Search - Gardens of the World With Audrey Hepburn on DVD

You don't have to be a gardener to love this show!

Bunny Man! | Seattle, WA USA | 02/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This program offers maximum value. Not only are all the features of the original broadcasts on PBS and the set of tapes present, extras are included as well, including a profile of Audrey Hepburn, a promo for Penelope Hobhouse, and separate audio tracks for the major music used as backgrounds in the shows.The DVD production is impeccable (and cheaper than VHS to boot). Color is wonderfully pure, and images crisp and sharp.But above all, it is the many gorgeous gardens (worldwide) and Audrey Hepburn's appreciations of them that will hold you entranced. The scope is broad, and the loving care used in photography, presentation, and production are always evident. My own favorite is Monet's garden, but there are wonderful shots of many other spots as well.This comes highly, and unreservedly recommended!"

Not just eye candy!

Charles S. Houser | Binghamton, NY | 08/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beautifully conceived and beautifully executed, this is truly and amazing DVD! The two-sided disk contains eight half-hour visits to the world's most beautiful gardens, plus eighty minutes of great music-only tracks, and two great behind-the-scenes segments showing Ms Hepburn at her most charming and personable.I bought this DVD because I'm a Hepburn fan and her participation in this project certainly lends the entire undertaking a touch of class. She introduces each segment, reads poetry (and Anne Frank), converses with gardeners, and makes observations of her own--usually as she drifts in or out of the picture wearing elegant Ralph Lauren outfits and swinging a straw basket or plucking a bloom or two. (Watching the episodes in quick succession, I realized how true it is that she always favors her left profile.) In some episodes, however, she is barely on screen at all. As these shows were taped the year before her death, I suspect her participation was limited by the state of her health and that she was not able to fly to every location.Although the shows would have been much poorer without Ms Hepburn, they are substantial in their own right. I found the episode on "Tulips and Spring Bulbs" especially informative. The bulk of the script, it should be noted, fell into the lap of the narrator, Michael York. He rose to the occasion as best he could, but some of the text he was expected to read was surely not written to be read aloud by any human being. (One amusing moment occurred when Mr. York, using his best Oxonian English, referred to George Washington as "OUR founding father.")The theme that seemed to run through all the episodes is that gardening is a delicate collaboration between man and nature. As Ms Hepburn states, quoting gardener Anne Leighton (?), "A garden, to be a garden, must represent a different world, however small, from the real world....Gardening offers man a chance to regulate at least one aspect of his life--to control his environment and show himself as he wishes to be.""

Great series, odd DVD

Charles S. Houser | 03/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The "Gardens Of The World" series can't be faulted in any way. The gardens shown are all stunning. Audrey Hepburn is so elegant, charming, and beautiful. On the technical side, though, this DVD is disappointing. It's the only DVD I've ever purchased where you can't see how much time has elapsed while you are viewing, nor can you see which chapter you are watching. And, if you stop the DVD, it doesn't resume playing where you left off. No other DVD I own (and I own quite a few) is like this."

Devine intervention

Sandra Griffiths | Bishop's Stortford, England | 11/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I just got it, and it is wonderful! It is good and it is worth it coz you see Audrey being herself. And there is a great special feature about her...on location in UK behind the scenes, which is at least 20 min long. You get to see her wonderful and infectious personality and she wins you over all over again. She does an episode about Rose Gardens, and little does she know that she outshines the Rose. She also quotes a line from a poem: "O Rose! who dares to name thee?"
Well, I say..."O Audrey! who dares to name thee?"
Is that enought to tempt u...?
Lol. Well, I am not a huge gardens fan, but i enjoyed this series alot coz she made it fun and interesting to watch"