FOUR SHORTS FOR KIDS!

Good things come in short packages, especially those bearing the stamp of Missouri-based Phoenix Films, for decades a producer/distributor of quality short films. This sampler, all adaptations of popular children's books, begins with three wonderfully cinematic (nearly dialogue-free) comedies by Susan Osborn and Gary Templeton: To Rimsky-Korsakov's “Scheherazade” theme, a piece of the Arabian Nights arrives via modern delivery in AMANDA AND THE MYSTERIOUS CARPET. In MOUSE AROUND an ever-hungry rodent goes where no vermin has gone before. FROG, WHERE ARE YOU? follows the odyssey of a commendably stoic amphibian from captivity to freedom – with a detour through pie crust and model airplane. Finally, Bruce R. Schwartz's MAKE A WISH, MOLLY depicts the multicultural dilemma of a Russian-Jewish schoolgirl whose first Passover in America conflicts with a friend's birthday party. Recommended for children ages six and up.- Charles Cassady