Gardens Of The World with Audrey Hepburn

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: B-     Episodes: B

 

 

Sooner or later, we knew we would dare to ask the question most review sites would not dare to ask: are flowers really boring?  Yes, they make great demo footage for digital High Definition video and a mix of colors is enough to challenge large frame film formats, but what else can you get out of them?  The stereotype is that flowers are only taken seriously by the kinds of people society tries to trivialize, the elderly, the educated and the overly fussy.  Well, that’s pathetic and one surprisingly strong example of how interesting they can actually get is featured in Gardens Of The World.  This 1993 Emmy Winning series tells us not only about the flowers and shows extensive footage of them, but that their history and literal evolution have roots in many countries, and the growth of entire cities.  This was better than expected.

 

Enter Audrey Hepburn, who shows up over and over again to punctuate the history of how flowers kept surfacing as touchstones for revivals of lands, city building, and even as connections to money and power.  Their cultivation is almost its own artform outside of professionals who can grow them best and those who have the knack we have come to know as the greenthumb.  The eight installments are as follows:

 

Roses & Rose Gardens

Formal Gardens

Flower Gardens

Japanese Gardens

Tulips & Spring Bulbs

Tropical Gardens

Country Gardens

Public Gardens & Trees

 

The full frame images were originally shot on film, but an older analog transfer was used for this set and it looks like certain credits were added electronically later.  Maybe the original films can be retransferred later on down the line with new text, but there is softness throughout.  Color is actually more consistent than usual and that saves the visual presentation.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is available for the actual program and isolated music score pieces set to stills, almost making this into an almost “new age” experience.  The sound is above average and shows its age somewhat.  Neither have Pro Logic-type surrounds.  Fortunately, Audrey’s words are clear, as are those of narrator Michael York.

 

Extras are also on both sides of the DVD.  Side One offers Japanese Garden slides Audrey in England and a very brief text piece about her, while Side Two offers a brief segment on Audrey in Holland, a text section on the various flowers, a plug for flower expert Penelope Hobhouse that runs just past 9 minutes, suggestions for garden websites to visit and both offer isolated music tracks.  That is not a bad set, except too many of the items are limited.

 

The music runs 80 minutes, while the actual episodes run 225 minutes, so this is a double-sided disc that uses its space wisely. This AIX/Perennial Productions release is available exclusively through Goldhil and can be ordered directly from their website at www.goldhil.com along with many other outstanding documentary and special interest titles, as well a British mini-series, many reviewed elsewhere on this site.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo