Benaud to Border (1994)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1994
Running Time	118:09 (Case: 112)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Various
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Richie Benaud Allan Border Kim Hughes Greg Chappell Ian Chappell Bill Lawry Dennis Lillee Jeff Thomson Rod Marsh Doug Walters
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    With the Australian cricket season winding down for another year and our dominant national team touring New Zealand, all set to inflict yet another demoralising defeat on a hapless opponent, it is a good time to take a look at yet another of the myriad of cricket titles available on DVD.

    Benaud To Border is another cricket disc based around either a series of highlights or a retrospective look at memorable moments of the game. These titles are not in the documentary vein, but are rather a compilation of moments or musings from some of the game's past and present players. We have previously reviewed titles such as Steve Waugh - A Perfect Day, Six of The Best - 25 Years of Australian One Day Cricket, Master class, Richie Benaud's Greatest XI, Kings Of Speed and The New Guard. Feel free to take a closer look.

    It is more than a little ironic that this DVD should come onto the market at a time when the television rights to the upcoming and highly anticipated Ashes series between a resurgent England and Australia are being hotly debated. It seems the commercial networks (including long time cricket supporter channel 9) have decided that cricket in prime time does not rate and do not want anything to do with it - leaving it instead for the pay TV networks to broadcast. This has caused uproar because not everyone has subscription television and cricket is regarded as the "everyman" sport in this country. At the time of writing this review, the public broadcaster ABC has been negotiating with the English Cricket Board to try and secure the rights after some gentle nudging by our cricket loving PM. The irony arises because up until 1979 the ABC was actually the home of cricket, both on television and radio. Kerry Packer and his World Series Cricket revolution put an end to that in the late 1970s and ever since the cricket has been on Channel 9. This DVD therefore comes along at quite a topical time and proves just how much cricket the ABC did previously cover for more than 20 years.

    What we have here is a two-hour four-part production made in 1994, featuring highlights from ABC coverage of test matches, news reports and several interviews by ABC journalists with players and administrators. It isn't really a documentary, though it is a document of a period of time where cricket on television was going through some radical changes. Narrated by long-time and now retired ABC commentator Neville Oliver, it starts off with coverage of England's 1958 test tour to Australia and progresses through most of the home series until 1979 when the broadcast rights went to Channel 9.

    From the 1958 ashes series we see series against the West Indies in 1960/61 (including the famous tied test in Brisbane), and a series against South Africa in 1963/64, all under the captaincy of Richie Benaud. Bob Simpson then takes over as captain and more tours of the West Indies in the mid 60s are shown. Colour television finally hits in 1974 when the Chappell era is in full swing before the highlights wraps up with vision of the Centenary test in Melbourne in 1977 and the debut of Alan Border in 1979.

    Much of the footage has been seen before, including significant parts of the interviews with the various players, which have been seen in both the Cricket in the 70s and Cricket In the 80s documentary series. Some of the interviews shown here, though, are significantly longer than those in the documentaries. It should also be pointed out that some of the highlights vision (particularly the Centenary test footage) is nowhere near as good quality as it is in those documentaries.

    Devout cricket fans wanting a document of all the important moments in their beloved game will want to get hold of this. Those wanting to learn a little more about the changes in the game and what impact these changes had in the social context of our country are better served by taking a look at either of the 70s or 80s documentaries.

Video

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, the transfer is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Naturally enough, the transfer is of television broadcast quality, mostly in black and white, and the source material dates from the late 1950s through to the late 1970s. Colour television hit Australia in 1974 and so footage from then on is obviously in glorious colour, though is incredibly flat and faded compared with the vibrancy we expect today.

   The footage is of mixed vintages, with the older material having been sourced from film rather than video tape. As a result it is quite sharp and detailed, though is filled with all sorts of artefacts including the usual blobs, globs, and even a few reel change markings. Once the availability of video tape became more common (around the 1960s sometime I think) the quality changes, with less clarity and a different set of artefacts, such as tracking issues and low level noise being more common.

    The colours are drab and mute, which judging by some of the garish fashions on display in the late 1970s is just as well.

    No compression artefacts are evident, and aside from some obvious analogue tape problems in the older footage, it is mostly clear of other imperfections.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a dual layered disc with the layer break placed between episode two and three.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Seeing as the disc is comprised almost exclusively of television highlights, we get television quality audio. Some of it is quite distorted, of low fidelity and quite harsh on the ear. Frankly I didn't expect it to be anything else. It is at all times clear enough to understand what is going on.

    There is only one audio track available, this being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    Dialogue is clear and concise at all times.

    There is no surround or subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Main Menu Audio

    This disc is not available in Region 1.

    Benaud To Border is a good collection of cricket highlights with a few television interviews and news reports thrown in. This is not a documentary, merely a collection of archival material. Cricket buffs and historians will love it, others will find it a little tedious.

    A worthy addition to the library of any serious cricket fan.

    The video and audio quality are exactly as expected for television footage that is nearly 50 years old.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall