Rating: 
Summary: The Magic of The Carpenters Lives On
Review: The magic of The Carpenters lives on in this new DVD format. The ultra-crisp sound and immages are enhanced by this new digital format - Karen Carpenter never sounded or looked better! The amount of information the DVD holds allows for a VERY large amount of bonus material, giving the viewer/listener and even greater study on the magic that was the Carpeneters - one of the most popular and influential artists of the 1970's... and beyond.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Just For Hard-Core Fans
Review: This documentary is an amazing step back into an innocent period of music in 1970's America. Told through various interviews and snippets of some of their greatest songs, one truly gets a feeling for who Karen and Richard Carpenter really were. The hair and the clothing styles are shockingly laughable (but what were you wearing then?) and the wholesomeness is just too much. However, the film is quick to point out that these visuals were a product of bad marketing on A&M's account and not on the Carpenters themselves. Actually Karen was a true hip fun spirit who's first love was the drums with singing coming later - and what a voice it was!Starting with Richard's early 60's bands, the film goes on to explain how Karen got into the picture and turned the group into the biggest selling American group of the period. Over 100 million records were sold! Sure, there are those progressive scenes where Karen gets thinner and thinner and it can be tough to watch, but the whole idea is to understand that Karen Carpenter was the first celebrity to put a face on anorexia. It was a terrible lesson and the documentary leaves you wondering what incredible things would have been had she survived it all. Richard Carpenter is shown to be a worthy and talented arranger, but his pomposity can be grating, leaving the viewer wishing for more of Karen, but alas, there are no vocal interviews with her here. A moving film filled with great anecdotes, history and music; you'll enjoy it. Extras include several Japanese pop-commericals and a great segment on the Carpenters visiting the Nixon White House and performing there. That alone is worth the price!
Rating:
Summary: Not Just For Hard-Core Fans
Review: This documentary is an amazing step back into an innocent period of music in 1970's America. Told through various interviews and snippets of some of their greatest songs, one truly gets a feeling for who Karen and Richard Carpenter really were. The hair and the clothing styles are shockingly laughable (but what were you wearing then?) and the wholesomeness is just too much. However, the film is quick to point out that these visuals were a product of bad marketing on A&M's account and not on the Carpenters themselves. Actually Karen was a true hip fun spirit who's first love was the drums with singing coming later - and what a voice it was! Starting with Richard's early 60's bands, the film goes on to explain how Karen got into the picture and turned the group into the biggest selling American group of the period. Over 100 million records were sold! Sure, there are those progressive scenes where Karen gets thinner and thinner and it can be tough to watch, but the whole idea is to understand that Karen Carpenter was the first celebrity to put a face on anorexia. It was a terrible lesson and the documentary leaves you wondering what incredible things would have been had she survived it all. Richard Carpenter is shown to be a worthy and talented arranger, but his pomposity can be grating, leaving the viewer wishing for more of Karen, but alas, there are no vocal interviews with her here. A moving film filled with great anecdotes, history and music; you'll enjoy it. Extras include several Japanese pop-commericals and a great segment on the Carpenters visiting the Nixon White House and performing there. That alone is worth the price!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Documentary
Review: This DVD has a lot of goodies, including footage of a 1973 Concert at the White House. I love the potato chip and soda commericals. Great interviews with Richard Carpenter, Paul Williams and other band members. A must for all Carpenter Fans
Rating:
Summary: Lean About The Carpenters
Review: This Is A Good video, If you Want to Learn About The Carpenters.If You have People That Say "Who Are The Carpenters" Show Them This Video, Thay will Thank you For It. Enjoy
Rating:
Summary: A great momento for Carpenters' fans
Review: This is a great video for those who want to know the musical history of the Carpenters. I do not agree with Amazon.com's review of the video in reporting it is terribly biased and gives no glimpse into the life of Karen Carpenter. We are continually surrounded by biographies and musicographies in where we are forced to decide whether or not what we are seeing and hearing is fact or fiction. There are different opinions. The beauty of this Carpenters' video is that you receive the history from the one who lived through it. What better source is there? In this video we also get glimpses by band members and professional esquire to support Richard Carpenter's history account. From what I know about the Carpenter family, this video was never intended to go into the personal lives of the Carpenters. It was intended to give a musical history of a duo who had an enormous impact on society and touched the lives of millions. One thing we need to keep in mind. Karen Carpenter was, to put it bluntly, a pioneer in the field study of anorexia. Richard Carpenter basically admits in this video that he and his family did not know what they were dealing with. Anorexia provided little research at the time Karen Carpenter was treated, which, by the way, led to her death. I might also add that Karen Carpenter was never bulimic. She abused her body with self starvation, dieuretics and laxatives, never binging and purging. Yes, she was troubled, as seems to be the stage for most superstars, but this video was developed to give the viewer (most of the new generation does not even know who the Carpenters were) a quick, yet complete, account of two siblings whose music made an impact in the 70's and still holds memories in lives today. For an account of Karen Carpenter's struggle with anorexia, I suggest a made for tv movie released in 1985, simply titled, "The Karen Carpenter Story." In the meantime, I wholeheartedly recommend this video, Remembering the Carpenters, to anyone who wants to know more, musically, about the Carpenters.
Rating:
Summary: An almost-perfect Carpenters video
Review: This is a must-have for Carpenters fans (what isn't?). It's an actual video about The Carpenters in their heyday rather than a morbid retelling of the tragedy at the end. It doesn't go into the dark details of Karen's demise, and it makes even the already-enlightened realize that Richard is very likely a musical genius, not just "the piano player with the Carpenters". But face it, you want to hear and see Karen sing, and it's a little short on that. It's worth having just for the two bonus tracks, "Ave Maria" and "Hideway", and for the commercials. It would have been better, though, if it included more full songs and not just samples, especially on live takes.
Rating:
Summary: More than 1 Version of this DVD exists.
Review: This is an excellent documentary on the Carpenters, and it gives a great deal of information on them from the the time they were born, in New Haven, Conn., up until Karen Carpenter's death in Downey, Calif., on Feb. 4, 1983. It is mostly, however, Richard Carpenter, and close friends, discussing the Carpenters, with a lot of brief cuts of songs included. Almost no song is played from start to finish. It says almost nothing on Karen Carpenter's stuggles with anorexia nervosa, and for that the viewer will want look at documentarties from "A & E", "E", and "VH-1" on the Carpenters. The VHS tape offered a lot of extra that the PBS airing, in Dec. 1997, did not. The DVD offers a great deal of extras that the VHS tape did not. Yet for people who buy the all-region DVD from overseas, be aware, that it does not include the extras the U.S. DVD does. The overseas DVD only includes the Photo Gallery. It does NOT include the Discography, the Previously unreleased TV and Radio Jingles, nor the Carpenters at the White House. This may not mean anything to people in the U.S., but, people overseas might wonder what ever happened to all the extras promised? I do recommend this DVD, and I hope if there's another Carpenters DVD release--it will be the "Carpenters Live in Concert". I also hope it will be sold in the U.S., and not just Japan, such as the outstanding "As Time Goes By" CD was.
Rating:
Summary: A detailed history of The Carpenters career.
Review: This very interesting DVD on The Carpenters goes into great detail,telling us their history-the struggles before success,including previous groups that they were in like Spectrum and the struggle for success with complete rejection by record companies.It details their first garage recording with a small record company which went under.The first TV performance when they were unknown,the first single success,how Richard found songs to record,the constant touring with its ups and downs,the Grammy awards,the problems with Karen's anorexia nervosa and her eventual death.It has interviews with Richard Carpenter,Herb Alpert(and how he discovered them),Burt Bacharach,Petula Clark,Les Paul,Paul Williams and members of Richards band.It has numerous songs(although not the whole versions, except for a few but the excerpts of songs are long)The DVD has loads of extras-the White House concert showing them live doing whole songs,Ava Maria(outstanding vocal performance),a lovely Christmas song,ads,record lists.All in all,an outstanding DVD.I hope that they bring out another one of them live in concert one day or maybe put their TV specials on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: If you love the Carpenters, you'll love this video!
Review: This video chronicles the lives of Karen and Richard Carpenter, from their rise to fame, through their hard times, and through the music that made the Carpenters so great! Interviews with close friends, band members, record producers, and with Richard Carpenter himself makes this video a great buy. If you're like me and love the Carpenters, get this video and you'll be glad you did! :)
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