Neilson, James

Summer Magic

This classic 1963 Disney film features child icon Hayley Mills as Nancy Carey, a teenage girl whose family moves from Boston to the New England countryside as a result of their father's untimely passing. Nancy writes to the kindly Mr. Poppem (Burl Ives) and single-handedly convinces him to rent the family a charming, if run-down, house for a mere $60 a year. Ever the optimist, Nancy brims with excitement at the family's new life, but this "perfect world" has its problems--notably an absentee landlord who knows nothing about the Carey family's rental agreement. Through hard work and Mr. Poppem's continuing generosity, the Careys fix up the house and find life in the rural Maine town quite satisfactory. Things become tense when their cousin Julia arrives for an extended visit, but eventually Nancy and Julia grow from one another's experiences and become good friends. You'll never guess what happens when the absent landlord returns unannounced during the family's Halloween housewarming party!

One section that may sit poorly with modern audiences features Nancy and Julia discussing how to emphasize one's femininity at the expense of hiding the real you--an indication of how much American thinking has changed in a relatively short period of time. Nevertheless, this is a charming tale featuring toe-tapping ragtime music, wonderful songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman including "Summer Magic" and "The Ugly Bug Ball," and the incomparable talents of Mills and Ives. Take a trip down memory lane and don't forget the kids. (Ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Hayley Mills brings a joyful enthusiasm to this nostalgic, musical, and bighearted adventure in small-town living, now on Disney DVD. When a close-knit Boston family loses their fortune, they find a wealth of family secrets, young love, and charming summer nights in Beulah, Maine. A good-natured postmaster, pretentious cousin Julia, and the mysterious absentee landlord, Mr. Hamilton, populate their new life in a charming old yellow house. Featuring an all-star supporting cast, including Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire, and Deborah Walley, this classic and wondrous tale will delight the entire family and belongs in every Disney collection.

The Moon-Spinners

Hayley Mills was well on her way to adulthood when she found intrigue and chaste romance on the island of Crete in this 1964 Disney attempt at Hitchcock in one of his lighter moods. That means the principals do wind up in a hearse trapped on a narrow street by celebratory but ominous masked paraders. And that seemingly good guys can and do turn out to be bad guys and vice versa. But it's Disney and Mills, so there are no deaths in this mystery, although gunplay and some scariness do earn it a PG rating. Based on the Mary Stewart novel of the same name, this 118-minute film finds Mills and her aunt visiting a Cretan village on holiday. In the face of hostility from their innkeeper's brother (Eli Wallach), the pair befriend a fellow Brit. The young man's escapades with jewel thief Wallach draw a beguiled Mills into a sometimes perilous adventure involving a harrowing ride upon the sails of a windmill, hiding out in an underground crypt, and a showdown with a cheetah-loving millionairess (the scene-stealing Pola Negri) aboard her yacht. Probably a little too sophisticated for those under 8. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Start with a fortune in stolen jewels. Add a dash of danger. A pinch of romance. Season with Hitchcock-like intrigue and comic flair. What do you have? A mystery thriller for the whole family ... with the Disney touch. Set against the sun-bleached beauty of the Isle of Crete, the story pits a young English tourist (Hayley Mills) against a wily Greek jewel thief (Eli Wallach). Mistaken identities and perilous escapes -- including a nail-biting battle with a windmill -- lead the junior-miss detective to a final confrontation aboard the yacht of an eccentric millionairess (Pola Negri) with a passion for priceless gems and pet cheetahs!

Where Angels Go... Trouble Follows

High-spirited sequel to The Trouble with Angels, starring Rosalind Russell reprising her role. Stella Stevens stars as a modern nun who convinces the Reverend Mother to take the girls on an unforgettable bus trip to a California peace rally. All-star cast: Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, Susan St. James, Van Johnson and Milton Berle.

Father Knows Best: Season One

Maybe he didn't always know best but beginning in 1954 insurance salesman Jim Anderson (Robert Young) of Springfield Ohio was America's favorite head of household.Father Knows Best premiered on CBS in October 1954 and has been part of the American cultural fabric ever since. The program's depiction of a "typical" mid-century middle-class Midwestern American family is fondly remembered by many of us who grew up watching the show and rather enviously thinking: "Oh. So this is what happens in all the other houses."Margaret Anderson (Jane Wyatt) charmed us as the levelheaded domestic diva who stood faithfully behind the strong and benevolent father. Their three children-sophisticated teen Betty (Elinor Donahue) chronically befuddled 14-year-old brother "Bud" (Billy Gray) and precocious little sister Kathy (Lauren Chapin) - faced the challenges of growing up right alongside of us. And in episode after episode Jim and Margaret treated their children's youthful transgressions with authority empathy and wisdom. By the end of each half hour we'd all learned our lesson.Join Jim and Margaret and "Princess" "Bud" and "Kitten" in their first year as everyone's favorite '50s family in Family Knows Best.System Requirements:Running Time: 660 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: G UPC: 826663107685 Manufacturer No: SF10768

It's telling that this family favorite began on radio as Father Knows Best? When the show came to CBS in 1954, the question mark disappeared. Contrary to popular opinion, however, Springfield, Ohio, insurance agent Jim Anderson (Emmy winner Robert Young) doesn't have all the answers. He and his wife, Margaret (fellow Emmy winner Jane Wyatt), come close, though. Were the show in production now, Anderson wouldn't smoke, but Father Knows Best reflects the standards of its time--separate beds and all. The sweet-natured pilot sets the tone when 14-year-old Bud (Billy Gray) frets about the school dance until Jim arranges for his 17-year-old sister, Betty (Elinor Donahue), to show him some steps. Other storylines revolve around community service and feeling needed, while "Thanksgiving Day" offers a glimpse of Jim's imperfect side when he dismisses a poem written by nine-year-old Kathy (Laurin Chapin), who overhears him; he realizes he was holding Kitten to impossible standards. As Chapin notes in the bonus interview (in which Donahue also features), the primary themes were cooperation and forgiveness. Naysayers can knock Father Knows Best for being square, but it espouses timeless values. And who's to say the lingo wasn't hip for the 1950s? Colorful examples include "goobers," "criminy," "creepers," "knot-head," and "simply utterly."

On the downside, these 26 episodes appear in unrestored, syndicated condition. Fortunately, the show doesn't look too bad for its age and abundant extras compensate, like special 1959 savings bond episode 24 Hours in Tyrantland and Young's home movies and behind-the-scenes footage, both with low-key narration by grandson Bill Proffitt. After Young put Father Knows Best to rest, he segued to 1960's Window on Main Street (this set includes the pilot) before scoring another hit with Marcus Welby, M.D.. Donahue followed suit with The Andy Griffith Show and Wyatt with Star Trek. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Leave It to Beaver - The Complete First Season

Finally one of the most beloved series from television s Golden Age comes to DVD for the first time ever! Join the Cleavers America s quintessential family in all 39 digitally remastered unforgettable episodes from the complete first season of Leave it to Beaver! Theodore Beaver Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) can t seem to avoid trouble and his older brother Wally (Tony Dow) and mischievous pal Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond) aren t any help. But with some wise advice from his father Ward (Hugh Beaumont) and mom s (Barbara Billingsley) home-cooked meals Beaver learns that all s well that ends well. Complete with the original pilot brought out of the studio archives this must-have DVD collection will have you declaring Gee that Beaver sure is a swell guy! System Requirements:Running Time 6 hrs 6 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 025192911323 Manufacturer No: 29113

The Best of Bonanza, Vol. 1

Adam-12 - Season One

Dragnet creator-star Jack Webb's imprimatur is all over this first full season (1968) of Adam-12, a consistently entertaining look at the on-the-job lives of a couple of Los Angeles patrol officers. No surprise there: Webb co-created and produced Adam-12 as well (he also directed the first episode) and his sensibility--square, old-fashioned, low on frills-- imbues the 26 episodes included in this set.

Martin Milner stars as Pete Malloy, a veteran cop whose new partner (following the death of the previous one) is Jim Reed (Kent McCord), a rookie who's more than a little wet behind the ears. The show follows them as they make the rounds in their police black & white, dealing with all manner of circumstances, from the mundane (traffic violations, petty domestic disputes, noise complaints) to the monstrous (murder, drugs, child abuse, suicide). Each about 25 minutes long, the episodes chronicle the quotidian vicissitudes of these men in uniform, as opposed to the detectives, forensic experts, lawyers, and such who populate today's cop shows. Whatever the storyline, the tone is fairly tame, with none of the graphic violence common to later cop shows. And while the '65 Watts riots had already taken place, Rodney King, the Rampart scandal, and numerous other ugly events were far in the future. Thus Adam-12 evinces little or none of the now-vast divide (most of it racially based) that exists between the LAPD and much of the community; on this show, the cops are the good guys, without much nuance (which helps explain its popularity with real police officers). That's certainly not all bad; Adam-12's realism (for its time) and lack of pretension are refreshing, and the show is looser and not nearly as humorless as Dragnet. The packaging is as basic as the show itself--there are no extras whatsoever, with two double-sided discs containing all 26 episodes. --Sam Graham

Leave It to Beaver - The Complete Second Season

Now with this release fans nostalgic for the simple moral lessons at the heart of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER can own the show's entire second season. Part of television's golden era the series first aired in 1957 but really grew in popularity with later audiences when it ran as repeats. The picture of a perfect 1950s family the Cleavers consisted of troublemaking Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) too-perfect big brother Wally (Tony Dow) wise dad Ward (Hugh Beaumont) and eager-to-please housewife June (Barbara Billingsley). Thanks to the influence of his friend and ally in crime Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond) Beaver never goes too long without getting into some kind of mess. But with some of his mom's home cooking and his dad's sage advice Beaver always sorts it out in the end.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 025192927621 Manufacturer No: 29276

The second season of Leave It to Beaver finds the Cleaver family happy and wholesome as ever, with most episodes involving the Beaver getting into a scrape, or hearing the from-the-mountaintop advice from Mom or Dad afterwards. Despite the formula, the episodes hold up well, because of the earnestness of the actors and the delivery of their lines, which is, well, swell. Mom June (Barbara Billingsley) is the matriarch who makes it all look easy in her well-pressed frocks and pearls (pay close attention to those necklaces--there are actually several; some plain strands and some with pendants), and Dad Ward (Hugh Beaumont) is thoughtful and a little monolithic. But it's the adventures of boys, older brother Wally (Tony Dow) and the Beav (Jerry Mathers), that make the show so fun. One episode involves Beav and pal Larry (Rusty Stevens) playing hooky (they're late to school anyway, and they figure they may as well get "killed" later as opposed to today), and then winding up on live TV, on a show which June just happens to be watching. Moral? Golly gee, there's more than one, and they're delivered by both parents and Beav's teacher--and echoed earnestly by Beaver himself. The chuckles come in a ready stream, even if sometimes inadvertently. Sample exchange: Wally: "Mom, can I get tattooed?" June: "Tattooed!? Absolutely not!" Wally: "Oh, OK. Bye." No wonder people are so nostalgic for the '50s--teenagers never gave anyone any lip. This season, 1957-58, contains 39 remastered episodes on three double-sided discs, and is a treasure box of nostalgia, in the absolute best sense. --A.T. Hurley

Night Passage

Thanks to ultracrisp Technirama photography of great mountainside and river gorge locations in Colorado, Night Passage is often terrific to look at; you can almost feel the autumn sun and brisk air. This should have been another classic Western pairing James Stewart with director Anthony Mann. But after choosing the locations, cast, and crew, and directing the precredit sequence, Mann abruptly resigned. He found Borden Chase's screenplay an "incoherent" rehash of relationships and setups from their previous films, nor was he encouraged by Stewart's determination to play the accordion and sing. Stewart's an ex-railroad cop who became a pariah by letting a prisoner--Audie Murphy's "The Utica Kid"--escape. The two cross paths again in a ghost town where Dan Duryea, doing a zany version of his loony outlaw from Winchester '73, has holed up with his gang. Replacement director James Neilson, a newcomer destined for bland Disney servitude, fosters a lot of flatfooted standing-around. --Richard T. Jameson

The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin

Boston proper meets the Wild West as Roddy McDowall, Suzanne Pleshette, and Karl Malden star in a fish-out-of-water comedy for everyone! To restore his family's lost wealth, a young Boston lad stows away on a ship bound for the California Gold Rush. When their very proper butler gives chase, all roads lead to nonstop adventure, wild and woolly characters, and a lucky punch that leads to a bonanza of belly laughs! You'll discover a fortune of family fun in this classic Disney film -- perfect for your collection.