The Miracle Of The Cards
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Cast: Catherine Oxenberg, Thomas Sangster, Peter Wingfield, Richard Thomas
Extras: Interviews, Production Notes, Trailers
Rating:
Every once in a while it is time to view a good melodrama. At least for me that is. With ’The Miracle Of The Cards, ’ independent publishers Cloud Ten Pictures has released a touching movie based on a true story that truly inspires and moves your heart. Craig Shergold (Thomas Sangster) is an eight year-old boy with a cancerous brain tumor. As his strength fails during the treatment his mother (Catherine Oxenberg) hopes that get-well card will keep her son’s spirits high, and him alive. She initiates a worldwide campaign to have get-well cards sent to Craig and sure enough, a flood of millions of cards reach the young boy. Never wavering in her belief in God, Craig and his mother follow one of the cards to America where she hopes to find a cure.
Cloud Ten is presenting the TV movie ’The Miracle Of The Cards’ in its original fullscreen presentation. The transfer is generally clean and without blemishes but the presentation is noticeably soft and lacks clear edge definition. Colors are very natural and create an image that is very balanced without oversaturation. Blacks are deep but shadows tend to lose some detail occasionally. The compression has been done carefully but nonetheless a lack of definition is evident throughout the picture at times, especially as heavy motion comes into play. Nonetheless, ’The Miracle Of The Cards’ makes for a good presentation that definitely beats what you got on TV.
The audio on the DVD is presented as a Dolby surround track. Although unspectacular, it serves its purpose well and makes for a pleasing presentation. Frequency response is good, and natural-sounding and the dynamic range is sufficient for the material presented within. The DVD also contains English subtitles, which unfortunately are all upper-case – which makes them hard to read – and oftentimes entirely out of synch with the dialogues on the screen.
The disc also contains a trailer, production notes and telephone interviews with cast members and the real Marion and Craig Shergold.
Cloud Ten is serving up a good release with ’The Miracle Of The Cards,’ although it is obvious that the release could have used some polishing around the edges. Nonetheless, this story is powerful enough to make up for the technical deficiencies. Depressing at times, inspiring at others, it is a touching and moving show of strength.
