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Peter Pan

Peter Pan

List Price: $9.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: New Older dad whose kids don't know why PP makes him cry!
Review: My mother-in-law bought me this movie in VHS format for father's dad a few years ago. Little did she know what a wonderful gift it was! It meant a tremendous amount for this older dad to cuddle up on the couch and watch PP with his wife and two young boys. The kids didn't understand why I held them so tightly or why I broke out into tears so many times (especially from hearing Never Grow Up and Neverland), perhaps from recollections of watching the original broadcast in B&W with my parents, or hoping that we will not grow any older and our kids will remain young forever, or perhaps because our world has been changed so dramatically?

Peter Pan also instilled a dream in me as a child: a dream to "fly." Thanks to NASA, I had my dream granted and was able to "fly" on their famous "vomit comet" zero-gravity jet. Thus, I became one of Peter's children for a day in my life. My boys are very proud that their dad go to fly like Peter and the kids.

God bless everyone involved in making this version of Peter Pan available to us in both VHS and now DVD format, and thanks to Amazon.com for giving us this forum to express ourselves. Both are helping to keep my childhood dreams alive and to stimulate new ones in our kids.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Michael was the best
Review: Originally this was the very first made-for-TV special in "LIVING COLOR". These days it looks somewhat dated, but it is a sure hit for the little kiddies. Check out Luke Halpin (later of "Flipper" fame) as one of the lost boys. But the finest performance of all is no doubt turned in by Kent Fletcher as "Michael". He steals the show!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Childhood Memories
Review: The Mary Martin version of Peter Pan will always be my link to the past when it comes to musical theatre. I grew up watching these characters, dancing along to the Indian dance, and memorizing nearly every line.
Mary Martin's portreyal of Peter lacks the aura the author wrote into his first stage play "Peter Pan" (later adapted by him into the book "Peter and Wendy"), which was a reckless, and forever young child. However, Martin's acting prowess soon helps us ignore that fact.
It should be noted that though it was taped live for NBC, there is no audience present. There are also several differences from the recently broadcast A&E version. Martin's version contains the hillarious "Mysterious Lady" sequence, while Cathy Rigby's production treats the rescue of Tiger Lily as it happened on Marooner's Rock (as written in the book).
These two versions (assuming you have seen them both) are different enough to not be compared directly. Each of them have their own pros and cons,and both are very enjoyable.
This DVD is a must own for all who, like I did, grew up watching Mary Martin fly around the stage in the colorful world of NBC's timeless broadcast of "Peter Pan."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Peter Pan in Living Color .. in Brooklyn!
Review: This DVD is copied from the 1960 NBC-TV version of the Mary Martin Broadway musical. It was done on live TV [videotape was still experimental] each year from 1955 on. There's a black-and-white kinescope version of the 1955 telecast "broadcast in compatible color and black-and-white" in the NBC news archives. The 1955 telecast is considered to be the first adaptation of a Broadway musical to be broadcast live, and in color.

In 1960, the folks at NBC decided to put the classic to videotape, and assembled the cast at NBC's studios in Brooklyn .. the only NBC studio outside of Burbank that had sufficient ceiling height so stagehands could do the intricate wire technique that Martin and her fellow actors used to fly through the sets.

Think about this "Peter Pan" as a period piece; a slice of television's past that is fortunately well-preserved. With its grand, over-saturated RCA color ... the Broadway staging ... with choreography by the famed Jerome Robbins ... and its mono soundtrack. Not to mention the non-politically-correct Indians .. and a superb Cyril Ritchard Captain Hook.

Color TV was only about 7 years old as a mass medium when this production was captured on tape. Color videotape was only 3 years old. The original tape was 2" in width, and the original tape container weighed close to 15 pounds! The cameras weighed upwards of 300 pounds, and were connected by cables as big as a large man's wrist. There were no zoom lenses. You can see some of the camera shakes in many of the dolly and tracking shots.

The tape was shown yearly around Christmas time by NBC throughout the 1960s and '70s. Then some problems ensued between the charity in Britain that holds the rights to the J.M. Barrie original, and NBC. In the late 1980's the late NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff was able to clear up the rights problems, get the tape transferred and restored to modern standards. Could use a further cleaning-up using the newest restoration technology.

Enjoy, have a good, safe laugh ... and just remember you're looking at history!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow!
Review: This movie is definetly a classic, and even more for me, a childhood memory that i could never let go of. This was my favorite movie and continues to be. I encourage you to purchase it!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow!
Review: This movie is definetly a classic, and even more for me, a childhood memory that i could never let go of. This was my favorite movie and continues to be. I encourage you to purchase it!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Story and music the children love.
Review: This Peter Pan is done with style and action which keeps the attention of adults and children. This is the way movies should be made... fun and exciting for all. Forget the Disney version. This video is by far much better!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Peter Pan
Review: This was the best movie. I was in the play at the Firehouse Center in Newburyport. THANK YOU FOR THIS WEBSITE

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A must-see for children of all ages
Review: Warm, poignant, and still sufficiently sophisticated for adult viewers, this Peter Pan is the one to have. Mary Martin is at her peak, and Sir Cyril Ritchard is a delight as Hook. You know the songs even if you've never seen this stage production. Although clearly a 1950s Broadway musical in look and feel (it was filmed "live"), this Peter Pan is as ageless as Peter Pan himself.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Vintage TV at its best.
Review: What 'Peter Pan' is, more than anything else, is a time capsule of a long-gone era of vintage television. If parts of the Mary Martin production look a bit outdated, that's because this DVD is a re-mastering of a 40+ year-old videotape, and color videotape was fairly new in 1960 (it was only in its 3rd year, following pioneering specials with both Dinah Shore and Fred Astaire). The other reason for its static look is that the production was recorded *live,* without stopping for better or additional takes; what they saw in 1960 is what you got. This is the same way it was presented in 1955 and 1956 when it was a one-time live broadcast. And while the DVD includes the NBC title cards, it does not, sadly, include the logo of the animated NBC peacock. I understand the 1956 production is recorded on kinescope, but more than likely you have to view that one through the MT&R headquarters in New York. Nevertheless, it's a lot of fun!!


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