Customer Reviews

The Borrowers (Digitally Remastered) (Full Screen Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When a sickly boy from Boston is sent to recuperate with his eccentric aunt in the country, he makes a startling discovery - there is a family of little people living under the floorboards, a family of Borrowers. The Borrowers who live in this spacious house are named the Clocks (father Pod, mother Homily and daughter Arrietty Clock), and they live by "borrowing" what they need from the "human beans" that share their house with them. But when the suspicious housekeeper catches sight of the Borrowers, she will stop at nothing to see them caught! [Color, released in 1973, with a running time of 1:21.]

This is a fun movie, which is remarkably close to Mary Norton's wonderful book, The Borrowers. Indeed, I am quite sad that they didn't go on to make sequels, which would have covered her other Borrower books. But, one must be grateful for what one does have.

Overall, I found this to be a fun and interesting movie that I could share with the whole family. Eddie Albert does an excellent job as Pod Clock, and even though the special effects are not that great, they are as well done as the existing technology allowed, and the wonderful story carries everything along. So, let me just say that I loved this movie, and highly recommend it to everyone with children, or who are just young at heart.

Quite honestly, this looked like somebody had taken a video camera, and videotaped this movie while it was being played from a VCR. It was absolutely terrible. I was very disappointed.

This DVD version of The Borrowers has NOT been digitally remastered, no matter what they say on the cover. It is simply a out and out lie. The color is horrible and the film is extremely grainy. I would still recommend it because it is the only "classic" version available. I'm looking forward to the longer (and better) version with Ian Holm to be released on DVD.

This is regarding the Digiview edition ISBN # 872322001276.
This is the best available DVD of this Hallmark made-for-TV movie starring Eddie Albert, Tammy Grimes and Dame Judith Anderson as originally broadcast December 14, 1973.

AUDIO: The audio is in original 2-channel stereo, and is clean, crisp and without any muffling or muddying as on other editions.

VIDEO: The movie is made in a combination of film for outdoor scenes and video for indoor or studio scenes, as is typical of British television of the 1970s (see Monty Python, Benny Hill, etc.), but is NOT typical of American production at the time. The reason is for both time and budget: Video studios had a simple Lumi-key or Chroma-key system of matting one shot into another, e.g. weather maps and news graphics. (Years before the invention of "Ulti-matte" and green screen technology.) This was done in real-time with the principal photography -- set up the effect and record, much faster than the 3-stage process of traveling mattes used in motion pictures. This mix of media together with the largely British cast have led to the false belief that this is a British program. It is not; it is American. The BBC would not tackle The Borrowers until the series of 1993-1994.

COLOR: The color level on this disc is extremely washed out, almost black-and-white, but is easily remedied by cranking up the color level on your TV to about 3/4 level. Then it will look fairly normal. I wish they had done this simple chroma adjustment when mastering the DVD. (Remember to set it back down when finished!)

ASPECT RATIO: The other reviewer who complained of a distorted aspect ratio must have been referring to some other edition. This Digiview release is presented in the original full screen 1:33 aspect ratio, and displays perfectly on a standard 4x3 TV.

"DIGITALLY REMASTERED": This is the biggest point of contention, and requires some explanation: DVDs and CDs are a digital medium, therefore any time something is recorded on a disc, it is by definition "digitally mastered." If a DVD says "Digitally Mastered" they're just blowing smoke, since that's the only way discs are made! But this says "Digitally RE-mastered." That sounds good, but is a little vague. A better description would be "Digitally Enhanced." A comparison of this Digiview DVD with an earlier VHS version shows that this Enhanced DVD has a vastly improved matte-and-key effect. They have evidently used today's digital effects computer technology to "paint" and clean up the matte and key artifacts around the edges of actors and backgrounds, so they look perfectly sharp and crisp! (Only one shot with a rack-focus was impossible to fix because of the deliberate blurring.) Except for some missing shadows, the effects shots now look almost as good as any on live television today. The stereo audio track may also have been digitally enhanced.

Why this is called "digitally remastered" I'll never know. Both the sound and the picture were just plain bad. The price is right, but you certainly get what you pay for with this dvd. There's a novel idea called "truth in advertising", and this dvd is not advertised truthfully.

It states "The Borrowers (Digitally Remastered)", but it's far from Remastered. Don't blame the actors for the poor video quality, the actors did their jobs well enough long before DVD's were a technology. This version on DVD looks like someone copied an old well used decades old VHS tape directly to DVD. The movie is simple clean entertainment for children, but the quality of the video on this particular DVD is poor and unenjoyable.

Borrowers (1973)This product was mailed and delivered promptly, as agreed by the seller. However, the product itself was terrible. I didn't like this one at all. There was absolutely no substance to the story line. Even the version starring John Goodman was better than this one.

When comparing the one starring Eddie Albert to the version starring Ian Holm, THERE IS NO COMPARISON. The one with Ian Holm was excellent family viewing, and as an adult, I even view it alone. I love it.

I agree with the other reviewers. This is one of the worst prints I have ever seen on DVD. There are three crisp clear pictures from the film on the back of the case. Unfortunately you will never see anything like that in the video. The colors are muddy and muted throughout the film.

This is all a sad thing because it is a classic film from Hallmark Hall of Fame and deserves a much better presentation than what it got from "Digivew Products" I would suggest avoiding anything with their name on it. I know I will. And unless you REALLY want this film, I can not suggest you buy it in it's current form.

IMDB lists this as a Hallmark Hall of Fame episode. It certainly
is a high quality theatrical production, in my opinion on the
same level , for example, as Francis Ford Coppola's 1993
production of "The Secret Garden." It is a wonderfully done piece,
sure to be enjoyed by children and adults of all ages.

Our copy came on one of the discs in the 50 Movie Family Fun Pack
by Mill Creek, ordered from Amazon. While the color may not be
up to that of a fully restored film, it was of acceptable quality,
without visual or audio noise, and the sound was fine.

I have liked this movie from the time I was little so was really excited when Amazon had it. When it came in the male, though, the excitement was for nothing. The sound quality and picture on this DVD are the worst I have ever seen. I never watched it again after the first time.