Parents’ Choice Publishes Guide to Videocassettes for Children

The “Parents’ Choice Guide to Videocassettes for Children” has just been published by Consumer Reports Books. Put together by Diana Huss Green, editor of Parents’ Choice magazine, and several other authors, the $13.95 guide reviews more than 300 videos of special interest to kids.

The movie “Scandal,” which started a small scandal of its own over a sex scene edited out to qualify the British sex-and-politics film for an R rating earlier this year, will be released in both the R-rated and the original, uncut versions by HBO Video on Oct. 25.

Animal lovers (lovers of animated animals, anyway) and animal haters get equal time on Oct. 12, when Touchstone Home Video releases “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and Paramount Home Video releases “Pet Semetary.”

THIS WEEK’S MOVIES

“The Wizard of Oz” is being re-released by MGM/UA in a “50th Anniversary” edition this week. The price is $24.98, but a fabric-softener company is offering $5 rebate coupons (as well as a commercial at the start of the tape) that will bring the price down to $19.98.

The new videocassette version of the beloved 1939 film also includes approximately 17 minutes of appended material. Among the extras: some Ray Bolger dancing (as the Scarecrow, of course) cut from the film; the audio track of the deleted “Jitterbug” number and of Buddy Ebsen (the first-hired Tin Man) singing “If I Only Had a Heart,” both illustrated by stills (and by home movies in the case of “The Jitterbug”); a theatrical trailer for the film, and newsreel film of Judy Garland receiving a special Oscar for her part in “Oz.”

The tape also features an improved sound track and has been remastered, brightening the Technicolor and restoring the sepia tone to the noncolor Kansas segments.

At six hours, “Little Dorrit” was the longest major film of last year and, many critics believed, one of the best. The G-rated Charles Dickens adaptation--starring Alec Guinness, Derek Jacobi and several other top British actors--comes as two two-cassette packages (titled “Nobody’s Fault” and “Little Dorrit’s Story”) from Warner. The price is $89.95 per package.

“Patty Hearst” (Media, $89.95, R) is the 1988 film directed by Paul Schrader, telling the story of the heiress’ kidnapping largely from her point of view (Hearst is played by Natasha Richardson). “Tap” (RCA/Columbia, $89.95, PG-13) brought together young hoofer Gregory Hines and old hoofer Sammy Davis, Jr. in a lukewarm tale about tap dancing.

Connoisseur has released Shohei Imamura’s black comedy “The Pornographers” ($79.95) in letter-box format, subtitled. The company has also re-released two Luis Bunuel classics from his Mexican period, “Los Olvidados” ($59.95) and “Nazarin” ($69.95), plus Orson Welles’ version of Kafka’s “The Trial” ($39.95)--all three previously available from another label.

Other recent movies new on video: “The Wash” (Academy, $79.95, unrated), “Hit List” (RCA/Columbia, $89.95, R) and “Under the Boardwalk” (New World, $89.95, R).

Other vintage films: “Tokyo Joe,” a 1949 drama that’s one of Humphrey Bogart’s least-known films; “The Lady in Question,” in which Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford made their first joint cinematic appearance (1940); “I Am the Law,” a 1938 film that had Edward G. Robinson--playing against type--as a professor fighting gangsters, and “Ten Wanted Men,” a 1955 Randolph Scott Western. They’re $69.95 each from RCA/Columbia.

Price reductions: CBS/Fox has slashed the price, so to speak, on several horror/sci-films to $19.98, including “Aliens,” “The Fly” (the ’86 version), “Damien: Omen II” and “The Legend of Hell House.” Even lower are “Dawn of the Dead” and “Return of the Living Dead,” now $14.99 from HBO.

OTHER NEW VIDEOS

Is it too early for Christmas videos? Family Home Entertainment doesn’t think so. Last week FHE released four Yuletide tapes (previously shown on TV) for $14.95: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (the “Animagic” musical version narrated by Burl Ives, 53 minutes), “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (narrated by Fred Astaire, 53 minutes), “Little Drummer Boy” (with the voices of Greer Garson, Jose Ferrer and the Vienna Boys Choir, 30 minutes) and “Frosty the Snowman” (narrated by Jimmy Durante, 30 minutes).

“Impact Video Magazine, Volume One” (MPI, $19.95, 80 minutes) is the first in a series of tapes that will take a “cutting-edge” look at the arts, with an emphasis on the more daring forms of pop music. Featured in this volume: rap group Public Enemy, L.A. rock band Jane’s Addiction, the famous short film “Bambi Meets Godzilla” and painter Robert Williams.

Video-game helpers: MPI has released the second volume of its “Secret Video Game Tricks, Codes & Strategies” ($14.95, 45 minutes). It focuses on Nintendo-compatible games. So does “Video Game Guide” (Studio Video, $9.99, 40 minutes). For information on the latter tape, call (800) 541-1843.