Customer Reviews

Truman Capote's a Christmas Memory [VHS]

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

"Whether baking a cake, prattling like two wise children or raiding a
pecan orchard, young Donnie Melvin and the remarkable Miss Page are
unforgettable. The authentic Southern setting looks so real that it
hurts, at least to one who raided a pecan orchard or two in his own
time. The color photography of the entire picture is muted and excellent."
-- from Howard Thompson's review of A Christmas Memory (in its
theatrical release) from the November 7th, 1969, New York Times.

It's a rare pleasure to watch this dramatization of a piece of great
American literature, and it has become a ritual in my home to watch
this movie with friends and family each year. Donnie Melvin and
Geraldine Page work so well together, they truly bring the story to life.
Hard to imagine, but the original short story was written while author
Truman Capote was vacationing in Hong Kong.

A Christmas Memory was filmed in direct collaboration with Mr. Capote,
and it won many awards, including a Peabody and three Emmys, after it
first aired on ABC Television's Stage67 series.

One problem: This VHS cassette is in black and white and thus offers a
diminished experience from what was created in the 1966 color original.
The story still shines through, but this small masterpiece deserves
better. A color copy of A Christmas Memory of equivalent quality to the
above can be found online elsewhere.

If you wish to someday see a restored version of this movie on DVD,
won't you please logon to The Criterion Collection site and submit a
title suggestion on their Ask Jon Mulvaney page? Maybe with enough
interest expressed to Criterion for a restoration, this dream of many
will one day come true.

I read the licensee comment. I was one who purchased a BW copy - terrible copy - from someone on e-bay. I had a color copy on VHS that I had copied from the FAMILY CHANNEL about 10 years ago. As I watched it I removed the advertisements. I have just recently made a copy on DVD. My copy is better than any copy I have seen and I don't understand why the licensee or ABC or who ever owns the rights can't get a color copy from the FAMILY CHANNEL ( which is no longer the FAMILY CHANNEL - Is it TBS now?) or some PBS channel which also use to show the film around Christmas time!Maybe ABC could restore it to its original form. My copy is excellent compared to others I have seen but certainly not a restored copy type version.

"A Christmas Memory" (ABC 1966) and the companion piece "The Thanksgiving Visitor" (ABC 1967) were films by Frank and Eleanor Perry. Geraldine Page won an Emmy for each production. The films were shot in Alabama in color and have rarely been seen since the original broadcasts.
This version is a very poor quality black and white kinescope . It does not include any special material such as Stage 67 title sequence or commercials, extras which sometime distinguish a kinescope. Excellent color prints were shown on the A&E cable network in 1993. See also "Truman Capote's Trilogy" (1969) for a slightly edited version of "A Christmas Memory" and the companion book by the Perrys (1969).

If you are desperate to own this program go ahead and purchase this grainy, poor quality black and white shoddy copy of the original PBS color production and at a whopping THIRTY TWO DOLLARS to boot.What a rip off.

Our family has watched Capote's excellent color film "A Christmas Memory," originally taped from a TV, for years. This "new" VHS version is a black and white, low-quality, grainy version that no one who has seen the original would want to buy. Having dealt with Amazon for years, I am shocked that they would offer such a shoddy, overpriced product for sale!

It's a shame such a fine story is presented for resale in such poor quality black and white. This was broadcast in COLOR and I would have assumed it would have been copied in color. Unless Mad Phat can re-issue in color they should withdraw it from their offerings.

This is such a wonderful story, and a quiet tale about love and giving. I can not recommend it enough. It is a low budget, black & white film produced by the then fledgling network ABC, but this does not detract from the wonderful performance by, especially Geraldine Page, as well as the rest of the troupe of actors. In fact, I think the whole thing could have been done on a blank stage without distraction because of the depth of the Truman's story, his presentation of the little things of that period in his life and of the gifted performers. Let me also recommend A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor (Modern Library), also available here. Both the book (which is a family tradition to read out loud as a group, each of us reading a page or two to the rest) and this film start our holidays, which in a loving way, sets the tone for the season.

I've never been so disappointed in Amazon. Not only is this color program in black and white, but it is shoddily dubbed with an ugly black line down the right side of the screen throughout the entire DVD. And who in the world is Mad Phat Emterprises? I blame myself for buying this piece of trash without reading the reviews, but I blame Amazon more for selling it.

This is the Original 1966 Version with GERALDINE PAGE, DONNIE MELVIN. Narrated by TRUMAN CAPOTE and directed by Frank Perry.. We are the sole licensed publisher for this film. We sell it wholesale to Amazon. I don't know why they allow people other than the publisher to modify the product details - It gets very confusing when someone adds wrong information!!! See our studo notes above

I received a copy of this videotape as a gift last Christmas and found it to be of such poor quality as to be unwatchable. A few years ago the A&E network aired the film, and it was definitely shot in color - NOT colorized later on, as the tape manufacturer claims. See the info on imdb.com (under the listing "Trilogy") for confirmation of this. The video is a shoddy product that shouldn't be on the market. Let the buyer beware.