Unique Christmas movie
Patricia Browne | 10/09/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A superb holiday story. This has been a family favorite for many years, with our only copy a grainy VHS recorded from PBS when it was first aired. Funny, genuine, with surprisingly well-developed characters for only a sixty-minute feature. We will continue to watch this one each year."
A man with as many principles as Flag....
alit | Toronto, ON | 08/07/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Flag Purdy(Alan Arkin) is a man of many principles, and it's driving his family from him. A Matter of Principle is a humourous, heart-warming anecdote of a man who has to learn the hard way. It is a Christmas story, so the happy ending is inevitable, but the creative names of the Purdy children, and the quirky, irksome character portrayed by Alan Arkin more than make up it. This is a short, entertaining film that has been enjoyed by my family for many Christmas eves."
Great story, terrible DVD (and VHS) transfer
mark-o | new jersey | 03/01/2006
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I second the reviewer below on the DVD. Apparently they did not solve the problem that appeared when this was released on VHS, which was the nighttime scenes are so dark, it is hard to watch. I gave this DVD to my dad for Christmas, and he said the problems with it being too dark (almost unwatchably so) are no better than the ealier VHS version release. His home-recorded VHS, off a rooftop antenna in 1984, is of better quality than the DVD."