‘Land’ Resets Tolstoy Short Story in Montana

Video

How Much Land Does a Man Need? Globalstage. 42 minutes. Ages 8 to 16. $27. (888) 324-5623. www .globalstage.net

Leo Tolstoy’s short story about a poor farmer whose ever-increasing greed leads to his downfall has been transported to Big Sky country, filmed outdoors in Glasgow, Mont., set to fiddle music in a never-was, turn-of-the-century era.

In Sean Gaffney’s adaptation, directed by Lizbeth Pratt, a farmer isn’t satisfied when his initial desire for “a little bit of land” comes true; acquiring more and more, he finally falls prey to the “Bashkir women.” These wily, rugged ranchers make him a deal he can’t refuse--he can have as much of their land as he can stake out, but only if he returns to his starting point by sunset. Needless to say, it’s not as easy as it sounds. The moral? “Life gave him much, but he grasped beyond his bounty.”

The huge expanses of Montana prairie tend to overwhelm Pratt’s simple staging, but the unpretentious humor and narrative are effective. Academic Elizabeth McNamer and her teenage sidekick, Preston Blakely, provide their usual stilted but quite informative wraparound discussion time.

Mommy & Me: Fun & Friends. Madacy Kids. 35 minutes. DVD: $20, video: $15. Ages newborn to 5. (800) 784-0991, www.mommyandme.com

One of three releases in the new Mommy & Me video-DVD series, “Fun & Friends” is outstanding entertainment for moms and their babies and toddlers to participate in together, chock-full of play-along and sing-along opportunities. Production values are top-notch, with some real moms and kids in a colorful, storybook-style home setting, as well as puppetry, very inventive animations, brief explore-the-world video segments and songs, songs, songs.

Games involve shapes, simple counting, vowel sounds and rhyming. Play songs such as “The Wheels on the Bus” give way to an animated storytelling sequence and to finding shapes in clouds while a Bach prelude plays. Comical puppets include an old-time radio and an oversize flower, voiced by Tim Conway and Caroline Rhea, respectively.

Other releases in the series include “Splish Splash” and “Lullaby & Goodnight.” Mommy & Me founder, Dr. Cindy Nurik, a specialist in child development and founder of the series, offers commentary at the end of each.

Miffy at School. Pioneer Entertainment. 25 minutes. Video: $13. Ages 2 to 7.

Basic shapes put together to form objects and settings, bright paint-box colors, eye-catching design, adorable animal folk with big round heads--author Dick Bruna’s “Miffy” books, about a little girl rabbit, are international preschooler favorites, and their quiet charm survives intact on the screen. Here Miffy attends school and takes a ride in her uncle’s plane; Poesy Pig helps a friend celebrate a birthday; Boris Bear climbs too high in a tree; and Kitty Nelly finds a friendly fish to take her to Indian shores.

Audio

Emily Songs. Listen Up Records. CD: $15. Ages 3 to 8. (888) 376-3011, (800) 448-6369. www.efolkmusic.com/ or www.cdbaby.com/.

Brash and sunny rhythms, with some fine musicians doing the plucking and strumming, are the strength of singer-guitarist Ben Rudnick’s collection of playful songs. Instrumental tracks (“DaDaLaDa,” “Salt Creek,” “El Cumbanchero”) are stand-out toe-tappers, while Rudnick, with his serviceable vocals, infuses his songs, and arrangements of a few traditional tunes, with mild silliness. “The Window,” for instance, interweaves several nursery rhymes with a nonsensical, slightly dubious “throw it out the window” refrain; in “I Need a Hand,” crossing the street requires not only a helping hand, but also a penguin, a toaster and a cupcake.

Martha Stewart Baby: Sleepytime. Rhino Entertainment/Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. CD: 12; cassette: $8. www.martha stewart.com/, www.rhino.com/.

Is there anything this woman does not do? Actually, Martha Stewart doesn’t sing, not on this quiet-time album, anyway. It’s a compilation of pleasant contemporary songs, only a few of which were written with children in mind, including blues artist Keb’ Mo’s “Infinite Eyes” and “Baby Mine” from Disney’s “Dumbo,” sung by Alison Krauss. The Beatles are represented with “Goodnight,” sung by Linda Ronstadt, and Kenny Rankin’s rendition of “Blackbird,” a rather melancholy choice when you listen to the lyrics.

A few other tracks are the Carpenters hit “They Long to Be Close to You,” done by Barenaked Ladies; Bobby McFerrin’s “Common Threads”; and Jenny Bruce’s “Home.” Liner notes include a couple of Martha-sanctioned crafts, a treatise on milk and obvious advice about bedtime, because, we are told, “sleep is good for babies.”