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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
