Easter- DVDs, VHS, Videos
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The thirteenth installment in the evergreen Charlie Brown animated series, It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, is a delightful romp through the rites of spring. The running gag that holds this string of episodic misadventures together is Peppermint Patty's futile attempts at explaining how to make Easter eggs to Marcy. Highlights of this rather surreal Peanuts outing include Snoopy's dancing with little bunny rabbits inside a kaleidoscope, Sally heading to the mall to purchase a pair of platform shoes (this video was made in 1974), and Woodstock's lavishly equipped bachelor-pad birdhouse. As with the best of the Peanuts cartoons, this will entertain children and adults alike, and is one of the last of the series to feature a music score by Vince Guaraldi. --Kristian St. Clair
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The life of Christ got an excessively long treatment (260 minutes, later trimmed to 195) in this 1965 film directed by George Stevens (The Diary of Anne Frank). Max von Sydow does beautiful work as Jesus--his spontaneous mourning at discovering his friend Lazarus has died is not like anything in other New Testament epics--and Stevens renders the familiar tale with a handsome authenticity. But the project is nearly undone by an unwise gimmick in which seemingly half of Hollywood's living stars at the time make brief (often very brief) cameo appearances, some of which are ridiculous. But there is a lot to like in the film, and Von Sydow's sensitive nobility sticks in the memory. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
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Peter Cottontail strives for the most prestigious title of all the bunnies in the land, Chief Easter Bunny. Everyone is April Valley agrees that Peter is the right rabbit for the job, except for pesky Irontail who himself is pining for this high-ranking honor. Irontail, however, wants it for all the wrong reasons. He's still angry over an accident involving his once fluffy tail, being pinned under a roller-skate by an unsuspecting child and believes that as Chief Easter Bunny, he could get the payback he so desires. A contest is set to see who can deliver the most Easter eggs and win the title of Chief Easter Bunny. Peter, being his usual boastful self, is positive he will win, wand is shocked the next day when he wakes up after the contest has ended! He slept right through and Irontail, although he had trouble giving those eggs away, wins the contest and begins his chiefly duties. Thing don't look good when in the first moments under his domain; Irontail rules such things as mud-colored Easter eggs and a bonnet ban! Peter realized the tragedy at hand and sets out to make it right.
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First, "The Bible," another one of those very underrated epics of the mid-60's. Dino de Laurentiis and John Huston went against the Hollywood grain of rich spectacle and created a minimalist design for the first 22 chapters of Genesis. As with most films that are based strictly on the Bible accounts, the story obviously has no surprises, therefore any suspense is always missing. But the unique, spare, simple design, beautiful photography and excellent music score by Toshiro Mayuzumi place this film in a different category than most biblical epics. The audacity to make such a film is something that is rarely seen in today's moviemaking.
Second, "The Robe," the first film in CinemaScope. As being the first film in CinemaScope, the first single camera widescreen process, it already stakes a claim in film history. But the film is much better than an exploitation of a technical process. Based on the novel by Lloyd Douglas, its' centerpiece is the Oscar-nominated bravura performance by Richard Burton. He single-handedly raises the film out of its tendency to become too cloying at times and turns it into the intense psychological drama it really is. He is very ably assisted by Victor Mature, another under-rated excellent actor, as his slave, Demetrius. And of course, you have the incredibly famous, over-the-top, but oddly fitting, performance by Jay Robinson as the deranged emperor. This film does have one of those magic moments in motion pictures which raises goosebumps, when everything comes together perfectly in an incredible combination of story, performance, art direction and photography. It is at times like these when you become aware of the power of motion pictures.
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Have you ever wished for a classic Easter special to show your kids? Here Comes Peter Cottontail is a Rankin & Bass production that bears a marked similarity to the beloved Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Narrator Seymour S. Sassafrass, voiced and sung by Danny Kaye, takes young viewers on a tour of the mythical April Valley and relates the story of how Peter Cottontail almost failed in his quest to become Chief Easter Bunny. Sassafrass peers into his magic egg, and viewers are introduced to Peter Cottontail--a spunky, ingenious young rabbit who is boastful, is prone to fibbing, and lacks a sense of responsibility. In order to become Chief Easter Bunny, Peter Cottontail must defeat the evil Irontail in a contest to deliver the most eggs on Easter Sunday. Through his trials, Peter Cottontail discovers the value of ingenuity, the importance of placing duty before pleasure, and the folly of self-conceit.
Here Comes Peter Cottontail features catchy songs, great 1970s stop-motion animation, and a fun Easter tale. Parents will find themselves reminiscing over holidays gone by or wondering how they missed this show in their own childhood. The 2 and up crowd will be begging for another showing long after the Easter candy is a distant memory. --Tami Horiuchi
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Experience the beautiful melodies of some of the greatest composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in this concert program of Orthodox Chants, reflecting the distinctive, traditional art of Russian choral singing. Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime presentation, which brings the original works of composing geniuses to life in one of Eastern Europe's most beautiful churches. 45 Minutes.
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Legendary silent film director Cecil B. DeMille didn't much alter the way he made movies after sound came in, and this 1956 biblical drama is proof of that. While graced with such 1950s niceties as VistaVision and Technicolor, The Ten Commandments (DeMille had already filmed an earlier version in 1923) has an anachronistic, impassioned style that finds lead actors Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner expressively posing while hundreds of extras writhe either in the presence of God's power or from orgiastic heat. DeMille, as always, plays both sides of the fence as far as sin goes, surrounding Heston's Moses with worshipful music and heavenly special effects while also making the sexy action around the cult of the Golden Calf look like fun. You have to see The Ten Commandments to understand its peculiar resonance as an old-new movie, complete with several still-impressive effects such as the parting of the Red Sea.
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