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 The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector's Edition) :: 1419818597
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| When it was released during Hollywood's golden year of 1939, The Wizard of Oz didn't start out as the perennial classic it has since become. The film did respectable business, but it wasn't until its debut on television that this family favorite saw its popularity soar. And while Oz's TV broadcasts are now controlled by media mogul Ted Turner (who owns the rights), the advent of home video has made this lively musical a mainstay in the staple diet of great American films. Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her dog, Toto, and her three companions on the yellow brick road to Oz--the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)--have become pop-culture icons and central figures in the legacy of fantasy for children. As the Wicked Witch who covets Dorothy's enchanted ruby slippers, Margaret Hamilton has had the singular honor of scaring the wits out of children for more than six decades. The film's still as fresh, frightening, and funny as it was when first released. It may take some liberal detours from the original story by L. Frank Baum, but it's loyal to the Baum legacy while charting its own course as a spectacular film. Shot in glorious Technicolor, befitting its dynamic production design (Munchkinland alone is a psychedelic explosion of color and decor), The Wizard of Oz may not appeal to every taste as the years go by, but it's required viewing for kids of all ages. --Jeff Shannon DVD features
The Wizard of Oz DVD released in 1999 was loaded with extra features, but it's now safe to throw away that version in all its cardboard-package glory in favor of the new three-disc edition. First things first: All the bonus material from the earlier disc is there. That includes the Angela Lansbury-hosted documentary The Making of a Movie Classic; the outtakes and deleted scenes, including Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" reprise and the home-movie recording of "The Jitterbug"; the sketches and stills and composer Harold Arlen's home movies; the audio underscores and radio programs; the 1979 interviews with Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, and Jack Haley; and other items too numerous to mention. (Some text introductions to the features have been replaced by narration by Lansbury, for whatever reason.) Brand-new to the 2005 edition is a sharp restoration using Warner's Ultra Resolution process and an accompanying featurette on how it's done. The technicians also discuss how the sound was remixed, though that would have been more effective had it included surround-sound demonstrations (the featurette is in 2.0). Other features on the new set include a commentary track by critic John Fricke supplemented by vintage cast interviews (he offers a lot of trivia, and debunks the myth that Shirley Temple was ever close to getting the Dorothy role); profiles of nine cast members and clips of other movies they appeared in (including Toto); a lightly animated 10-minute storybook again narrated by Lansbury; 2001 and 2005 behind-the-scenes featurettes; and a 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast. The 1999 disc also included one-minute excerpts of three early treatments of The Wizard of Oz. The third disc of the three-disc collector's edition includes the complete versions of those treatments and more. They are four silent films: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1910, 13 min.), "The Magic Cloak of Oz" (1914, 38 min.), His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914, 59 min., written and directed by Baum himself), The Wizard of Oz (1925, 72 min., Larry Semon). The fifth treatment is Ted Eshbaum's 1933 Technicolor cartoon short which has songs and sound, and is the first depiction of Kansas in black and white and Oz in color. The third disc also has a 38-minute biography of L. Frank Baum, and collector's-edition supplements include a gorgeous set of photo cards among other materials. --David Horiuchi Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
After watching this new film to video transfer from original 3 strip Technicolor elements, I have to wonder why the film industry do not make films using this wonderful process anymore. The three strip Technicolor process, similar to modern high end 3-CCD video camera, split light into 3 primary colors (Red,Green,Blue) and recorded seperately on three strips of 35MM films. When you recombine them you creat a full color image with astounding color quality, never possible with a modern single strip color film. This new DVD version they scanned the original nitrate Technicolor R/G/B negatives digitally with 4K resolution, and recombine them using digital edge detection for optimum alignment. The result is amazing with bright, rich colors and image details that is truely spectacular.
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Author: Guest
There's no need to discuss "The Wizard of Oz" itself, a classic among classics (though I'll have something to say about its "philosophy" later on). You probably want to know whether the UltraResolution transfer justifies the purchase.
It does. Oh, yes it does.
"The Wizard of Oz" has always looked good, one of the better Technicolor films. Unlike "Gone With the Wind", which was generally dark and desaturated, and which UltraResolution greatly improved, I didn't expect much enhancement for "Oz".
Was I ever wrong. I stared with my jaw hanging open. "Oz" is the best UltraResolution transfer by far -- and the others were not exactly chopped liver.
The improvement in detail and sharpness is startling, especially as the original prints did not seem obviously lacking in either. Even more amazing is the expansion of the tonal scale. Dark scenes (particularly those in the forest and outside the "witches" castle) are now filled with rich detail. Have you ever noticed how beautiful the Winkies' red, white, and gray uniforms are? I hadn't -- until now.
These enhancements combine produce the biggest improvement of all -- a major revelation of _texture_. The "feltiness" of many costumes is obvious. The burlap of the Scarecrow's face is now plainly visible, particularly in the close-up where he misstates the Pythagorean Theorem. And the Lion's costume is a thick pile of fur you want to reach out and stroke. You can see every last strand of hair.
I'm exaggerating only slightly when I say the improvements of this UltraResolution transfer are not much less than those from cleaning the Sistine Chapel's frescos. It's as if layers of murk and grime -- that you never even knew were there! -- have been stripped away. Until you view it, you cannot imagine what this film (that is, the original camera negatives) _really_ looks like. It's a shame the people who created "Oz" never got to see it this way.
The image quality is so high that I often felt as if I were looking through a window at live performers. (Well, almost.) No matter what versions you already have, you won't be disappointed with this one. I watched it twice in two days, and I might even view it a third time tonight.
My only quibble is that several matte paintings do not blend properly, because the hues at the join lines do not match those of the scene. This could have been fixed; I suspect it seemed too much work for a small improvement. (A friend suggested that these sorts of things are left in because videophiles enjoy finding them.)
As to the differences between the two- and three-disk sets... The latter includes a packet of original programs and promotional material of the sort we haven't seen in 40 years ago. (Remember the 50-cent deluxe programs for road-show films?) There's also a set of 10 reproductions of Kodachrome publicity photographs. For this viewer, these extras alone justify the higher price.
The third disk will be of most interest to lovers of all things Oz. It includes a handsomely produced biography of L. Frank Baum (interesting enough that you might want to watch it more than once), plus all the silent Oz films and a Technicolor Oz cartoon. The existence of these is well-known to anyone familiar with the history of Oz productions, but they've never appeared (as far as I know) in any home-video format.
The films are problematic. The two from Baum's production company are the best -- they have style, charm, and imagination. The others are cheesy ripoffs that bear little relation to the original book. The Larry Semon -- a once wildly-popular but now virtually forgotten cartoonist and comic * -- version is especially obnoxious, as it is little more than a vehicle for Semon's brand of physical comedy. The Baum estate is at least partly to blame -- _any_ movie version must have seemed more attractive than none, especially as the technology to make a convincing version of "Oz" would not exist for another 15 years.
The film's opening titles praise the book's "kindly philosophy", which seems to be either "You already have everything you need to be happy", or "The answer to your problems lies within yourself". These are not so much "kindly" as reflections of the hard-nosed "All your problems are your own fault" and "If you're not a success, it's because you're lazy" homilies that grew out of the great opportunity for personal development and material success this country offered.
I believe L. Frank Baum had something a bit different in mind. "The Wizard of Oz" is a fairy tale in which magic has no bearing on the issues at the center of the story. I believe Baum wanted to discourage children from fantasizing that magic could be a solution to one's problems.
The four principals make a grueling journey to the Emerald City, then find the wizard is a humbug. (What a shame the blander "fake", "fraud", or "phony" have replaced that delightful word.) He posesses no magic to supply wit, love, or grit, which the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion have demonstrated they already have.
Baum's "moral" is simple -- Love, wisdom, and courage are what we need to get through life. No one can _give_ them to us, because we _already_ possess them, and all we need to do is express them.
"Is that right?"
"That's all it is."
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Author: Guest
While this set is a dream come true for fans of the 1939 WIZARD OF OZ, it is even more so for those of us who have waited for years to see quality prints of the various silent film versions especially the 1925 feature directed by and starring Larry Semon. This version (along with ones made in 1910 and 1914) has long been available only in substandard editions that feature copies taken from a worn, faded 16mm print with terrible music and voiceover narration of the intertitles (for more details on that one, check my other reviews). Turner Entertainment/Warner Home Video has not only given us a beautifully restored print with silent film tints and proper speed correction, but they have also given us an appropriate new score from Robert Israel which goes a long way in enhancing the viewing experience. While this version cannot compare with the 1939 film (I give it 3 stars), it does have a lot to offer for the silent film enthusiast. Director Larry Semon who plays the Scarecrow was one of the top silent comics of the early 1920's. It was he who gave Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy their first big breaks. In fact Hardy plays the Tin Man here. Semon was known for his outrageous large scale sight gags and frenetic chase sequences which made his movies very expensive to produce. This WIZARD (just like the ones before it) was a financial flop and brought about the end of Semon's career. He died in 1928 at the age of only 39 and virtually all of his films were forgotten. As you watch this movie, try and put all thoughts of the 1939 version aside and think of this as an amiable fantasy featuring the L. Frank Baum characters with heavy doses of slapstick thrown in (it is a silent comedy after all). Under those conditions you'll find the 1925 version has a lot to offer especially in this gorgeous new transfer. The 1910 and 1914 films which are much closer in spirit to the OZ books (Baum himself produced the 1914 versions) have never looked this good before. Neither has the 1939 version. And so you have it, a collector's edition that lives up to its name and is worth the money. Check out other reviews for descriptions of the 1939 film and all the many extras that come with this set. OZ lovers rejoice and silent film fans do the same for now we have something to celebrate. Five stars all the way.
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Author: Guest
I've read a few negative reviews here complaining about this release because it's not in the widescreen format and wanted to explain why. This movie was originally released in 1939. Movies weren't shot in the widescreen format until the 1950s. Widescreen was a format used by Hollywood to combat a new form of entertainment that they feared would put them out of business...television. This is why television originally had the aspect ratio of 4:3, because it matched the aspect ratio of movies at the time. There was a "fake" widescreen version of the Wizard of Oz released in 1955, but it wasn't true widescreen, how could it be since the master prints are in the 4:3 aspect ratio? MGM simply cut the top and bottom of the picture to fit a widescreen format. Fortunately, this version hasn't seen the light of day since it's release in 1955.
Just wanted to clear that up for people wondering why there's no widescreen format.
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Author: Guest
When I was a child the only time we were allowed to stay up past out bedtime was to watch The Wizard of Oz. It was a real treat. I have always looked forward to seeing it on tv each year and now, watching it with my daughter. I was so excited to see a collector's edition release that we pre-ordered it. I thought "We can watch it when ever we like and it will be just like when I was a kid". I was wrong! My husband and I watched most of the movie saying "Did you see that?" or "I don't remember that!" It was very surreal because I felt like the version I had watched on tv as a child was a distant, vague, out of focus memory, even though I knew what would happen next. The DVD gives you a crisper, more detailed version than ever before. There were so many new things that we don't remember from our "tv" version, I can't begin to list them all here.
I would recommend this for anyone who loves the movie or who would like to share "the Land over the Rainbow" with child. My 5 year old loved it and it has become her new favorite.
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