For Better or For Worse: The Bestest Present (1986)

AN ANIMATED CHRISTMAS TELEVISION SPECIAL

This animated Christmas special, For Better or For Worse: The Bestest Present, was created based on Lynn Johnston's popular comic strip, For Better or For Worse. It was produced for Canadian television in December, 1986, and follows the Patterson family as they get ready for the holidays. Of course there are lots of funny moments and a touching finale, which combine to make a lovely film with some voices supplied by Johnston's own children.

This is a very popular Christmas television special that is not widely available on DVD. However, sometimes the videotape is available new and used through various sellers at Amazon and eBay although the rarity and popularity of this item dictates the price especially if someone finds a new copy.  You can find your copy of The Bestest Present on Amazon by clicking here and on eBay here.

See you
at the movies!

Brenda

More Rare Films:


The Great American Cowboy (1973) Documentary Film
Doctor Who The End of the Universe Boxed Set
Snow White Live at Radio City Music Hall

Doctor Who The End of the Universe VHS Boxed Set

Doctor Who The End of the Universe Collection is a VHS video set that continues to be sought after. It contains eleven tapes with 56 episodes of the cult favorite television program. A brand new set fetched over $200 recently on eBay.

The BBC started the Doctor Who series on November 23, 1963. As you know, they continue to make programs and the fan base is strong. This videotape set was issued in celebration of the Doctor’s 40th anniversary and, at that time, was the biggest collection of Doctor Who programs available. These eleven tapes include four Doctors, 19 of his companions and 56 episodes of the show.

When I checked this morning, the set was more affordable on eBay than Amazon, where I can see that one is listed for just over $200 plus $12 of shipping and one sold for that about that price recently. You can check eBay to see if there are any Doctor Who End of the Universe Collections by clicking here.  There is a set listed on Amazon right now but it is listed at just under $300. You can check for yourself to see if Amazon has it listed right now by clicking here.

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

More Doctor Who:

Doctor Who Disappearing Tardis Coffee Mug.

Snow White Live at Radio City Music Hall

Disney's Snow White Live at Radio City Music Hall is a hoot to watch. It features a Broadway-style presentation of Snow White that appeared at Radio City Music Hall in 1979. It starred Mary-Jo Salerno as Snow White, Anne Francine as The Evil Queen and Richard Bowne as Prince Charming.

A total of 38 performances were held in 1979, the production closed and then another 68 performances were presented in 1980. In that same year, the show was aired on television and it was aired again in 1987 on the Disney Channel.

Unfortunately, Snow White Live at Radio City Music Hall is also a rare and sought after VHS videotape.  I see a DVD is sometimes available on eBay but I am not sure if it is a legitimate Disney release.

You can click here to find Snow White Live at Radio City Music Hall on Amazon and here to check it out on eBay.

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

More Snow White Reading:

Meet Snow White's Seven Dwarfs.

Don't Forget Videotapes...

In the story Never Forget: The Humble, Indispensable VHS in the Austin Chronicle on January 16, 2009,  Alamo Drafthouse programmers Lars Nilsen and Zack Carlson talk about the rise of Netflix and their enduring love for old-fashioned videotape.

They start by discussing their first experiences with VHS, which might sound like a story from your past if, that is, you remember videotapes at all. One of those stories tells of a Grandfather who was on the cutting edge and who brought home a huge VCR that cost $2,000 in 1981 and of course, some family-safe movies.

My first memory of a VCR at all comes from the time I started dating my husband. He had purchased a BETA VCR, much to the chagrin of his family.

Remember that before VHS, you could not watch movies at home unless they were being shown on television. Buying a VCR in the early 1980s was a truly new and exciting experience. Movies came in as Zack said, "huge, white clamshell cases that opened with a suction-y pop and within that case was this black rectangle that held wonders."

When the story was written in the Austin Chronicle in 2009, only about 25 percent of movies made before VHS had been released on VHS and when I originally wrote this article, just 50 percent of the movies issued on VHS had been made available on DVD. That means that a large number of movies are simply gone.

People are collecting videotapes the way people collected records in the past.  Not because they are better but because they have a different selection. They are looking for a title that has not made the transition to current formats.

The Austin Chronicle article closes with the tale of customer looking for a movie they saw when they were 12 but being disgusted at only finding it available on VHS. How would you handle that situation? If you are a big movie fan and watch older films as well as newer ones, this might have happened to you. If a videotape is the only way you can watch a movie you love, would you buy the tape?

If you love or loved VHS, check out this collection of VHS-themed lapel buttons or pins from Big Mean Punk on Etsy by clicking here.

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Never Forget: The Humble, Indispensable VHS

How To Look After Your Videotapes

To help your VHS tapes last as long as possible, the experts recommend the following:

• Store tapes between 60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and 40 to 60 percent humidity. If you are comfortable, probably your tapes are.
• Avoid sudden temperature changes, even within these recommended zones. Neither cold damp basements nor hot dusty attics are good choices for storing your tapes.
• Be especially careful of condensation - allow at least 24 hours before using when you change the temperature or humidity of your tape.
• Keep the tapes evenly wound and always rewind them fully. If the tape looks uneven, wind it again. If possible, rewind at slower speeds.
• Store tapes upright as you would books and keep them in their original cases. You can buy plastic cases to store them in but even the cardboard cases do a good job of keeping the dust away.
• Put the labels on correctly, where they belong and do not add labels on top of labels. They can interfere with cassette loading and possibly come off inside your VCR.
• Exercise your tapes once every three years by rewinding or forwarding them.
• Avoid magnetic fields - the area around any magnet. Your tapes can be erased so do not store them near speakers, motors, toys or other magnetic sources.
• Transfer your footage every seven years. That helps prevent the images and sounds from fading away.

Are you building your VHS tape collection or looking to protect an existing collection?

Some movies are not available on DVD and they may never be. Would you buy a VHS movie that is not available on DVD for your movie or film collection?

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

More Reading:

A Collector’s Guide to VHS Videotapes. 
Orson Welles' Ghost Story (1951) 
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

A Collector's Guide to VHS Videotapes

A Collector's Guide to Rare VHS Tapes Including the History, Care and Building of Your Collection

What follows is the first in a series of posts and a discussion of rare, out-of-print VHS tapes, from the history to the current status of the videocassette, from how to care for and preserve your video tapes to help collecting old, hard-to-find VHS movies.

These posts were originally written and posted by myself on another website in 2008 and I am moving them here so that you can continue to access the information though I will be breaking what was one popular longer post into a series of shorter ones.

The Video Home System (VHS) was born in 1976. By the 1990s, it was the standard format to record on. However, DVDs came into the market in 1997 and in 2003 they started outselling VHS tapes. By 2006, most studios had stopped releasing new movies on the VHS format.

When I revisited my page in 2014, VHS tapes were still not totally dead. At that point, there were people who had not upgraded to DVD although that number was rapidly shrinking. There were a number of collectors who wanted titles that had not been released on DVD or newer formats and were willing to buy a film on VHS in order to be able to access it.

In 2016, I doubt that there are many who have not upgraded to DVD but I know that there are still collectors who seek titles that have not been reproduced in current formats.  There is concern that some of those titles may never be re-released and collectors intentionally or unintentionally are preserving those titles in their collections by buying hard-to-find VHS copies of those films.

Do you still own a VCR? Are you searching for a special film that is only available on VHS?  I would love to hear from you! In any case, be sure to subscribe to my blog by using the subscription box on the right side of this page.

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

More Reading:

The Peanut Butter Solution.
Crazy from the Heart (1991)
The Cheaters (1945) Christmas movie.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This page originally written in 2008 and posted on another website.

Disney's Halloween Treat (1982)

Disney's Halloween Treat is a compilation of Walt Disney shorts that includes clips from The Skeleton Dance, The Sword in the Stone, Fantasia, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Donald Duck and the Gorilla, Pluto's Judgement Day and the Haunted Mansion ride.  It is a 47-minute film that first aired on The Wonderful World of Disney in 1982 and continued to do so until the middle of the 1990s. Narration was provided by a jack o'lantern puppet that also gave an educational talk about Halloween safety.

Disney released this film on VHS in 1984 but it has not been released on DVD, which means that the copies that are available are on VHS and are expensive. If you would like to own a copy and you still have the capability to view it on videotape, you can check for a copy on  on eBay by clicking right here. Be warned though, this is a rarely found VHS tape and the few copies that are available tend to sell. Today, I see just one for sale and five sold at prices from $50 to $180.

Have you seen Disney's Halloween Treat? Did you like it?

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

More Reading:

Orson Welles' Ghost Story (1951)

Disney's Under Wraps Movie Review (1997)

Not Too Scary Movies for Tweens

The Great American Cowboy (1973) Documentary Film

THE GREAT AMERICAN COWBOY TAGLINE: 

"The exciting true story of a vanishing American and his special kind of freedom."

The Great American Cowboy is a 1973 documentary film narrated by  Joel Mc Crea, a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame. It looks inside the rodeo with then modern day cowboys telling the story of rivals Larry Mahan and Phil Lyne as they compete for the National Finals Rodeo Championship title.   It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (1974).

The film is shown here in Walt Disney packaging though I did read that Disney acquired the rights to the film rather than actually making it.  One original movie poster that I saw reads "A Rainbow Adventure Films release" while IMDB says that the production companies are American National Enterprises and Merrill-Rodeo Film Productions.

If you are searching for a copy of this film on DVD or VHS, you can try the Amazon listings here and you can try eBay here but be warned, this appears to be another one of those films that has not made the transition from VHS to DVD. Good luck with your search and be sure to report back and let us know if and when this movie becomes widely available.

Have you seen The Great American Cowboy? Is it a documentary film that you have been wanting to see or is this the first time you have heard of it?

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

More Rare Films:

Orson Welles' Ghost Story (1951)
The Cheaters (1945)
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The Cheaters (1945) Christmas Movie

THE CHEATERS TAGLINE 

"Delightful derelict! He's a Rogue...A King...Devil...Pauper...A Millionaire...WHO?" 

For the longest while, The Cheaters was a hard movie to find even on VHS videotape. To the relief of many, it was eventually released on DVD. However, I was not paying attention and it appears that even the DVD is hard to find now. I missed my opportunity. Did you?

The Cheaters is a 1945 movie directed by Joseph Kane that stars Joseph Schildkraut, Billie Burke and Eugene Pallette.

The story line is that of a rich family getting ready for Christmas and their decision to help a starving actor by feeding and sheltering him for the holidays. Wikipedia calls it a screwball comedy and the story line would indicate that it could be exactly that.

Leonard Maltin once said that this film features an "Excellent cast in an enjoyable tale of a wealthy family of snobs humanized by the downtrodden actor they invite for Christmas dinner."

Some consider it  a beloved Christmas film. Apparently, before A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas and a Christmas Story, this film was one that was shown regularly during the holidays.

The reading I have done indicates that it is probably a dark Christmas movie.  One of the lucky to snatch up a DVD copy and watch it in the last decade called it one of the "finest holiday films he's ever seen." That's a pretty strong recommendation, which makes me want to see this film even more.

If you are searching for a copy of this movie on DVD or VHS, you can try the Amazon listings here and you can try eBay here. Good luck with your search and be sure to report back and let us know if and when this movie becomes widely available.

Have you seen The Cheaters? Is it a movie you have been wanting to see or is this the first time you have heard of it?

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Orson Welles' Ghost Story (1951)
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The Adventures of Galgameth Movie Review

The Adventures of Galgameth A Medieval Family Movie. A Young Prince, A Heroic Creature, A Magical Adventure.

The Adventures of Galgameth is a coming of age movie about a friendship between a boy and a dragon. Starring Devin Neil Oatway, Johna Stewart and Stephen Macht, it was the first movie directed by Sean McNamara who went on to become a successful producer of both movies and television shows.

The Adventures of Galgameth tells the story of a teenage prince who attempts to free his land from an evil knight who has taken over the kingdom. The knight is a bad ruler and the people live a poor life, which the knight claims is the wish of the prince.

When the prince uncovers the knight's deceit, the knight decides to eliminate the prince but the prince flees, taking his dad’s final words as a guide. The King had told of the statue of Galgameth and of a dragon who would serve the individual who cries upon it...

Fast Facts About The Legend of Galgameth

ACTORS: Devin Neil Oatway, Johna Stewart and Stephen Macht
WRITERS: Sang-ok Shin, Turi Meyer, Al Septien AND Michael Angeli
DIRECTOR: Sean McNamara
STUDIO: Vidmark / Trimark
ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: August 5, 1997
VHS RELEASE DATE: June 23, 1998
RUN TIME: 110 minutes
RATED: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

The Adventures of Galgameth is a family-friendly movie that appeals to children because of the medieval setting and because of the dragon. It was filmed in Romania.

Blogger Dizzy Izzy says, "The movie goes by quickly. It’s very cliché and predictable but for a child who hasn’t seen as many movies as I have, they would probably still enjoy it. The movie did a good job of not insulting the intelligence of the audience or talking down to the children."

Another viewer said, "This is a great movie for the whole family. I was hooked with in 5 minutes of watching it. I can watch it over and over again and so do my kids. This is a classic, a must buy, a great movie."

A seemingly low budget film, The Adventures of Galgameth never aired in movie theatres in North America but played on the Disney Channel. It is an entertaining movie for family viewing and, despite the fact that it was a low budget film, I found myself rooting for Galgameth and the prince. I know that my boys would have enjoyed it when they were young because of the medieval setting and, of course, because of the dragon.

Unfortunately, The Adventures of Galgameth has not been released in North America on DVD. If you have a region-free player, you will be able to purchase a DVD copy but, if you do not and you want to watch this movie, you will have to purchase a VHS videotape. You can check for The Adventures of Galgameth on Amazon by clicking here.

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

Quick Links:

A Collector's Guide to Videotapes.
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Please note this page was originally written and published in 2010 on another website.

The Peanut Butter Solution (1985) A Cult-Favorite Movie

Sometimes I stumble across a rare movie with a background that takes me by surprise. The Peanut Butter Solution is one of them.

As it turns out, this movie has a legion of followers...people who watched it in the 1980s and were scared and never totally able to forgot about it. However, many of them forgot the name of the movie and spent years telling their friends and family about a movie where this boy paints his bald head with peanut butter to see if his hair will grow back. They don't actually reconnect with the movie until they google "movie with boy who uses peanut butter to grow hair" or something along those lines.

Then they are surprised and delighted to find The Peanut Butter Solution and realize that they weren't making this crazy story up and that the movie actually does exist.

Unfortunately for those who remember this scary family comedy fondly, it is only available on VHS video tape. Yes, that's right no DVD and definitely no blu-ray versions are available.  If you want to own this movie, it will have to be on VHS videotape and a new one will probably be very expensive. You can find The Peanut Butter Solution on eBay here.

How about you? Have you ever heard of The Peanut Butter Solution?

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

Quick Links:

The Peanut Butter Solution Movie Review (1985)
Orson Welles' Ghost Story (1951)
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

The Holiday Treasure: A Thanksgiving Movie To Celebrate With

As you prepare for the American Thanksgiving holiday, you might enjoy watching a few Thanksgiving movies.  Once I excluded animated movies, I found that there were very few family friendly Thanksgiving movies so make sure you consider the rating of each of these films before you share them with your children.

My list includes movies like An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, which actually may be suitable for your family but which is not rated. It includes films like  Pieces of April which manages to be a moving movie despite its tough exterior and What's Cooking another look at the American family, thorns and all.

It goes on to include Hannah and Her Sisters, Home For The Holidays and the rare films The Holiday Treasure and Plymouth Adventure, both of which are only available on VHS videotape. 

Holiday Treasure [VHS]

If you are looking for a Thanksgiving movie to watch this holiday season, any of these would be a good choice. 

See you
at the movies!
Brenda

Welcome To Pooh Corner (1980s)

Do you remember the children's television series Welcome To Pooh Corner? We do and now that we've been reminded, we have that familiar song stuck in our heads again.

"Welcome to You, and how do you do?

Everybody's waiting here at Pooh Corner.

Waiting for you, and Winnie the Pooh,

To have a happy hoopty pooh time."

Welcome To Pooh Corner is a Winnie The Pooh television series that aired on The Disney Channel for three years, starting in 1983. That means my children (born in the 1990s) must have watched them in reruns or on videotape but watch they did.

They loved the kindly old gentlemen who opened and narrated each story and the animatronic puppet characters which managed to be expressive despite what now seem like awkward costumes.

Welcome To Pooh Corner, despite its popularity, has never been released on DVD.  As an eBay seller of rare VHS videotapes, I am aware that people love this series and I am aware that it commands fairly significant prices, especially for VHS tapes.  My experience though also shows that the tapes are indeed somewhat hard-to-find for I have never seen a set myself.

Fortunately, if you are after these rare videotapes, you can still buy them through online sellers either at Amazon by clicking here or on eBay by clicking here.  Frankly, because these shows are so old, I had better luck finding them on eBay.

Do you remember Welcome To Pooh Corner? Were you or was someone you know fans of this Winnie The Pooh television series? Do you happen to OWN these rare videotapes?

See you

at the movies!

Brenda

Quick Links:

See my selection of VHS videotapes on eBay.

The Videotape & Rare Movies

Did you know that there are many movies that did not make the transfer from VHS to DVD? I was surprised at the statistics. An article I read about a year ago from the Austin Chronicle said that a mere 25 percent of movies made before the advent of VHS were ever released on VHS and that only 50 percent of those movies that were released on VHS became available on DVD. That makes for a lot of lost film footage...

Some of the rare VHS movies that I know about were not blockbusters but they were important to many people. They include films like The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, which many children grew up with in the 1990s; Miss Rose White, a Hallmark movie about Polish refugees; and Disney's Adventures in Wonderland, yet another unique take on Alice in Wonderland.

Fortunately, some important films like Barbra Streisand's Yentl did finally, finally make it to DVD.

What movie would you like to see on DVD that hasn't already been transferred?

See you
at the Movies.
Brenda