Product Details

• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: August 11, 1993
• Run Time: 73 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6302296528
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,984 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The fifth volume in the Amazing Stories collection on video begins with "The Pumpkin Competition," a comic tall tale anchored by actress Polly Holliday in one of her inimitable performances as a colorful crank. Holliday stars as a rural miser who consistently loses the annual "biggest pumpkin" contest to the saintly June Lockhart, in a tiny town where growing big pumpkins matters. Approached by an enigmatic scientist selling a miracle growth formula, the determined lady spends the next 12 months raising a pumpkin the size of a shed--then finds that the answer to her prayers brings a whole new set of problems. A delight, and one of the few lighthearted shows in the series.

Next is "Without Diana," starring character actor Billy Green Bush as a returning World War II veteran whose young daughter, Diana, feels alienated from him after his prolonged absence. After rebuffing his warm overtures, Diana disappears in a forest and is presumed dead. The story (by Steven Spielberg, creator of the series) then jumps ahead several decades, where we find the now-doddering dad and his wife preparing for the latter's passing and still pining for their lost little girl--who makes a surprise appearance at a crucial moment. This sentimental ghost story gets a boost of pure drama from director Lesli Linka Glatter.

Finally, the goofy "Fine Tuning" closes things out with a story about three school kids, all guys, who invent a radio telescope that picks up signals from other planets. Instead of hearing greetings from our extraterrestrial neighbors, however, the boys find evidence that a distant world is enamored of our old reruns of I Love Lucy and Milton Berle's comedy shows. Clever and funny, "Fine Tuning" is directed by actor Bob Balaban and graced with an appearance by the real Uncle Miltie. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars One story of three is good, the othes are average on this VHS Book Five, December 15, 2007

By 

Daniel Lieberson "Gringo in Santiago, Chile" (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amazing Stories - Book Five [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Not some of the best episodes are on this VHS. It is becoming very rare and hard to find becuae the DVD series came out. One of the three stories is any good. The bonus to buying this VHS tape is that it has two stories which are not on the DVD or any other tape at this time.

I would recomend that you buy the VHS volume 1 OR the DVD series which is WELL worth the money for the amount of stories you get and the quality. This VHS book 5 is not very good comapred to the rest of the series.
-Daniel