The Audrey Hepburn Story
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Frances Fisher, Eric McCormack
Extras: Talent File, Trailers
Rating:
Produced for television and broadcast not too long ago, ’The Audrey Hepburn Story’ is a 2-hour biopic that allows you to get a better look at one of movie history’s most beloved actresses, who sadly passed away much too soon. Sensitive and touching, romantic and dramatic, the film shows us Audrey Hepburn on and off the screen in a well-written movie that truly captivates.
While the physical appearance of main actress Jennifer Love Hewitt actually resembles that of Audrey quite a bit on many occasions, that is also where the similarities end. Although a decent actress, Love Hewitt never reaches the magnetic attraction and radiance that permeated Audrey, and despite her best efforts she usually comes across as a little lost in shoes that are just too big.
Interestingly, Columbia TriStar Home Video presents ’The Audrey Hepburn Story’ in an anamorphic widescreen transfer that has a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Columbia’s efforts to support and drive high definition productions does obviously not stop at TV productions, which is great to see. The transfer is beautifully clean and without any blemishes. A tad soft at times the transfer boasts powerful colors that are very faithfully reproduced, purposely adding to the romantic mystique surrounding Audrey Hepburn. The picture has very good contrast and blacks are deep and solid. As expected, the compression of the film on this DVD is without flaws, creating an image that is highly detailed and very well defined.
As most modern TV productions, ’The Audrey Hepburn Story’ features a good Dolby Stereo audio track that is coming across very nicely. Although for obvious reasons not as engaging as fully discrete multi-channel productions, the track has a very natural quality that is always pleasing and doesn’t have any signs of harshness or distortion. The sound field makes good use of the stereo field and the scant surrounds are mostly reserved to give the film’s music score of the film a little more depth.
’The Audrey Hepburn Story’ is a well-done biopic that manages to convince viewers and capture some of the charm of Audrey’s real life. The quality that Columbia is presenting this film in should once again be just another reason to give this disc a closer look.
