Memories of Martha's Vineyard

No doubt about it, Martha's Vineyard is a beautiful island: sporting gorgeous seacoast and inland towns, beaches and ponds, forests and farms, it's the epitome of Old New England, and thanks to this program's top-notch videography, it's shown here to best advantage. In addition to instilling the desire to visit, the video provides a good, practical overview of "places to go, things to see," and touches on wider issues concerning the island today. Management of growth and development is a concern on Martha's Vineyard as elsewhere in America, but the residents here--with high profiles and deep bank accounts--have greater clout when it comes to protecting the island from rapacious real estate developers. The tape is peppered with interviews of Famous People complaining about Other Famous People (and worse, tourists by the ferryboat-full) on "their" island. If your irony meter doesn't shoot high enough on that, even worse is the hypocrisy of the real estate developer who says in essence that it's okay to overbuild and pave the rest of America, but his island is off-limits. "Just don't tell anybody about it [Martha's Vineyard]," he says to the crew making this promotional video. What will continue to attract visitors is the beauty of the natural surroundings, rather than the dubious "pleasure" of bumping into celebs in their shorts. Recommended for the great visuals and solid information, if not for the charming attitude of the elite who make their homes there. Aud: H, P. (R. Reagan)