The Wizard of Oz (Two-Disc Special Edition)

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 this new two-disc edition. First things first: All the bonus material from the earlier disc is there (with one small exception). 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 (Some text introductions to the features have been replaced by narration by Lansbury, for whatever reason.)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. Oh, and if you were still wondering about the missing material mentioned above--the 1999 disc included one-minute excerpts of three early treatments of The Wizard of Oz. Those excerpts are not included in the two-disc special edition, but the third disc of the three-disc collector's edition includes the complete versions of those treatments and more. --David Horiuchi

Description
An All-New Wizard of Oz With State of The Art Ultra-Resolution Picture Quality and Over 10 Hours of Bonus Extras.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by John Fricke and multiple cast and crew members.
Biographies:We Haven't Really Met Properly - includes 9 orginal cast biographies
Deleted Scenes:If I Only Had a Brain; If I Only Had a Heart; Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Over the Rainbow; The Jitterbug
Documentary:Memories of Oz -2001 TCM documentary
Featurette:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook; Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz; The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz; Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz
Music Clips:Audio Vault Includes: Over the Rainbow; Munchkinland Medley Rehearsal Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Sequence Recordings; Munchkinland Medley Voice Tests; If I Only Had a Brain; We're Off to See the Wizard; If I Only Had a Heart; If I Only Had the Nerve/We?re Off to See the Wizard; Emerald City/The Merry Old Land of Oz; If I Were King of the Forest; The Jitterbug; Over the Rainbow/Triumphal Return to Emerald City; Kansas Underscoring; Munchkinland Underscoring; and more
Music Only Track
Newsreel:Cavalcade of the Academy Awards Excerpt - 1939 newsreel
Other:Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power - 1938 MGM short; Leo Is on the Air Radio Promo; Good News of 1939 Radio Show; 12/25/1950 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast
Photo gallery:Oz on Broadway; Pre-MGM; Sketches and Storyboards; Costume and Make-up Tests; Richard Thorpe's Oz; Buddy Ebsen; Oz Comes to Life; Behind the Scenes; Portraits; Special Effects; Post Production; Deleted Scenes; Original Publicity
TV Special:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic - 1990 TV special
Theatrical Trailer:1939 What is Oz? Teaser; 1940 Loews Cairo Theater Trailer; 1949 Re-issue Trailer; 1949 Grownup Re-issue Trailer; 1970 Children's Matinee Re-issue Trailer; 1998 Warner Bros. Re-issue Trailer; Texas Contest Winners [1939 trailer]

The DVD extras are a mind-boggling embarrassment of riches. The "Making Of" documentary hosted by the incomparable Angela Lansbury is worth the price of the DVD alone, but there's so much more: an international poster gallery, interviews with cast members, deleted scenes, production stills, radio clips, etc, etc. There's enough material to keep even the most casual viewer fascinated for hours, and a true Oz buff will be occupied for days!

If you only bought a DVD player to watch this one disc, it would well be worth the expense. Treat yourself, and fall in love with this classic film again ... for the first time.


Wizards, Witches and Oz, oh my!   September 4, 2001
Victoria Tarrani (Betwixt FL and CA, USA)
145 out of 168 found this review helpful

See it again for the first time -- introduce it to a child. Oz is as magical today as when L. Frank Baum first told the tale. Who does not want to go "Over the Rainbow?"

The thrill of watching Dorothy fight to keep Toto, then running away just as a storm is brewing is drama that children can feel. Discovering a magician who is able to "see" Dorothy's past, and remind her of Aunt Em's love for her is a message for all generations.

Although we know much more about the effects of tornadoes now than when we were children through the child's eyes we can still find that we are caught up in the storm. The swirling images that pass Dorothy's window as the house whirls and finally lands was filled with special effects were magical in 1939; they still are.

The magic of sharing that moment when Dorothy opens the door into a world of color still makes children shiver with enchantment. I remember one night when my parents were out, and I sneaked into the living room. I kept the volume on the black and white TV low so that no one would come for me. It was nearly midnight when that door to OZ opened. I was keenly disappointed that Oz was not in color, I was sure that this moment would fill my world with color. That is the wonder of childhood.

A child will tremble at the Wicked Witch of the East, and be enthralled as Glenda, the good witch of the North, floats to the ground in an iridescent bubble. Children are frequently called "Munchkin" and they are surprised to discover Munchkinland.

It is so easy to forget that Judy Garland is acting because her big eyes, wide smile, innocence, and voice are Dorothy. Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion, and Ray Bolger, who is the scarecrow, has given a legacy to film and heritage that is a genuine treasure. Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the East, has terrified children for more than six decades, and continues to do so.

There is no place like home. 5 stars.

Victoria Tarrani


Not a restoration, but an entirely different view of the film.   October 30, 2005
William Sommerwerck (Renton, WA USA)
77 out of 78 found this review helpful

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."


If you are new to DVDs, this should be your first purchase!   May 1, 2000
50 out of 52 found this review helpful

Of the DVDs I own or have rented, this one is the most impressive. The special features are numerous and incredible. Who knew that Buddy Ebsen was originally cast as the Tinman or that Ray Bolger had a wonderful dance scene that was deleted from the final cut of the movie? I especially enjoyed the interviews with the cast and the commentary on the other vintage movies that were also released in 1939 (if only we were so lucky to have as many outstanding movies to be released in one year as were released in 1939).

Besides the special features that make this DVD a must own, the sound and picture qualities are superior. Since I was old enough to remember, I watched The Wizard of Oz on TV every year. Now, I get to watch it with my daughter in all of its glory and splendor on DVD. Though the hallway to the Wizard doesn't seem nearly as long and the Wicked Witch is not quite as scary (as when I was a child), the magic of the movie remains. If you loved the movie as a child and you are looking for an exceptional quality DVD that your family will enjoy for years and years, you must buy this DVD! Recapture the magic of the first time you saw The Wizard of Oz by watching it on DVD.


Botched DVD Presentation Of A Five Star Classic   June 17, 2000
Eric Paddon (Morristown, NJ)
38 out of 41 found this review helpful

The ranting I've given is for the DVD, not the film which is five stars and one of the greatest of all time. If you've owned the previous DVD release of this film, and also have the magnificent "Ultimate Oz" laser disc set, I can guarantee you, you will be in for a disappointment with this new DVD release from Warners. The incredible deep color of the film's look in the "Ultimate Oz" set is shockingly gone from this transfer. Now instead of looking magical, Oz looks just....well, normal. John Fricke's wonderful audio commentary has been eliminated too (probably because it is technically licensed by MGM/UA video, which no longer owns the rights to the film), and while the rest of the supplements are duplicated there is one incredible goof that I can't believe no one else has caught on to before. For the "Jitterbug" deleted scene supplement Warners has erroneously used the stills/home movie segment and set them not to the finished song track (as laser disc supplement does) but instead to the choreography rehearsal track where we hear the flat monotone of Donna Massin standing in for Judy Garland with the rest of the cast to a piano track instead of the orchestrated version. It makes for a very unpleasant looking juxtaposition and left me feeling that I hadn't gained a thing with the DVD release. I plan on sticking to the laser disc set myself. And for a better picture that shows the magic of Oz as it *should* be seen snatch a copy of the out of print MGM DVD while you still can!