Great Tapes for Kids

Price: $15.00

Out of print, but we can usually get new or used copies.

Every girl everywhere is a princess.

Based on a novel by Francis Hodgson Burnett (author of The Secret Garden), this is the story of a little girl's magical deliverance from misfortune. Sara Crewe is brought up in luxury in India until her English father must go to World War I. Sara is sent to the same exclusive boarding school that her dead mother attended, but the headmistress, Miss Minchin, is uncaring and scheming. When Sara's father is lost at war, presumed dead, and no relatives can be found, Miss Minchin seizes all of Sara's belongings and makes Sara into a housemaid. Sara survives Miss Minchin's cruel treatment with the help of Becky, the school's other maid, and her father's assuarances that Sara -- like all girls and women -- is truly a pricess.
With Liam Cunningham as Sara's father, Liesel Matthews as Sara, and Eleanor Bron as Miss Minchin, this movie is beautifully made and acted. Paralleling the main story are short scenes from the story of the Ramayana which Sara tells her schoolmates. The action in the Ramayana echos Sara's story and underscores Sara's Indian past. The music, by Patrick Doyle, is gorgeous, too.

Length: 97 min., live action

Age Range: All Ages