Product Details

• Actors: Audrey Hepburn, Michael York, Gustavo Tavares
• Directors: Bruce Franchini
• Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: KULTUR VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: September 26, 2006
• Run Time: 330 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000H6SXS8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,197 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn (Special Tribute Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

In Pursuit of Beauty offers an experience of remarkable authenticity, and a consummately incisive portrait of Audrey Hepburn: the bravura performer; the fine, collaborative artist; the delighted lover of gardens and nature, the life affirming humanitarian, and the truly gracious, incomparable star. Also featuring signature scenes from the acclaimed series, In Pursuit of Beauty serves up 17 spectacular garden locations with Audrey, in seven countries – Holland, Dominican Republic, USA, Japan, Italy, France and England.

Viewers can enjoy In Pursuit Of Beauty as one grand, al fresco world tour, or pause and breathe in the beauty of more than thirty scenes. Chapter access is provided for each of Audrey’s five separate production itineraries. Two particularly captivating sequences include Audrey at the tulip naming ceremony in her honor at the Hepburn ancestral home in Apeldoorn – all in Dutch; and "One Fine Day", which includes on-location interviews with Audrey, the director, the producer, and with extensive behind-the-scenes footage of Audrey’s memorable day of filming at Tintinhull House in Somerset, England.

Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn – Audrey’s Emmy Award winning and final performance before the camera – has been recognized as the most accomplished, beautiful garden series ever produced. Audrey believed that the gardens, not she, were the real stars, and wrote: "After years of challenge and reward in my own garden, I greatly looked forward to spending time in some of the world’s most beautiful gardens. I never imagined they would reveal the diverse range of expression they did."

The new Tribute Edition 3-disc DVD features the complete series of 8 programs, with narration by renowned actor Michael York: Roses & Roses Gardens, Formal Gardens, Country Gardens, Public Gardens & Trees, Flower Gardens, Tropical Gardens, Japanese Gardens, Tulips & Spring Bulbs. Also included are selections from the original music soundtrack featuring the works of Purcell, Debussy, Ravel, Rameau, Vivaldi, Copland and more.

BONUS FEATURE: Until now, the story of Audrey Hepburn’s decided influence in Gardens Of The World has never really been told. who better to tell this enchanting story than Audrey herself? The newly produced 45-minute documentary reconstructs Audrey Hepburn’s grand world tour for Gardens of the World – cinéma vérité, with intimate never-before-released footage of Audrey on location in the spring and summer of 1990 – and premiers on the Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn Tribute Edition 3-disc DVD . "I know that for Audrey the making of Gardens of the World was not only a marvelous adventure, but also one of the most rewarding experiences of her life and career", noted Audrey’s life partner, Robert Wolders. "The new documentary so wonderfully captures her heart and spirit. It confirms those personal qualities of Audrey the public somehow instinctively imagines to be true, but otherwise would NEVER be able to know."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to be a gardener to love this show!, February 2, 2000

By 

Bunny Man! "mallard6" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gardens of the World With Audrey Hepburn (DVD)

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!

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just eye candy!, August 17, 2000

By 

Charles S. Houser (Binghamton, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gardens of the World With Audrey Hepburn (DVD)

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."

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great series, odd DVD, March 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Gardens of the World With Audrey Hepburn (DVD)

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.