Friday, September 30, 2011

Movie Review: Beyond the Prairie, Part 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2002)

Beyond the Prairie, Part 2 continues the story of the Wilder family. Having set out in a covered wagon, they cross the Missouri River and leave Dakota behind.

While optimistic about their new home, troubles plague them. Almanzo's health continues to impair his ability to clear  the land and plant the apple trees left behind by the previous owners. They must hire help, but have no way to pay anyone other than in firewood. Rose is bullied at school and begins keeping to herself. She runs away and gets lost in a cave.

As the years pass, things improve for the Wilders, until Laura is called back to De Smet to visit her beloved father on his death bed.

A curious thing happens between the two movies. At the end of Beyond the Prairie, narrator Tess Harper, who plays an older Laura, tells viewers that the Wilders traveled for six weeks and arrived at their final destination in Missouri. Amazingly, Rose Wilder, who was a toddler (probably about 2) when she left De Smet, is school age at the beginning of Beyond the Prairie, Part 2. Now, I love Skye McCole Bartusiak's portrayal of the highly intelligent, moody Rose Wilder, but I thought the rapid aging of characters was reserved for soap operas. This seems to be one of those cases where the storyline dictates throwing common sense out the window.

Meredith Monroe and Walton (Walt) Goggins reprise their roles as Laura and Almanzo Wilder in this movie. Their performances are stellar, despite the inaccurate and somewhat lackluster storyline they are handed. We see the young couple thrilled to discover the new home they hope to turn into a prosperous farm. We ache with them when they believe the $100 bill Laura had tucked into her writing desk has disappeared, just as we rejoice when Laura finds the money that had slid into a crack. We are inspired by all the hard work they do to get their farm up and running, and we feel their anxiety when Rose is lost.

An interesting exchange takes place between Laura and a stranger on the wagon train. A young immigrant stops the Wilders on their way to the river, and encourages them to come into their camp for conversation. This is where the Wilders meet Beth and George Magnuson and their son, Charlie, who is played by a young Cody Linley (Jake Ryan, Hannah Montana). This immigrant approaches Laura at night when she is writing and asks her what their story is. She mentions the death of their son. In The Ghost in the Little House by William Holtz, it is said that the Wilders never spoke of their son's death. Rose didn't even know she had a brother until after her mother died. I find it curious that she would speak of something so personal to a stranger.

A tiny nitpick for the house on the Wilders' new property having a rusted box spring mattress that was left behind. While spring mattresses replaced the timber frames late in the 19th century, it's highly unlikely many pioneers would have been able to afford one, especially if they were living in a house as small as the first one that stood on what would be named Rocky Ridge Farm. It's kind of like spotting a red metal toolbox on the floor when Manly (Almanzo) brings Bessie (Laura) to see their new house under construction before they're married in the first movie. Also, for some reason, I recall there being a scene where Laura asks Rose if she took the $100 from the desk when they discover it missing. That's not on the DVD. It might not seem like an important scene, but just like the tense scenes between Rose and her mother where Laura insists she stop speaking her made up language or when Laura tells Rose she must return to school even if the girls are mean to her, it shows the somewhat difficult relationship they had in real life.

The viewer doesn't get a chance to see all of what happens in the near decade they lived at Rocky Ridge before the new house is built. As the first harvest of apples begins to ripen, Laura imagines for Rose what she thinks their future will look like, and suddenly we have this picture of the new house waiting for its coat of white paint. We get a chance to see the Ingalls family one last time and for Pa and Flutterbudget to share a moving moment.

What I find most interesting in Beyond the Prairie and Beyond the Prairie, Part 2 is how many people encouraged Laura's writing. Her own father toward the end of the movie instructs her not to forget about the pioneering era and not to let Rose forget it either. While poetry and writing articles seemed to come naturally for the real life Laura, it's truly not until she is encouraged by Rose, as a successful writer, that Laura considers penning her now classic books. Perhaps the writer and producers of the movie are attempting to show us that this was who she was meant to be all along, but I didn't get that feeling from the historical information I've read.

Overall, Beyond the Prairie, Part 2 has its place in the world for Laura fans. Those who don't care for the liberties Michael Landon took in producing Little House on the Prairie probably aren't going to be fond of this movie either. For those of us who grew up loving the television show, Beyond the Prairie, Part 2 and its predecessor is another way for us to honor the legacy that Laura left behind.

Actors: Terra Allen, Alandra Bingham, J. Scott Bronson, Courtnie Bull, Lindsay Crouse
Directors: Marcus Cole
Writers: Stephen Harrigan
Producers: Dori Weiss, Robert M. Rolsky, Stephen Harrigan
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Release Date: November 23, 2010
Run Time: 96 minutes
ASIN: B0042RJWRY
 
Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder, Little House on the Prairie, NBC) is working on a production of Laura's life. It has been shown at some of the festivals celebrating the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Hopefully it makes it to TV or directly to DVD soon.

Movie Review: Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls (1999)

Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Beyond the Prairie, Part II were released as TV movies in 1999 and 2002, respectively. These movies have been packaged together and released by Paramount on one DVD (2010) for Laura fans. I will be reviewing each movie separately, as they both cover several years.

Before I go any further, let me state I have one pet peeve about both movies: the title. If you are going to put the word "true" in your title, then you should follow real life events and not exercise creative license all over the place. Now, I have clients who write fictional autobiographies of historical figures, but they clearly place, "A Novel," on the cover, so we all know the book is a healthy blend of fact and fiction. I don't even mind that the writers and producers of Beyond the Prairie opted to exercise creative license. Just don't put that four-letter word in the title, and all is good.

In this first movie, the viewer is introduced to a teenage Laura, living on the Dakota prairie with her family: Ma, Pa, Mary, Carrie, and Grace. A prairie fire threatens their home, and they work together to save it. Laura and Pa saddle up to go help others who might have been threatened by the fire. On the way back, they stumble upon a claim with a house frame on it. A man's jacket is hanging over one of the beams, and a curious Laura lifts an envelope out of the pocket to discover an odd name, "Almanzo." Pa scolds her, but Laura can't get that name out of her mind. She even talks to Mary about it one evening as she is describing the setting sun to her blind sister.

We move swiftly along to where Laura leaves home for the first time for her first teaching job. Then the town of De Smet is cut off  from the rest of civilization by the Hard Winter, and Almanzo and Cap Garland travel many miles to find seed wheat to save the town from starvation.

Laura and Almanzo marry and have a daughter. Things won't be happy for long, though. Almanzo and Laura lose their first crop to a hail storm. They have no way to pay their debts. They battle diphtheria. Laura gives birth to a second child, but he soon dies. Then a fire destroys their home.

Now living with the Ingalls family, Laura and Almanzo decide to move to Mansfield, Missouri. The movie ends with a tearful goodbye.

When I first watched this movie on CBS, I truly enjoyed it. Granted, it didn't capture me the way Little House on the Prairie did in the 70's and 80's, but I'm older, and probably a lot pickier since I've learned more about Laura and Almanzo's real life. I have to admit, however, it was challenging to see new actors in roles that had been portrayed on television for so long by others.

This Ingalls family and the townsfolk of De Smet were more serious, sometimes sullen. Charles and Caroline actually have a fight in front of the children about his desire to move farther west. That said, I feel this was probably much more realistic than the romanticized version of events that we got from the classic books or the television show.

I've loved Richard Thomas in everything else I've ever seen him in, but he didn't quite make it as Charles Ingalls. Some of the lines he delivered were totally flat. I also didn't care for how certain aspects of his character were portrayed. When Laura is asked to teach school by Mr. Bouchie, she tells Pa that she won't do it. Charles pushes/guilts her into it by saying the family needs the money, especially with Mary in college. In an early scene from the movie, the devout, religious Charles said the word "damned." Granted, faith did not play a role in this movie at all--something else I have a problem with considering the time period and the people--but anyone who has studied the Ingalls family knows their faith was a big part of who they were.

Meredith Monroe, who I loved as Andy on Dawson's Creek, delivers a good performance here as Laura. I don't care for the fact that we have a blonde Laura, considering how in the books Laura was jealous of Mary's golden hair. In this movie, Mary is a red-head. It's odd. This Laura does not seem as feisty as one would expect, but she's older and that feistiness has turned into a desire to live her life as she pleases.

Laura's love of freedom is a bit warped in Beyond the Prairie. After accepting the teaching position from Mr. Bouchie, Laura tells Almanzo she feels she's been, "sold into slavery." If we consider that this takes place less than twenty years after the end of the Civil War, it's not an appropriate statement. It seems modern-day thinking has wormed it's way onto the De Smet prairie. Though in real life Wilder later admitted she didn't enjoy teaching, she felt a responsibility to her family and paying jobs for women were few. After her teaching time is over, she tells Almanzo her life is going to be her own and no one is ever going to tell her what to do. I feel the not wanting to say "obey" in her wedding vows is a bit embellished here.

Walt Goggins captures the shy, quiet Almanzo Wilder well. At moments he's a bit awkward, but out of all the main characters, I felt his was the most realistic portrayal. I also appreciate that Beyond the Prairie showed how Almanzo's illness permanently impacted his health, which is part of why they decided to leave De Smet.

Having watched Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder for the first time since it  originally aired on television, I'm not as enamored with it as I was then. Part of that is because Little House on the Prairie is now available on DVD and I can watch my beloved show whenever I wish, instead of needing a TV movie to give me my Laura fix. I do, however, believe it has its place in Laura fandom, because it portrays a more realistic view of what the pioneers endured. The historically accurate fashion is a bonus, and filming in Utah and Texas made it look more like a prairie than California, where Little House on the Prairie was shot.

In the end, you're either going to like this movie--which I do--or be bothered by the creative license that was taken with Laura's life.


Actors: Terra Allen, Alandra Bingham, J. Scott Bronson, Courtnie Bull, Lindsay Crouse
Directors: Marcus Cole
Writers: Stephen Harrigan
Producers: Dori Weiss, Robert M. Rolsky, Stephen Harrigan
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Release Date: November 23, 2010
Run Time: 96 minutes
ASIN: B0042RJWRY

Friday, September 16, 2011

Laura's "Sweet Memories" to Feature "All About Laura" Program During Wilder Day


Laura's "Sweet Memories" will be featuring the "All About Laura" program presented by Little House Researcher, Colleen Ferries during Wilder Day in Mansfield, MO.

Join Reverend Jim and Ms. Ferries on Sept. 17 at noon and again at 3:30 p.m for this special event. Ferries has been presenting these programs for thirty years to school children, civic groups and senior centers.

For more details, visit the Laura's "Sweet Memories" blog at http://laurassweetmemories.blogspot.com/2011/09/special-wilder-day-2011-programs.html

Laura's "Sweet Memories" is located across from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Public Library and next to Mansfield Drug, just off the town square, 107 N. Business 60.

To read my interview with Reverend Jim you can visit http://lauralittlehouseontheprairie.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-reverend-jim-proprietor.html

New Survey: Did You Purchase Beyond the Prairie on DVD?


In 1999, CBS produced a TV movie titled Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder. A teenage Laura Ingalls (Meredith Monroe) is living on the South Dakota prairie with her Pa (Richard Thomas), Ma (Lindsay Crouse), and her three sisters. This is also where she meets the man she will eventually marry, Almanzo Wilder, played by Walton (Walt) Goggins.

She leaves home for the first time to teach so that she can help pay for her blind sister, Mary (Barbara Jane Reams) to attend school. Eventually Almanzo asks for her hand. The newlyweds' life isn't easy, however. They deal with crop failures, illness, the death of their infant son, and their house being burned to the ground.

Narrated by an older Laura (Tess Harper), this is a reflection of those years in her life.



The second movie, Beyond the Prairie, Part 2, was released in 2002. Also narrated by Tess Harper, this picked up right where the last movie left off. Having struggled in South Dakota, Almanzo, Laura, and their daughter Rose, journey by covered wagon to the Land of the Big Red Apple- the Ozarks of Missouri.

With only $100 tucked into Laura's writing desk, the young family begins their new life. But it isn't an easy life. Almanzo's illness and stroke has left him too weak to tend the rocky land. They must hire help, but can offer little in means of wages. A precocious Rose doesn't fit in well at school and runs away.

Amidst trying to get settled in Mansfield, Laura receives word that her beloved Pa is dying. She journeys back to De Smet to say her good-byes.

Many fans were not aware of these movies when they first came out. As discussions came about on PrairieTalk about them, more fans were looking for copies of the movies. In 2010, both movies were released on a single DVD. While some (like me) are disappointed that these movies claiming to be the "true" story of Laura Ingalls Wilder contain many inconsistencies to her real life, I am still glad to have this DVD as part of my collection.

Have you purchased it or do you plan to? If not, can you tell us why?

Thursday, September 15, 2011

PrairieFans.com Celebrates Twelfth Birthday!



I would like to congratulate Lennon Parker and his staff as they celebrate twelve wonderful years on the Web. Twelve years ago today, they launched PrairieFans.com. This site is "dedicated to honoring the legacy of our favorite American pioneer, Laura Ingalls Wilder."

Bonnet heads around the world are treated to cast interviews, latest news, and a plethora of historical information. 

If that's not enough to give you your Laura fix, you can stop by PrairieTalk, their forum where you get a chance to interact with other Laura fans.

Happy 12th Birthday, PrairieFans! May you celebrate many more years of sharing Laura's legacy with her fans.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Jane Seymour Signature Clothing for Sale


Though I haven't spoken about it much here, another of my favorite shows from the pioneering era is Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Filmed in the 1990's, this show featured Bond girl, Jane Seymour, as a female doctor from Boston, who journeys out west to Colorado Springs to open a practice. The prejudice she receives in her early days in Colorado are similar to what she experienced in Boston. Slowly the town warms up to her, and she spends the next several years caring for the townsfolk of Colorado Springs, coping with tragedy and celebrating triumphs along the way.

Jane Seymour has an endless list of talents and is also involved in many charitable causes.

A friend of mine from the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman forum has recently listed a few items from the Jane Seymour Signature clothing line on eBay. Most of these are new without tags. Please visit http://www.ebay.com/sch/katdawson/m.html to view these items.

In addition, she is selling some books on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/shops/storefront/index.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sellerID=AWK8HHU9MSRM9.

Amber is a talented author in her own right. I have read several of her titles and hope to own all her books soon. You can visit her online at http://amberstockton.com/