One of the most endearing films ever made makes its high-def debut on Blu-ray in a fantastic limited collector’s edition that contains almost everything a classic film lover would want with a 52-Page Commemorative Book, a 70th Anniversary Watch, Original Campaign reproductions, an outstanding 6-hour documentary ‘When the Lion Roars’ and of course one of the most timeless films of all time painstakingly restored to look great in our era of technical perfection.
To critique ‘The Wizard of Oz’ would just be silly but rest assured that the film has lost none of the magic or charm that cinemagoers enjoyed 70 years ago. Probably the most watched film of all time benefiting from yearly television events for decades (my parents are still slightly taken aback that they can watch it at anytime), the legacy of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is hard to quantify.
I mean without ‘The Wizard of Oz’, would there even be ‘Harry Potter’? From the gorgeous Technicolor visuals, the endlessly imaginative and addictive songs, the fantastic, wonder-filled sets to the once-in-a-lifetime casting, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is that rare perfect amalgam of all facets that go into making a motion picture - the benchmark in which all fantasy pics aspire too.
1939 was one heck of year for film as it also gave us ‘Gone with the Wind’ and while ‘Gone with the Wind’ certainly won the battle (grossing more that year – actually, counting inflation, ‘Gone with the Wind’ is still the highest-grossing film of all time), it arguably lost the war to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as the most iconic film ever made. Could there possibly be anybody who wouldn’t immediately start tapping their toes once they heard ‘We’re off to see the wizard…’?
The American’s answer to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, L. Frank Baum wrote the ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ in 1900 (sharing creator credit with illustrator W.W. Denslow) and despite some differences, director Victor Fleming and writers Noel Langley, Florence Ryterson and Edgar Allan Woolf fashioned a mostly faithful adaptation. The key difference being that in the film, Oz was all a dream a la Wonderland yet in the novel, Oz was meant to be real (an idea carried on in Gregory Maguire’s enormously successful ‘Wicked’ novel).
It really works either way and there’s no denying the charm in watching Dorothy point out her Kansas family and friends who had invaded her grand dream at the end of the film.
The timeless tale of a girl, Dorothy, swept up from her Kansas home in a tornado and arriving in the magical land of ‘Oz’ where munchkins, good and bad witches, a singing and dancing scarecrow, tin man and lion and, of course, a wizard all convince her that ‘there’s no place like home.’ The themes are universal and while a bit dated, still immediately accessible. After all, I’m sure we can all agree that really is no place like home.
One of the crown jewels of the Warner Brothers library, they spared no expense in scrubbing this up for its high-def presentation. Believe it or not, I never got around to watching ‘The Wizard of Oz’ on DVD so my jaw was suitably on the floor when taking in this gorgeous 70-year old film.
A featurette on the disc details how the original Technicolor negatives were scanned at 8K resolution with a team of artists ridding the print of scratches and dirt, a master then created from that for this Blu-ray.
The result is a certifiable treat for fans where tiny little details in the film, perhaps not noticed before, will become clearly visible. There is still some slight grain that is inherent and faithful to the original pic but I can’t imagine ‘The Wizard of Oz’ looking more perfect than this.
A new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is included and does an expectedly great job remixing the original mono soundtrack (also included here for purists). While it can’t compete with ‘Iron Man’, I was pleasantly surprised by the distinct dialogue and well used surrounds – the tornado sequence now envelops you with a new sense of tension.
This 4-disc ultimate collector’s set is a new benchmark for comprehensive goodies both tangible and on disc. This bulky shelf-space swamping set is limited in number (243,000 of these bad boys were made) so get ‘em while their hot!
Let’s start with the collectibles included in the set: We get a 52-page hardcover commemorative book ‘Behind the Curtain of Production 1060’ written by Oz historian John Fricke where we’re treated to glossy photos, and various stories and bios about the film.
A one-sheet reproduction of the film’s budget (a cool $2,769,230 total), a reproduction of the original 1939 campaign book which features dozens of pull-out cards detailing poster samples, ads, articles, etc., and a ‘Limited-Edition 70th Anniversary Watch with Genuine Crystals’ housed in a silver case.
I didn’t add everything up but we’re dealing with at least 15 hours of special features, whew! so let’s dig in.
On Disc 1 which contains the feature, we get an info-filled audio commentary where Sydney Pollack hosts the various guests including everyone from Judy Garland to historian John Fricke. A lot of archival dialogue here, this is a must listen for fans.
An optional Music-and-Effects-only track is provided along with a Dolby 5.1 Sing-Along Feature where lyrics pop up during the songs (songs can also be selected individually from the menu).
A 51-minute doc ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic’ made in 1990 and hosted by Angela Lansbury is good starter material and details a lot of fun production stories.
This has made the rounds on home video for a long time now so chances are you’ve seen this already but if you haven’t, here ya go. Angela Lansbury also reads a video storybook in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook’ which runs about 10 minutes.
Lansbury is back for ‘We Haven’t’ Really Met Properly’ a 20-minute featurette that details the careers of nine ‘Oz’ cast members which show clips from their other work including a few info tidbits.
Next up is a quick look at the 2005 remastering process in ‘Prettier than Ever: The Restoration of Oz’. Produced for the 2005 DVD, ‘The Art of Imagination: A tribute to Oz’ gathers comments from various Hollywood players like Peter Jackson about what makes ‘Oz’ the classic it is.
‘Because of the Wonderful Things It Does: The Legacy of Oz’ details how ‘Oz’ has invaded our lives for the past 70-years and how its legacy will not soon let up. ‘Memories of Oz’, produced by TCM in 2001, catches up with the munchkins and includes various other production info focusing on special effects and set design. These three docs run almost an hour and a half.
‘Harold Arlen’s Home Movies’ is about five minutes of 16mm footage shot during ‘Oz’ visits. ‘Outtakes and Deleted Scenes’ is 14-minutes and includes an uncut ‘If I Only Had a Brain’. ‘It’s a Twister! It’s a Twister! The Tornado Tests’ runs eight minutes and takes a look at the still impressive tornado effects.
‘From the Vault’ and ‘The Audio Vault’ contain tons more material: ‘Good News of 1939’ Radio show runs an hour long and has Robert Young host a tribute ahead of the films premiere. ‘12/25/50 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast’ is also an hour long and is an intriguing radio adaptation of the film for Christmas Day with Judy Garland reprising her role.
‘Jukebox’ includes over an hour of rehearsal footage, voice testing, deleted songs and alternate takes of ‘Over the Rainbow’. ‘Les Is on the Air’ is 10-minute radio promo. A collection of vintage shorts ‘Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power’, ‘Cavalcade of the Academy Awards’ and ‘Texas Contest Winners’ are also provided.
‘Off to See the Wizard’ is some funny animated clips associated with the 1967 ABC TV series. A ridiculous amount of stills are included in ‘Stills Galleries’ and a ‘Theatrical Trailer Gallery’ round things out for Disc 1. Yep, Disc 1!
Disc 2 is also a Blu-ray disc and starts off with ‘Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman’ a half-hour look at Fleming, director of both ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ – quite the year for Fleming, eh? Includes a bio and clips from his other various flicks. ‘L. Frank Baum: The Man behind the Curtain’ is a bio of the author and is pretty inclusive at thirty minutes.
‘Hollywood Celebrates Its Biggest Little Stars’ is, you guessed it, a short featurette on the munchkins with some offering up retrospective thoughts and various anecdotal info.
What’s next is really cool, WB has provided various other adaptations of Baum’s famous stories, that include several silent films as well as 1990s feature-length ‘The Dreamer of Oz’ a made-for-TV biopic starring John Ritter as Baum.
‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ is from 1910 and runs 13 minutes, ‘His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz’ is from 1914 and written and directed by Baum, ‘The Magic Cloak of Oz’ is 40 minutes and is also from 1914, 1925s ‘The Wizard of Oz’ which runs 72 minutes has been restored and the 1933 Technicolor short cartoon ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
The third disc is another whopper and also a really cool inclusion despite being on a standard-def DVD which is ‘MGM: When the Lion Roars’, a 6-hour long (6 hours!) documentary on the epic up and downs of legendary studio MGM with everything covered from death, scandal and the creation of some Hollywood’s most classic films.
Classic film fans will eat this doc up with a spoon and while the length seems formidable, there’s rarely a dull spot. This set contains an absolute wealth of fantastic special features and even at the higher MSRP is clearly worth every penny. The 4th disc is a bonus digital copy to get your ‘Oz’ fix on the go.
A film that will be enjoyed by quite literally all ages, this is probably the most highly recommended Blu-ray yet with painstakingly reverent treatment from Warner Brothers that offers up a set as close to perfection as you can get in all areas including video, audio and special features.
If you consider yourself a film fan, you’ll definitely want to clear off some shelf space as if you don’t, you might find yourself singing ‘If I Only Had a Brain…’
The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
The Clips:
Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Forgot to Give Me a Heart -
Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Munchkinland -
Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Did I Scare You -
Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary To Oz -
Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition Trailer -
Your Talkback on this Story