VHS Opening: MADELINE (1998; Columbia TriStar) · 4:57pm Jul 17th, 2016
(Before you ask me, I'm still looking for my copy of this because I have yet to have it in my collection; same with Cruising and My Little Pony: Escape from Catrina)
Starts with the Columbia TriStar Home Video logo, then cuts to a theatrical teaser for the films Muppets From Space (I've never seen it as a kid but heard it was one of their weaker films) and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (which I loved watching as a kid; unfortunately now notorious for being a very-scaled-back bomb for Sony, though unlike the film Crazy in Alabama, which also flopped upon release in fall 1999, Elmo was well received by critics). The preview marked the only time that scenes from The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland would be seen in what some call ''the proper format''.
Then it cuts to a very short commercial for Animorphs on VHS, then a promo for the video releases of the animated TV versions of Men In Black, Jumanji and Ghostbusters (the latter was titled Extreme Ghostbusters, which I thought was kind of odd.)
Then it cuts to a preview for the VHS reissue of Annie preserved in all of the pan-and-scan fun and excitement that was originally in the RCA/Columbia release of the film and which came back in the 2004 DVD of said film. (source) There was also a remake of this film from Disney (1999) and from Sony itself (2014). I don't intend on seeing either because I heard both remakes were terrible (the 2014 remake I heard suffered from serious autotune abuse).
There's also a great trailer for Fly Away Home on this tape as well as one for Matilda.
It then cuts to the FBI warning screen and then an ident indicating that it's in Surround Sound (most '90s kids will remember this one), then it shows Sony's version of the format screen, and then the film starts up.
Hatty Jones donned Madeline's redhead and bravery for TriStar's 1998 version of the four non-Christmas books in the successful Ludwig Bemelmans series. The adventurous, young character is very good at getting into trouble, but she also doubles as a great problem-solver, and her school-mistress Miss Clavel (played here by Frances McDormand, known for her work in several of the Coen brothers' films) is not too approving of her. The biggest problem comes up when Lord Covington (played here by the legendary Nigel Hawthorne) decides to sell Madeline's school.
