FEATURES & DETAILS:
- Copyright: 1997
- Language: English
- Color
- MARC records, Catalog Card Kit and Single Main Entry Cards are available
- Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
- Features: Chapter Select, Interactive Menu, Elizabeth George Speare: Biography of the Author, Frontier Maine: Historical Background, Thoughts to be Shared with Family and Friends, Previews of Additional Questar Family Classic Films,
- Technical: Single Layer, Single Sided, Full Screen
- DVD Region: 1
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PRODUCT SUMMARY
Keith Carradine and Annette O'Toole star in this adaptation of the award-winning novel The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare. Seeking a new and promising life in the wilderness of 1786 Maine, a father reluctantly leaves his 13-year-old son to protect their claim until he can return with the rest of the family. As outside forces delay the father's return, the young boy is befriended by a tribe of Indians who teach him life's most important lessons about survival, trust, loyalty and hope. (Note: Formerly titled: Keeping the Promise)
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
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...Recommended."- Video Librarian (May/June 2003)FULL REVIEWS
Video Librarian (May 2003)
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"Based on the Newbery Honor novel The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare, this 1997 period piece set in colonial Massachusetts, circa 1768, centers on the luckless Hallowell family, whose plans to move to a new homestead in Maine are thwarted when a guide cannot be secured to transport Anne Hallowell (Annette O'Toole) and the younger children to join her husband Will (Keith Carradine) and older son Matt (Brendan Fletcher). Taking a gamble, Will leaves the 13-year-old boy in charge of the cabin and land, promising to return with the rest of the clan in six or seven weeks. Bravely, Matt (equipped with a rifle, a copy of Robinson Crusoe, and an heirloom pocket watch) busies himself with work and acquaintances, including Attean, a member of the Penobscot tribe who teaches him Native American culture and the lay of the land in exchange for learning to read the “white man’s words.” Meanwhile, the rest of the Hallowells struggle through scarlet fever and other obstacles that stretch Matt’s solitude from weeks into months. Sporting a beautiful DVD transfer, the disc also includes brief featurettes on Speare and frontier Maine, as well as four segments designed to initiate family discussion. Recommended.