faw- Disc only. 53m. Digital St CX Sleuth. 1972. Laurence Olivier, Columbia. cett, James Russo. Drama. 89m. $24.95. Pioneer. Michael Caine. Mystery. 139m. (R) CX cc $29.95. Paramount. (2 discs) CX $44.95. Image. Armed and Dangerous. 1986. Marnie. 1964. Tippi Hedren, John Candy, Eugene Levy. Com- Ferris Bueller's Day Off. 1986. Sean Connery; dir. Alfred Hitch- Soul Man. 1986. C. Thomas edy. 88m. (PG-13) ss CX cc Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara. cock. Drama. Includes original Howell, Rae Dawn Chong. Com- $29.95. RCA/Columbia. Comedy. 103m. (PG-13) ss theatrical trailer. 130m. (2 discs) edy. 101m. (PG-13) CX $36.95. $29.95. Paramount. CX $39.98. MCA. Image. The Best of Spike Jones Vol. 1. 1952-57 (’86 comp). B&W. Mu- The Goddess. 1958. B&W. Patty Natasha. 1985. Profile of balleri- StabnydMe. 1986. Wil Wheaton, sic. 51m. $24.95, Paramount. Duke, Lloyd Bridges. Drama. na Natalia Makarova. 70m. Dig. River Phoenix; dir. Rob Reiner. 105m. $29.95. RCA, Columbia. St CX $34.95. Pioneer. Comedy-drama. 87m. (R) cc Big Trouble in Little China. 1986. $29.95. RCA/Columbia. Kurt Russell. Action. 99m. (PG- Invaders from Mars. 1986. Karen National Geographic Video. 13) ss CX cc $34.98. CBS/Fox. Black; dir. Tobe Hooper. Sci-fi. 1987. Three separate discs: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Born ofFire, Rain Forest, Great PartIl. 1986. Dennis Hopper; dir. Whales. 60m. ea. $29.95 ea. Tobe Hooper. Horror, 109m. ss Vestron. CX $36.95. Image. 1986 World Series Highlights. That Was Rock. 1964-65 (’85 1986. Commentary by Vin Scul- comp.). B&W. Performances by ly, Joe Garagiola. CAV format. Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Ray 60m. St $29.95. RCA/Columbia. Charles, others. 90m. CX $36.95, Image. No Man of Her Own. 1933. B&W. Clark Gable, Carole Lombard. True Stories. 1986. David Byrne. Comedy. Side 2 in CAV format; Comedy. 89m. (PG) ss CX includes still file. 81m. CX $34.98. Warner. $29.98. MCA. A Woman of Distinction. 1950. The Pawnbroker. 1965. Rod Stei- Rosalind Russell, Ray Milland. ger, Geraldine Fitzgerald; dir. Comedy. 85m. $29.95. RCA/ Columbia. June 1987 Video 93
March of Time: American Life- Norman Rockwell's World—An « Styles 1939-1950. 1987 comps. American Dream. 1973. Nar. B&W. Nar. Westbrook van Rockwell. Portrait of painter ecre ceeecese Voorhis. Newsreel series original- known for Saturday Evening Post ly produced by Time Magazine. Six covers. 30m. $24.95. Home Vi- National Geographic goes to the Arctic Cire e in Patat - cas.: Show Business: The War sion. Years 1939-1945/The Postwar A é.rt, Years 1946-1950, The American ceeerecccccce Family: The War Years 1941- Travel Video. 1986. Guided tours Florida, Ski Colorado, Cayman Is- 1945/The Postwar Years 1946- : Playboy Video Magazine 11. 1987. on 5 separate cas.: New Orleans, lands, Old West Trail Country. 1948, America’s Youth 1940-1950, Frank Zappa interview, visit with ceeeeceOsrlando and Kissimmee-St. Cloud 30m. ea. $19.95 ea. Academy. American Fashion and Leisure Playmate Pamela Saunders, ribald 1945-1950. Approx. 90m. ea. Hi tale ‘““The Yacht,” segment on $24.95 ea. Embassy. Women of 7-11, more. 80m. cc $39.95. Karl. Ming Garden. 1983. Award-win- ning film: Chinese courtyard eceeeccces moves to Metropolitan Museum of Art. 30m. $29.95. Home Vision. Spectacular Disasters. 1987. Nar. George Takei. Grim footage: Hin- National Geographic Video. Yrs. denburg explosion, San Francisco n.a. Three programs from TV se- earthquake, bombing of Hiroshi- ries: Miniature Miracle: The Com- ma. 45m. $14.95. Congress. puter Chip, PolBeaar Arlert, Crea- tures of the Namib Desert. 60m. ea. Thomas Eakins: A Motion Portrait. cc $29.95 ea. Vestron. 1986. Kevin Conway; nar. Sam ceeeesWeaccteesrescteson. Produced for public : TV—includes look at artist’s : works, dramatic recreations of his : life. 60m. $39.95. Home Vision. PROGRAMMING SOURCES Academy Home Entertainment, : 1199; 800-826-3456; in Ill. 312- MPI Home Video, 15825 Rob Roy Los Angeles, Calif. 90066-0930; P.O. Box 788, Pine Haven Shore 878-2600 ext. 336. Dr., Oak Forest, Ill. 60452; 312- 213-306-4040. Rd., Shelburne, Vt. 05482; 800- 687-7881, 800-323-0442. 972-0001. Image Entertainment, 6311 Ro- wee MusicVision: see RCA/Columbia. Active Home Video, 509 S. Bever- :eoe9mc0ae0ic3n8ee; S2t1.3,-4H68o-l8l8y6w7o,od,800-C4al2i1f-. : RKO Home Video, 1900 Ave. of the ly Dr., Beverly Hills, Calif. 90212; > 4585. Mystic Fire Video, 24 Horatio St., : Stars, Los Angeles, Calif. 90067; 212-274-6726. New York, N.Y. 10014; 212-645- ¢ 213-277-3133. : IVE, 21800 Burbank Blvd., Box 2733. Best Film & Video Corp., 98 Cut- > 4062, Woodland Hills, Calif. : Hal Roach Studio Films Classics, ter Mill Rd., Great Neck, N.Y. New World Video, 1440 S. Sep- : 1600 N. Fairfax Ave., Hollywood, 11021; 516-487-4515. 91365-4062; 818-888-3040, 800- eulveda yBlvd., Los Angeles, Calif. : Calif. 90046; 213-850-0525. 423-7455. CBS/Fox Video, 1211 Sixth Ave. 90025; 213-444-8100. Shokus Video, Box 8434, Van New York, N.Y. 10036; 212-819- J2 Communications, 10850 Wil- Nuys, Calif. 91409; 818-704-0400. 3200. shire Blvd. Suite 1000, Los Ange- : NFL Films Video, 330 Fellowship : les, Calif. 90024; 213-474-5252. * Rd., Mt. Laurel, N.J. 08054; 609- Simon & Schuster Video, 1 Gulf & Charter Entertainment: see Em- : 778-1600, 800-NFL-TAPE. . Western Plaza, New York, N.Y. bassy. Karl-Lorimar Home Video, 17942 + 10023; 212-373-8446. eeeeeCeoewan Ave., Irvine, Calif. 92714; Congress Video Group, 10 E. 53 Pacific Arts Video, 50 N. La : Sony Video Software, 1700 Broad- St., New York, N.Y. 10022; 212- 714-474-0355. : way, New York, N.Y. 10019; 212- 371-3939. Cienega Blvd., Suite 210, Beverly * 757-4990. Key Video: see CBS/Fox. Hills, Calif. 90211; 213-657-2233. Continental Video, 2320 Cotner, Los Angeles, Calif. 90064; 213- The Video Late Show: see IVE. Paramount Home Video, 5555 Thriller Video: see IVE. 477-8055, 800-821-3427. Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. Lightning Video: see Vestron. 90038-3197; 213-468-5000. United Home Video, 4111 So. Dar- The Criterion Collection: see Voy- lington St., Tulsa, Okla. 74135; ager. weeeereMacgciccceWsindow Video: see RCA/Co- Pioneer Artists, 200 W. Grand 918-622-6460, 800-331-4077. lumbia. Ave., Montvale, N.J. 07645; 201- Walt Disney Home Video, 500 S. 573-1122. ceserceees Buena Vista St., Burbank, Calif. Magnum Entertainment, 9301 Wil- 91521; 818-840-1111. shire Blvd., Suite 602, Beverly Vanguard Video: see United. Hills, Calif. 90212; 213-278-9981, Embassy Home Entertainment, 800-MAGNUM8. Playhouse Video: see CBS/Fox. Vestron Video, 60 Long Ridge Rd., 1901 Ave. of the Stars, Los Ange- Box 4000, Stamford, Conn. 06907; les, Calif. 90067; 213-553-3600. MCA Home Video, 70 Universal Prism Entertainment, 1875 Centu- : 203-968-0000. ry Pk. East, Los Angeles, Calif. Family Home Ent’ment: see IVE. e>eeeeees9C1iet6sy0s8c;Pclea8ze1a,8-5U0n8i-v4e3r1s5a.l City, Calif. 90067; 213-277-3270. : Viddy-Oh! for Kids: see MGM/UA. HBO/Cannon Home Video, 1370 : Media Home Entertainment, 5730 Random House Home Video, 201 : The Voyager Co., 2139 Manning Sixth Ave., New York, N.Y. : Buckingham Pkwy., Culver City, 10019; 212-977-8990. ¢ Calif. 90230; 213-216-7900, 800- E. 50 St., New York, N.Y. 10022; : Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90025; : 421-4509. Home Vision, 5547 N. Ravens- 212-872-8035. : 800-446-2001; in Calif., 800-443- wood Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60640- : MGMLIUA Home Video, 1350 Sixth : Ave. New York, N.Y. 10019; 212- RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Vid- : 2001. + 408-0600. eo, 3500 W. Olive Ave., Burbank, Warner Home Video, 4000 Warner gPereeeeeetCraeleifr.re9s15r0e5s;es8e1e8s-9s5e3s-e7s90e0s.essenes Blvd., Burbank, Calif. 91522; 818- : Republic Pictures Home Video, +ee9e5e4e-e6000. 12636 Beatrice St., Box 66930, : Wizard Video: see Vestron. 94 Video June 1987_
Competitiive 3O0r0de5r4T4ol5l 4Fr4e2e | | BfaUeScHesvest $3a9e Competes witi h the Lowest PrPirices RHecoounrese:tigMon.y-tWedyr.egh 9-6, Cca ry ee r Prewaehied and worliy-wise, our § Send your orders to. L| Bush Vest has pockets enough to accommo- Sunday 9-4. 363 Seventh Avenue « New York, N.Y. 10001 { date even the best-equiFApped of travelers. 363 Seventh h Avenue -. New York, 7 N.YN..Y. 10001 -. (212) 868 -917 5 For‘or IInfnofrmoartimoantion Call:Call: ((22122)) 868-9175 MINOLTA : fR}y #ol3i3v0e1drKahbaki, ivory, XSSMLXL CMR30300 Le PV-1000 A CcR-SOOO Call 10—69” 949° CcDa-V110 AUTOFOCUS VHS-C EE Camcorders Camcorders Camcorders AUTOFOCUS CMR-300 VHS 1069.95 — PV-320 VHS 949.95 i CPR-100 VHS-C 969.95 PV-300 VHS k GR-C7 VHS-C Y 7 Lux GR-C9 VHS-C 29 Ibs VMT-H2o8m5e Video Recorde2r7s9.95 APGV--110600 VPHroSf-C i HR-D180 H4o-mHeead Video 999.95 6X Zoobms Call VMT-295 Stereo 319.95 Home Video Recorders HR-D470 Hi-Fi 1099 VMT-385 289.95 PV-2700 239.95 539.95 VMT-390 339.95 PV-1363 239.95 HR-D570 Digital Olympus VX-801 VMT-395 Stereo 419.95 —PV-1365 249.95 Call Elmo ECR-8 VMT-400 Digital 539.95 PV-3700 Call HITACHI Nikon VN-800 VMT-590 5 Head *369.95 PV-3720 Call Chinon C-8 C60 VMT-595 Stereo 479.95 — PV-1364 289.95 Camcorders Minolta CR-8000 VMT-630HF Hi-Fi 569.95 PV-4700 Cait. VM-2100 VHS Soonny CCCEDD-8AAAFR VMT-670HF Hi-Fi 749.95 PV-1563 Stereo 249.95 =VM-5000 VHs Sony CCD.V110 * PericevRefalectrs Rebate PPVV--14576740 DHii-gFiital 469C.a9l5l VM-C50A VHS-C VT-1507AHoDmigeitalVideo Canon VME-2 VT-1800 7-Head Hi Waa Discs VX-403 VHS 999.95 MINOLTA SK-60K VHS-C 899.95 SonDyIOPore VX-404 VHS Call CR-1200AFCamVHcS.o..rdersLow Priice DX-7 Digital 579.95 VX-801 8mm Call emote Control for sA cciteyade= m eii} ~—RADAR DETECTORS VX-802 8mm Cobar Sony CDP-35 Home Sony CDP-50 Remote TELEPHONES CR-8000AF 8mm Call Cobra Radar Detectors Technics SLP-300 Panasonic SLN-P10 Port Panasonic Telephone RD2100, 69.95 RD3160 189.95 Toshiba XR-P9 4 29.95 KXT2135 68.95 29.95 kxT2/50 97.50 CHINON CAMCORDERS RD3110... 94.95 —RD3I170. Call OPEN SUNDAY 51.95 CV-T60 VHS In Stock = 804100 94.95 9am—4pm Multi-Line Phones C8-C60 8mm. Low Price Fox Radar Detectors (212) 868-9175 4 54.95 kxT3/50 131.95 SPECIAL VIDEO EFFECTS Ranger 64.95 FireFox. 104.94 69,95 KxT1150, 109.95 Vixen Ii. 139.95 Super XK. 67.95. Mico 169.95 Impulse 72.95 ITK 300 A &AayaPIOate i GvCleTones 2M1a9.s95 RD-3g5 ie64.9s5 kDt-55ae! Please send Check, Visa, Amex, M/C, DC tU o 224 Grant Ave., TAB10 198 te 20498 JVC JX-W9 Sp. Effects... 309.95 0.9 Mico Dept. M72, P.O. Box 7347, San Francisco, CA 94120 Add CA, NY, TX, OK Sales Tax and $2 for Shipping For additional information, circle No. 109 on Reader Service Card. Order Toll-Free 800-527-5200 NOT JUST VIDEO wt BLAST OFF! 4m Just Guaranteed Savings! Call us for the YOUR IMAGINATION! Guaranteed Lowest Prices 1-800-843-3654 The first ofaRenaissance Collection of Unique Designs for your Fine Home. OBJECTS OF ART, GRACE & CREATIVITY. Each storage container has the same unique shape but varies in some dimensions to fit each format. Mix or match formats to CREART™ a vast variety of interesting and DISCTINCT'\"IVE patterns and schemes. VHSIBETA unit holds 10 tapes; audio cassette 16 tapes; compact disc 20 discs (or Floppy Discs 120). Panasonic Open 8 am to 10 pm SONY OLYMPUS VX801U |SON Y CAMCORDER CCDV110U ZEMIN PV-100 $999.95 U.S.A. HANDCRAFTED IN CLEAR ACRYLIC JVC JVC GRC-7U_ $999.95 Also available in eight transparent colors or tanguile wood. Write for information. BMHIATGANCAHIVOX PANASONIC AG 160 NE w/Hard Case AKAI $1349.95 $674.95 Canon TOSHIBA PANASONIC PV 400 SCALL () PIONEER PANASONIC PV 300 SCALL NEC DX 2000+ TOSHIBA DX-7 HITACHI VM 5000 SCALL | CALL FOR PRICES ON ALL ORDER NOW! SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO. And Many More RCA CMR 300 SCALL DIGITAL EQUIPMENT ($p3l4u.s95$3eaPc&hH-s)tatCeal.forremsa,t.add 6% CaitFornia: Discounts for check or money order. Major Credit Cards Accepted. (Above prices are discounted prices) AFlolrowCO4D-6 Owredeekrss: de1l-i8ve0r0y-367-2809 UhGtteriarlech NOT-JUST-VIDEO, Inc. 58 Walker St. NY, NY 10013 (212) 219-3477 Shp. 5% In California: (619) 436-4564 3349 DEL RIO COURT DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED RANCHO LA COSTA, CA 92009 PaJ‘EU/4jOdauLE0E9NIOpD4UuNMeIOJDaNegyIWPOPJeU! ‘BJU“Ta/4/OaP20IEU9pN4UlIOJeOlNIMaID|EYISWyIOPPJeU) June 1987 Video 95
yawER .¥ @aee ine | oan|!a@pn 1’ Pioneer LD-S1 Reference LaserVision Player Mitsubishi HR-422U VHS Hi-Fi VCR RCA CPR100 Compact VHS Small Wonder Camcorder Azden WM-10, WM-20 and WM-30 Wireless Microphones Pioneer Reference Philips recently announced a new format is no picture) and the digital memory, plus a called CD-V, a variation of the Compact rotary sharpness control, a stereo head- Laser Vision Player Disc with both digital audio and up to 10 phone jack, and a slider to control head- minutes of analog video on a standard 5- phone level. The power button is at the Until recently, Pio- inch CD. Philips will also sell the 12-inch lower left. neer was the sole and 8-inch videodiscs currently known as manufacturer of LaserVision under the CD-V name. The The display area houses discrete LED LaserVision play- LD-S1 and all previous LaserVision play- indicators for CX system, CLV disc, audio ers. Now that ers will play 8- and 12-inch l1/left, audio 2/right, digital memory on, there’s competition videodiscs—whatever their name—but standby/play mode, and disc set (inside). A from Yamaha, the not the 5-inch ones. We hope the second switchable fluorescent display has legends format is progress- name for the same format doesn’t cause for chapters, followed by two digits, and ing rapidly. Pioneer’s latest introduction, confusion. frame or time, followed by up to five digits. the LD-S1 Reference LaserVision Player, If the disc has no chapter assignments, the offers something video buffs have longed Description. The LD-S1 is a handsome display doesn’t light. If the disc is CAV, for: digital memory that delivers all the black machine with wood side panels ac- “frame” plus numbers show; if it is CLV, usual picture handling features at both the cented by thin brass trim and gold legends. “time” plus minutes and seconds are dis- CAV (constant angular velocity) and CLV It is the largest of Pioneer’s LV players, played. The remote control sensor is to the (constant linear velocity) speeds. These measuring 5-3/4 inches high by 18 wide by right of the display area. features, including still frame, frame ad- 18-1/2 deep and weighing 36.3 pounds. vance, slow motion, speed play, and visible The rear panel houses a small group of search, have always been available on the The automated disc hatch occupies the connectors, including an input/output con- 30-minute-per-side CAV discs, which top of the front. To its right are buttons for nector Pioneer has not used in the U.S., were more expensive than the 60-min- open/close, play, reverse and forward although a computer that uses it is available ute-per-side CLV discs. The digital memo- chapter skip, pause, reverse and forward in Japan. Minijacks for remote input and ry also makes possible such new features scan, and last memory. Near the bottom output connect the player to other Pioneer as still picture with sound, strobe motion right is a compartment with on/off buttons system remote units, allowing you to con- with sound, and completely noise-free for the fluorescent panel display, the color trol the player even if it is hidden. There scan. screen (with status information when there are two pairs of audio outputs, a pair for Pioneer’s LaserVision picture, already the best available, has also been improved. The Pioneer LD-S1’s digital memory allows special effects in both CAV and CLV. A special Accu-Focus system for the laser pickup reduces distortion of the signal as it is retrieved from the disc for higher resolu- tion and better signal-to-noise ratios (S/N). Its horizontal resolution is now 420 lines and the picture S/N is rated at 48 decibels. On the audio side, quadruple over-sam- pling and digital filtering improve high fre- quency phase characteristics and linearity for the entire audio spectrum. Twin digit- al-to-analog coverters reduce crosstalk between left and right channels, and mir- ror-image right and left audio circuits, sep- arated by the DC power and ground lines, further enhance separation and reduce crosstalk. Oxygen-free copper circuitry in- sulated from vibrations further improves the LD-S1’s performance. 96 Video June 1987
CABLE TV DESCRAMBLERS EDELORNE for your ....1 have quite a few PAL and SECAM video tapes (VHS) of FREE CATALOG European events that are im- possible to purchase in the DIAL 1-800-426-2653 NTSC formats. |know they will not play on NTSC. Where can | CABLE DISTRIBUTORS or write: Washington, AR 71862 purchase a VCR that plays all 3 116 Main C formats and how much would it cost? Do | need a foreign mon- For additional information, circle No. 54 on Reader Service Card. itor as well as a regular TV? Everybody says to have them » The VIDEO & AUDIO copied into NTSC format, but I have over 50 tapes and want | fea ADVANTAGE! to collect more and the going rate is $100., so a PAL/SECAM/ eeeTo Order Call Toll Free: peacer inquiries WELCOME OUR PRICES INCLUDE NTSC VCR would be cheaper. FUulSl .MWanAuRfaRcAtuNrTerY’s H.A., CHICAGO, IL. 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FOR CCDV1 Ie =‘7 ha The Image Translator is based on an NTSC VCR. Though it displays a slight PCCPVCCA-DDN3VVA23B0SAOFNUIC . ins SA\\ezzg! LOPWREISCTE || ‘g9774109 : INFORMRAETBAITOEN ||.LLie0gnhst1s0F0ifl0rtWoemarst.1t.0s.0..W..a.t..t..s...$.9...99 &CAULLP color degradation on PAL playback, it plays all PAL and SECAM speeds and offers in <= ALL | MINOLTA Wide Angle Lens... ... addition all luxury NTSC features such as TOO |) 1200. | Telephoto Lens... .... multi-speeds cable ready tuners, great PV-300 Low |; 3000 i CALL FOR $39 & UP special effects, multi-event programmers, | pea $59 & UP VHS Hifi and even the latest “Super VHS LOWEST | Character Generators HQ.” All this on most regular TV’s or mon- 8000 att PRICE | for all Camcorders. ..AVAILABLE itors. The Image Translator is made in the USA and covered by a solid guarantee. MAGNAVOX BLOWOUT! 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Videotests Test Report: Analog audio: yes either analog or digital audio and a pair for Pioneer LD-S1 analog only, as well as two video outputs. Reference Laser Digital audio: yes There is no RF output for connection to an Vision Player Video outputs: 2 ordinary TV because the player’s high res- Stereo audio outputs: 2, one ana- olution video output requires a wider band- DATA log/digital, one analog only width than is available under the NTSC RF Date of test: March 1987 Other connectors: multi-pin input/out- broadcast format. Suggested retail price: $2,000 Weight: 36.3 pounds put, opcode output, and system remote The LD-S1’s slim remote control con- Dimensions: 5-3/8 x 18 x 18-1/2 inches tains a ten-digit keypad and buttons for input search/memory, display, chapter or frame/ (h/w/d) Accessories: remote control with batter- time, program, clear, reverse and forward Power requirements: 120 VAC, 60 Hz ies, audio and video patch cords with scan, play, pause, and strobe motion. There are rockers for chapter skip, mul- Power consumption: 55 W gold-plated plugs ti-speed and still/step. A -/+ rocker affects Disc format: Laser Vision both the strobe and multi-speed play. Disc speeds: CAV, CLV RESULTS & RATINGS Play speed select: automatic Horizontal resolution: rated, 420 lines; The remote also has buttons for audio Still frame: all discs measured, 416 lines monitor CX, auto digital/analog audio out- Frame advance: all discs S/N, video luminance: rated, 48 dB; put, eject, and repeat A, B. Slow motion: 1 frame every 3 seconds, measured, 45.4 dB, unweighted; 49.4 dB, Operation. Hooking up and using the 1 frame every second, 1/16x, 1/8x, 1/4x, weighted; 50.8 dB, weighted with sag LD-S1 is simple, but because there is no RF output it can only be connected toa TV and 1/2x at all disc speeds without sound compensation with monitor inputs. For even better Speed play: 1x, 2x and 3x at all disc S/N, chroma AM: 51.8 dB sound, connect the audio outputs to a hi-fi speeds without sound Rapid search: 40 seconds end to end S/N, chroma PM: 45.3 dB system. Maximum direct access time: 4 Audio frequency response: rated—4 When you insert a disc the machine seconds for CAV discs; 6 seconds for CLV discs Hz to 20 kHz, +/-0.5 dB; measured, 10 starts to play automatically, in the auto Remote: IR wireless with buttons for Hz to 20 kHz, +/-0.2 dB (no test signals digital mode with stereo, CX, and the digit- stereo/left/right audio monitor, CX, auto al circuitry -already running. Most of the digital/analog, eject, repeat A, repeat B, below 10 Hz) digital; 20 Hz to 20 kHz, machine’s controls are clearly labelled and strobe motion, multi speed, + and - but- +0/-3.5 dB, analog logically arranged. Lines from the mul- tons for strobe and multi, still/step back- Dynamic range, digital audio: rated, ti-speed and strobe buttons to the -/ + but- 100+ dB; measured 99 dB ton remind you to select an appropriate ward and forward, last/next chapter, re- S/N, audio: digital, rated 102 dB, meas- speed. The multi-speed, strobe, ured 99 dB; analog—measured 76 dB search/memory, program, display, and verse scan, play, forward scan, display, Audio distortion, measured: digital, clear controls are reinforced by onscreen chapter/frame/time selector, search/mem- prompts. The remaining controls use LED ory, program, clear, and 10-digit keypad 0.02 percent; analog, 0.3 percent indicators. Separate eject: yes Stereo separation: digital, rated 100 Counter digits: five for frame (CAV), dB; measured, below noise level; analog, Performance. To date, the LD-S1 is chapter, or time (CLV) 74 dB the ultimate in home video and audio quali- Program start locator/index/cue: Overall picture quality: excellent ty. Horizontal resolution is rated at 420 Audio quality: excellent lines, and we measured it at 416 lines using keypad direct access by chapter, frame Ease of operation: excellent our best test discs. Video S/N, rated at 48 (CAV) or time (CLV); programmed se- Overall performance: excellent quence by chapter (maximum 10 entries), Scale Fair Excellent Weak repeat A/B, repeat chapter, repeat side Average Poor 1-800-223-7974OVERNIGHT DELIVERY NOW AVAILABLE! ORDERS ONLY PHOTRON WILL BEAT ANY LEGITIMATE PRICE! TO ALL 50 STATES N.Y., ALASKA OR INFORMATION CALL (212) 221-1011 AND PUERTO RICO CAMCORDERS Panasonic. GOKO VIDEO ACCESSORIES FOR CAMCORDER ACCESSORIES CREATIVE RESULTS PV1560 299.95 PV1564 459.95 VIDEO TRIPOD 69.95 579.95 PV1742 689.95 CALL THE CAMCORDER SPECIALISTS! 4 VSIA PV1642 289.95 AMBICO SUPER DUPER 39.95] CAMCORDER CASE 39.958&UP SPY SCOPE 29.95 VIDEO LITE * BEST PRICE ANYWHERE Pv2700 CALL! 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SUNPAK 64.95 1018.95 DETAILER III CARTRIDGES COLOR OR BLACK HITACHI VM S000 499.95 HRDS70 RCACMR300 PRO-WONDETRoo Low To Print) 289.95 HRD170 VIDEO LIGHTS 5169 4 for 219.95 SUNPAK 3004 WORLDS 59.95 PENTAX PVC 55A CALL! FIRST AUTOMATIC SPECIAL SEG200 “CALL AlV Switcher CALL BOX 10 REAMS PAPER 99.95 IVE 100 CALL MINOLTA CR 1200 AF HQ. LOW PRICE VIDEO ACCESSORIES DETAILER IV CALL CALL CANON COPY STAND day 5 AMP HOUR BATTERY IVE 200 CALL MINOLTA CR 1300 AF H2 CALL! 419.95 10 AMP HOUR BATTERY AVPROCESSOR CALL Canon 649.95 5 HOUR NI-CAD GE VC 9610 CALL! TAPE REWINDER VID COLOR PROCESSOR FAXPHONE 10 QUASAR VM 20 HQ 1049.95 CALL! TELE CINE CONVERTER VIDEO TRIPODS 1237.95 QUASAR VM 24 CALL! CALL! “DX 2000 559.95 SLIK 442V 59.95 SLIK 212V 69.95 MAGNAVOX 6293 NEW! MAGNAVOX 9240 1049.95 BPENTAX PVC 800A TOSHIBA BOGEN 3124 FLUID HEAD 89.95 WE CARRY A FULL LINE OF NEC V30 PRO CALL! CALL! DX7 BOGEN 3140 FLUID HEAD 139.95 35mm EQUIPMENT - PLEASE CALL CALL! Photron Marketing, Inc. FOR SAME DAY SHIPPING SEND CERTIFIED CHECK OR MONEY ORDER SHIPPING BUSINESS HOURS: MON, TUES, THURS. 9:00AM-7:00PM HANDLING & INS ADD TL NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHIC ERRORS OR PRICE fa CHANGES FROM SUPPLIERS FREE OFFERS MUST BE REQUESTED AT TIME OF ORDER WED. 9:00AM-6:00PM SUN. 10:00AM-4:00PM C.O.D. NY CONS AFF #800454 SOME PRICES INCLUDE REBATES 256 West 38th Street FRI. 9:00AM-3:00PM CLOSED 6/3, 6/4 New York, N.Y. 10018 USA WARRANTY SLIGHTLY ADDN L ON SOME MODELS RETAIL & INFORMATION SERVICES CLOSE 1 HOUR EARLIER EXCEPT SUN. & WED. N3ciSCRaoFioa5endenor.rfdracdvoil.dirteecmireaotniaoln, 98 Video June 1987
dB, was measured at 45.4 dB, un- Description. The 17-pound HR-422UR Further right are displays for hi-fi, audio weighted; 49.4 dB, weighted; and 50.4 dB is fairly compact at 3-3/4 inches high by level, and play mode, audio level slider weighted with sag compensation. Chroma 16-3/4 wide by 15 deep. On the front panel controls, and two buttons for counter reset AM S/N measured 51.8 dB and chroma PM next to the cassette hatch are LED indica- S/N measured 45.3 dB. and counter memory. The front panel also tors for MTS stereo and SAP, a display houses a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a rotary The player delivers excellent analog and headphone volume control, and the sensor digital audio. The improvements in the au- area with a counter for hours, minutes, and for the infrared remote. dio circuitry affect both types of audio, al- seconds, and buttons for channel up and though the gains on analog discs are more A lower compartment houses controls modest. In analog mode, the frequency down tuning. Under the hatch are buttons for slow/frame advance, + and -, pause/ response is 20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz +0/ for eject, power, rewind (search), play, still, record, tracking, soft/sharp picture, -3.5 dB with less than 0.3 percent total fast forward (search), stop, the cassette detail, and edit. Four buttons cycle through harmonic distortion, 76 dB S/N, and 74 dB hatch light, and OTR starting time and du- the input and audio monitor options, record channel separation. ration. Its digital audio is rated to deliver virtual- \\ ly flat frequency response from as low as 10 Hz but our test disc signals only go down |wae2 warren’s& world to 20 Hz. Measured frequency response MOTHER’S was from 10 Hz to 20 kHz, +/-0.2 dB with nce S = DAY... a measured S/N of 99 dB, a total harmonic Sitioa\\) distortion of 0.02 percent, and stereo sep- aration of 99 dB. This level of performance Olympus 801 Zenith 4100 Buy 9—Get 10th FREE is better than that on some CD players, and excellent for consumer video software. Chinon 3 Zone Sony EVS700 CALL Hitachi 1110 VMaHxS 7T--112200 BETA Minolta 8000 Sony SLHF 7 Heo 1310 Conclusion. The LD-S1’s $2,000 sug- °32..1899 |1300 gested price is steep, but this player is Sony CCD V3 Sony SLHF 650 FOR Hititaacchhii 11345100 packed with quality and features. We’re Canon VME2 Sony SLHF 750 HHiittaacchhii 11742500 awed by its special effects, stunning video FORZenith 6200. Hitachi 1370 quality, and audio, which is good enough to Hitachi 5000....... Hitachi 1570 Scotch 1-120 “4.29 | | 839 put some CD players to shame. When you Olympus VX 404. Maxell RXpro.. 7.49 run out to see a demonstration, make sure Minolta 1200 Magnavox 9522 the showroom monitor is good enough to Magnavox 9545 keep up with this player. itach.iatter (abate ft aJVC GRC7 . Magnavox 9547 Mitsubishi VHS Magnavox 9560 HizFrVeER zentn ior0 PRICEHPaint.achiPVVM1C00 Sony SLHF 1OOOREST Sco 7-120 EXG °6.49 Mitsubishi’s cur- Zenith 1810 rent line of VCRs includes only four 5cee0q..A JVC T-120 \"2.99 models, three of which have all four CCAALLLL Zenith 2220 Sony T-120 *°3.29 Zenith 2230 HQ (High Quality) ffZ7oenniitthh 33222500 Fuji Super XG *8.49 circuits. The top- ALL MERCHANDISE COMES WITH U.S. Kodak 7-120 **2.99 TYPE C of-the-line HR- WARRANTY. AT WARREN'S THERE ARE Kod T-120 HGX **3.99 422UR also features a decoder for MTS TC-20 HG “4.95 (multichannel television sound) and SAP lagnavox 9565, (second audio program), as well as some NO HIDDEN COSTS. Zenith 3300 “Eff. Net AllMajor Brands in Stock ** After Rebat unusual circuitry that enhances perform- SEND A SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE FOR FREE CATALOG ance and flexibility. ORDERS FOR FREE CATALOG SEND A S.AS.E. The HR-422UR’s other highlights in- clude an eight-event, two-week timer with 1-800-292-7736 INFO onscreen programming from both the deck Wy) 1-718-743-8600~ and the remote control, one-touch record (OTR) with an optional delay, hi-fi audio, a vidicraft ACCESSORIES SHOWTIME VIDEO VENTURES video output circuit to prevent clipping, an edit switch for better copies, a peak accel- s e990 DETAILER Ill WE STOCK A HUGE INVENTORY ¥SEC 1 Special Effects Generator eration circuit for better edge definition, OF ALL VIDEO ACCESSORIES and digital auto tracking. SEG 200 5169 GP1 Gensync Power Supply ays Mitsubishi's indexing system lets you find either the next or last indexed pro- CALL} A Switcher Multivision 3.1 Digital VC-1 Video Colorizer gram, or enter an index number on the CALL } ive 100 7100 Video Color Processor keypad. You can also add and erase index Camcorder Character Generator . CALL FOR marks in addition to the ones put on the tape at the start of a recording from stop Cool-Lux AC/DC Mini Cool 7010 Audio/Video Processor LOW PRICES mode. SM.1R_ Showmaker Processor a Azden Wireless Mic 2000 Video Distribution Amp 277 Video Camera Enhancer Deluxe Telecine JVC GRC7 2 hr. Battery Battery Light Kit Rewinder VHS & Beta @iuts) 5 Hour External Battery NOW IN STOCK 702, 120AC, 150 DCLight 69.95 1700 COPYGUARD ELIMINATOR Coast 86 Dual Camera/Recorder Bag FULL LINE OF SIMA IN STOCK Tele-Print Convertor V614 FULL LINE OF SHOWTIME IN STOCK Coast VTR40 Tripod Black PORTABLES & CAMERAS Ambico Super Duper Enhancer BLOWOUTS = PHONE: 9JVC HRS-100 99JVC GXN 8 U Ambico MTS Stereo Tuner 4hd., 8 ev., 14 day, 6:1 F1.2 autofocus, 15 funct., wireless C mount, Low Light Ten Glory VHS/Beta Case: WASkhCaairpV1SHiF1i12 $222499999 58000000 mi“AATyE _. $i6159 Panasonic PVR 500 Editor Harwood 650 Watt Light Toshiba DX7 digital 599 9700 ee 159 All Headcleaners — All Formats Toshiba DX3 digital 299 7200 119 ‘MINOLTA 510 | MAGNAVOX 8585 Battery & Light Kit Video Switcher 7400 129 Close Up —Wide View Lens Kit 3 ins, 4 outs 29.95 Video Stabilizer... 29.95 ANSWERING F1.2 4x Zoom, + 4head, 14 day/8 ev Fluid Head Tripod w/Wheel. Is Battery & Car Cord Pkg MACHINES Macro, VHS & Beta 26 funct, dolby, rem Ambico V0170 AC/DC ry fits Pan. PV 200 34.95 50 WYPHONES CamcorIdNeFrO CAaVrACIoLrAdBsLE ON ALL: VIDEO1 Mag. 15” Color 184 50: $99 ACCESSORIES. PLEASE WRITE OR CALL @ AM/FM Cass. Rec. ..24 8050 139 Polaroid MD2 disks .75¢ 9750 17! 888676403.. fae) “1141173356999999 ADC SPECIALS OF THE MONTH DISC PLAYER Whistler “~~ RCA CMR 200 W/CASE Tri Beam, Mid Sized Spectrum ..179 Autofocus, 6:1 Power Zoom, 7 Lux, F 1.2, Spectrum Remote... .199 Automanual Iris, White Bal., Time/Date Spectrum2 219 Passport. ...289 Display, Quick Review, Macro, ¥2” Elect. Viewfinder $ While Quantities Last 899 FAMOUS MAKE 8 MM KXT 2421...125 CCD, No Image Lag, Exceptional Color, 3 KXT 2422... 139 “ ., Zone Focus, Flying Erase VA 8025... .115 ' Heads, HiFi Audio 5679 Recording TO ORDER: Dial toll free 1-800-2WARREN and ask for order desk or send certified check or money order to WARREN, 1924 Avenue U, Brooklyn, NY 11229. Please add appropriate shipping and handling charges. C.0.D. orders welcome. Inquiries and CUSTOMER SERVICE please cali 1-718-743-8600. Prices and availability subject to change without notice. No sales tax for out of state orders. For free catalog please send your name, address and telephone with $2.00 for postage and handling (refundable on first order) to the address above. Not responsible for typographical errors. This ad supercedes all previous ads. B\"JU‘OB4JPOa/U0EBIlDN4POUB/Ne/DOIJaDS/EyIWPOPJeU) PRR RENE SCE GSS A SRE RAMON OT eM June 1987 Video 99
SATISFACTION speed, and video/TV. Slide switches select GUARANTEE. SAP/main recording on the normal (linear) audio track, and the level meter function, OR YOUR MONEY BACK!* which can also show the optimum tracking adjustment. The programming controls in- #1 Rated VHS Camcorder SMMINAOLLTALMEASSTETR CR V33H00S Latest/in 8mm Video! clude clock set, program list, program eMAXXUM AUTO FOCUS number, select, set, clear, and program MINOLTA CR 1200 e2 YEAR WARRANTY @HIGH RESOLUTON *3” MOS record (timer on). @HIGH REOLUTION, 525 LINE MOS 6X & 9X ZOOM @2 HR RECORDING The tuning compartment on the top @2 YEAR WARRANTY. @ONLY 3 LBS e@HI Fl AUDIO houses slide switches for TV/normal/HRC ®@AUTO FOCUS @HQ PICTURE e@AUTO FOCUS channel order and spacing, auto/manual @LOW 7 LUX fine tuning with + and - tuning buttons, 4 HEAD NEW!! Sony Handycam Pak 8 .. and skip with write and erase buttons for POWER ZOOM pate 3. altering the scan tuning memory. Another @LOW 7 LUX slide switch moves between low and high Sony CCD-V110 . speed scan, a button resets clock and timer Panasonic Kyocera KD-200 . memories, and a screwdriver adjustment Kyocera KD-1100 minimizes vertical jitter in still pictures and PV 210 799 Panasonic PV 100 949 Olympus VX-801 fast play. Elmo PRO ECR-8 PV 300 ........ 1049 General Electric 9710 . Call Minolta CR-8000 Operation. The layout of the controls Canon VN-E1 ..... is unusual, but simple. The OTR buttons PV 320 1099 Magnavox VR 8297 .... Pentax PV-C800 . on the front are a good substitute for the JVC GRC-7 Nikon NV-800 . hidden record buttons, and let you delay AG 160 Call JVC GRC-9 . Aiwa CV-80 the start of recording to any upcoming quarter hour for a 24-hour period. This RCA OTR acts like a simple one-event timer. CMR 300 . 1089 Zenith VM 6200 .. The hours, minutes, and seconds coun- Magnavox RCA CPR 100. ter is easier to use than the typical four-dig- it counter because you don’t have to trans- 8293 .............. Call CR-1200 Hitachi VM-CSO . late the numbers. The indicators and dis- Olympus plays clearly show machine status. Pentax VX 404 All VCC ACCESSORIES iN$ITOCK! Ease of operation is very good/excellent PV-C55 .. Call because of a slightly confusing manual, but once you learn all the hidden features, the Your One Stop Camcorder Specialist Company! rating rises to excellent. FREE Camcorder Consultation. Questions, Advice and Factory Performance. Like most VHS VCRs Trained Tech-Reps To Assist You. CALL 212-564-0791 the HR-422UR’s horizontal resolution is 240 to 250 lines, but Mitsubishi’s HQ and AMBICO pers) CAMCORDER ACCESSORIES Macrovision Stabilizer additional circuitry make picture definition Super Duper .... ...... 75 Wide Angle/Tele Lens Kit ...... 44 Eliminates picture jitter look much better. At the SP speed the Shr Decathlon NiCad Bat AC/DC Light w/ 4 Hr Battery . 85 flashing & rolling . video signal-to-noise ratio is 45.4 decibels Wireless Headphones 39 Video Tripod unweighted. Chroma AM S/N is 46.2 dB, and chroma PM S/N is 44.5 dB. We rate Wireless Microphone ... Pro Fluid Head Tripod SHOWTIME overall video performance of the 422 as AC/DC Video Light .............. Special Effects Editor ..... very good/excellent. Tele-Cine Film to Video ........ Macro Lens. © Gensync Power Supply DELUXE Tele-Cine ..... Audio Effects Creator... Its hi-fi performance is excellent with a Wide angle wiClose up Megamode Video Stabilizer . Cal frequency response of 20 Hertz to 20 kilo- Tele-Slide Slides to Vid Hertz, +0.9/-0.6 worst case at all speeds. Tele-Print Prints to Vid... 1.5X Telephoto Lens Dynamic range is a measured 84 dB; ster- DIRECTOR Film & Slides toVid. 45 eo separation is 72 dB and total harmonic Video Speakers w/ Amp.. 2X Telephoto Lens . eALL MAJOR BRANDSe distortion is 0.3 percent. Linear perform- eALL USA WARRANTYe ance is actually very good at SP and LP Wide Angle Lens speeds but a huge 8.5 dB peak at 5 kHz eFACTORY FRESHe impairs EP audio, so we rate overall linear Hemispheric Lens. track performance as average. Combining our video, audio, and ease-of-operation Zoom Mics ...... ratings, overall performance is very Antenna Signal Booster 2 hr Cam.Batteries PANASONIC good/excellent. Conclusion. Mitsubishi has made the Remote TV Tuner .......... Cig. Lighter Cords . SUPER MICRO SCRIPT RCA MTS Decoder.. 6.5 Hour Battery .... Color Video Titler with built in MITSUBISHI HR-422UR easier to use, although the Battery Pack/Light Kit Genlock ............ Call For Info MAGNAVOX manual needs a little more work. Overall Wireless Stereo Transceiver ..59 Custom Cases Made To performance is very good/excellent, with Fit and Carry Bags AUDIO DEPT. ZENITH some real high spots countered by a few Tape Maintenance System Protective Filter Kit : TOSHIBA weak ones. The most glaring faults of the Delux 3pc filter Kit ....... linear audio are more than compensated for Clean, Erease,FF or Rewind SONY by the hi-fi audio. Check out the HR- 422UR if you’re looking for a top grade VHS Tapes - . 65 VCR. Its suggested price is $900. MAXELL Cassette Rewinder ... Surround Sound Call FISHER Test Report on page 104 Rewinder with Shure AVC 20 299 TEAC T-12E0X ......... 4.19 FastFwd & Counter NEC AV 300 Call Jvc NEC AV 350 Call GENERAL ELECTRIC T-120 HGX ........-..ses 4.95 BESCOR TEAC AV 500 . -- 439 MINOLTA Shr 11 cell Ni-Cad Batt. . Pioneer VSX5000 HITACHI T120 Gold HiFi .......... . 5.95 5hr Battery .... CD Players Call NEC 10hr Battery .. Sony CDP 50 . 109 Extended Warranties .... From 29 TDK Video Control Center ADC CD 100 .. Call Gold Dubbing Cables . TEAC PD 420. 125 UNIFIED REMOTE CENTRAL T-120 HS sei fs.) Stereo Simulator ... TEAC PD 100.. Call Video Tape Repair Kit Denon DCD 700 . . .. Call All your remotes in ONE ........ 85 1B )0 8S CER pees 5.45 Magnavox CDB 650 T-120 HD PRO ........ hd SONY pe Bie RUA sprees 3.95 ourBRAND» AZDEN Wireless Mic VIDEO SENDER 1p. PEBeRe Ener cere 2.65 Cool Lux Lites WMS-20 Lav.& nang Held . ee Send Audio & Video to All ..2.89 Roomate Speakers Wireless LapelMi % Wireless Hand Held” 800-654-7787L120 Your TVs ... .. 59 HIGHVOLTAGE, 39 W.32nd Shipping and handling extra. Prices fluctuate with the Japanese yen. Not OPEN 10am-7pm Mon.-Fri., Sat. 10am-6pm. VISA, MC, and responsible for typographical errors. We ship most orders within 24 to 48 hours. “Returns accepted within 10 days with copy of invoice, original packing and blank warranty card and may be subject to a restocking fee. Some prices may reflect cash discount. All products are subject to avail- ability. Walk in customers Cash & Carry. Member Better Business Bureau. For customer service call (212) 564-4410. ST., NEW YORK, NY 10001 COD Orders Accepted. CUSTOMER SERVICE 212-564-4410 CSR3NciaoFaeio7endorr.fdardcvoid.lirteecmireaotniaoln, 100 Video June 1987
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