Sarah Plain & Tall Trilogy:  Sarah, Plain and Tall / Skylark / Winter's End [VHS]
A television treasure from the 1990s, theSarah, Plain and Tallseries  stoked audience hunger for a simpler, more neighborly America during the  early 20th century, and it did so without being cloying or preachy. Based on  the novelSarah, Plain and Tallby Patricia MacLachlan, the first  feature--originally aired in 1991 on CBS to an enormous audience of 50 million--starred Christopher Walken as Kansas farmer Jacob Witting, a widower  with two children. Seeing his newspaper advertisement seeking a bride, Sarah  Wheaton (Glenn Close), a Maine schoolteacher, heads out to the heartland for  a trial run as wife and stepmother. There are difficulties: Jacob has set  ideas about the role of a woman in his house and he isn't emotionally ready for a new beginning. Meanwhile, the kids are dubious about anyone stepping  into their mom's old job. But the strong-willed Sarah soon ushers love,  energy, and a sense of possibility into the gloomy Witting home, and the  resulting bond within this new family proves durable. The bond is tested,  however, in the 1993 sequel,Skylark, in which Sarah heads back to  Maine with the others when dangerous weather threatens the farm. Finally,  1999'sWinter's Endbrings Jack Palance into  the fold as Jacob's estranged father, who comes to make amends during a harsh  winter season under the shadow of World War I and the influenza epidemic.  It's not hard to see why this Hallmark trilogy means so much to so many,  evoking as it does a perhaps mythical period of innocence and most certainly underscoring values of faith, loyalty, and family ties. Throughout, Walken and Close are absolutely first-rate, their chemistry quite special. All three  films are suitable for family viewing yet are satisfying in virtually any  situation.--Tom Keogh