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Like most baby boomers, I’ve watched this film dozens of times in the past on broadcast TV, then VHS tape, then LaserDisc … but I had never actually SEEN “The Wizard of Oz” until this newly restored DVD came out. It’s an extraordinary transfer. The sepia-tone Kansas sequences are startlingly enthralling and definite, and the Technicolored world “Over the Rainbow” is truly fine. I found myself fascinated by details I had never noticed before: the glittering corn stalks in the Scarecrow’s field; the mirror-like floors of the Emerald City; the polished buttons on the guardsmen’s uniforms. Incredibly, even the individual grains of red sand in the Witch’s hourglass stood out and glistened! All these minor-but-sumptuous visual details served to heighten the magical spell that the film has always woven, enhancing the performances, the account, and the music.
The DVD extras are a mind-boggling embarrassment of riches. The “Making Of” documentary hosted by the incomparable Angela Lansbury is worth the trace of the DVD alone, but there’s so distinguished more: an international poster gallery, interviews with cast members, deleted scenes, production stills, radio clips, etc, etc. There’s enough material to sustain even the most casual viewer fascinated for hours, and a factual Oz buff will be occupied for days!
If you only bought a DVD player to witness this one disc, it would well be worth the expense. Treat yourself, and plunge in care for with this classic film again … for the first time.
I was unprejudiced critized for foisting off the following review of the 3-disk DVD station as a review of the current Blu-ray. I didn’t; Amazon did. As anyone who’s been here for a while will behold, Amazon throws all DVD reviews into the same bucket, regardless of the edition. So don’t blame me.
Buy,Download, Or Stream The Wizard of Oz! Click Here
Buy,Download, Or Stream The Wizard of Oz! Click Here
I fair got the Blu-ray, and will have some comments on it at the extinguish.
Buy,Download, Or Stream The Wizard of Oz! Click Here
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 steal.
It does. Oh, yes it does.
“The Wizard of Oz” has always looked fine, one of the better Technicolor films. Unlike “Gone With the Wind”, which was generally dusky and desaturated, and which UltraResolution greatly improved, I didn’t request mighty enhancement for “Oz”.
Was I ever cross. I stared with my jaw hanging inaugurate. “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 current prints did not seem obviously lacking in either. Even more wonderful is the expansion of the tonal scale. Murky scenes (particularly those in the forest and outside the “witches” castle) are now filled with rich detail. Have you ever noticed how glowing the Winkies’ red, white, and gray uniforms are? I hadn’t — until now.
These enhancements combine compose the biggest improvement of all — a major revelation of _texture_. The “feltiness” of many costumes is clear. 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 approach out and stroke. You can stare every last strand of hair.
I’m exaggerating only slightly when I say the improvements of this UltraResolution transfer are not mighty 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 belief it, you cannot imagine what this film (that is, the unusual camera negatives) _really_ looks like. It’s a shame the people who created “Oz” never got to look it this draw.
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 understanding 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 noteworthy work for a cramped improvement. (A friend suggested that these sorts of things are left in because videophiles appreciate finding them.)
As to the differences between the two- and three-disk sets… The latter includes a packet of unusual 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 status of 10 reproductions of Kodachrome publicity photographs. For this viewer, these extras alone elaborate the higher mark.
The third disk will be of most interest to lovers of all things Oz. It includes a handsomely produced biography of L. Frank Baum (animated enough that you might want to notice it more than once), plus all the restful Oz films and a Technicolor Oz cartoon. The existence of these is famed 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 fill puny relation to the novel book. The Larry Semon — a once wildly-popular but now virtually forgotten cartoonist and droll * — version is especially corrupt, as it is petite more than a vehicle for Semon’s note of physical comedy. The Baum estate is at least partly to blame — _any_ movie version must have seemed more fine than none, especially as the technology to effect a convincing version of “Oz” would not exist for another 15 years.
The film’s opening titles praise the book’s “superb philosophy”, which seems to be either “You already have everything you need to be delighted”, or “The retort to your problems lies within yourself”. These are not so considerable “agreeable” as reflections of the hard-nosed “All your problems are your bear fault” and “If you’re not a success, it’s because you’re inactive” homilies that grew out of the stout opportunity for personal development and material success this country offered.
I absorb L. Frank Baum had something a bit different in mind. “The Wizard of Oz” is a fairy narrative in which magic has no bearing on the issues at the center of the sage. I acquire Baum wanted to discourage children from fantasizing that magic could be a solution to one’s problems.
So… he has the four principals execute a grueling perambulate to the Emerald City, then regain the wizard is a humbug. (What a shame the blander “unfounded”, “fraud”, or “phony” have replaced that palatable word.) He posesses no magic to supply wit, savor, or grit, which the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion have demonstrated they already have.
Baum’s “true” is simple — Care For, wisdom, and courage are what we need to glean through life. No one can _give_ them to us, because we _already_ maintain them, and all we need to do is speak them.
“Is that legal? ”
“That’s all it is.”
Now… the inquire of you’ve been waiting for the retort to… Is the Blu-ray situation worth the stamp?
I viewed the Blu-ray on a Pioneer 60″ Pro Kuro, fed from a Sony BDP-S550. I also watched the DVD on the Pioneer (fed from the same Blu-ray player), and on a 36″ Sony 400-series WEGA “improved definition” TV (fed from a Sony DVP-S7000) .
The DVD remains a terrific DVD, and looks terrific on a high-quality 480i monitor. (Stare the preceding review.) It was, and detached is, a demo-quality DVD.
When played on the BD player, and upconverted to 1080p, the DVD’s image on the Kuro is graceful darn trustworthy — the sharpness and detail are at least “acceptable”. But when you play the Blu-ray disk, the image goes from “acceptable” to almost-startling. Two examples… Impress the enhanced detail and texture in the weather-beaten wood above the WWE’s wearisome legs. And in the crowd scenes, you can look (honest about) every Munchkin face. There is virtually no smearing of detail.
So… should you race proper out in a buying frenzy and acquire the BD edition? It depends.
The DVD is obedient enough for an agreeable narrate on a high-quality SD monitor. But even upconverted, it isn’t capable enough for a _large_ HD reveal. If you have, say, a 40″ display; your BD player has a edifying upconverter (not all do) ; and you don’t sit “on top of” the mask (as I do) ; you might seek puny incompatibility between the DVD and the Blu-ray.
But if you’re a video fuss-budget (as I am) and sit closer than the “experts” recommend (why _shouldn’t_ you? ), you will almost certainly rob the Blu-ray. It’s your call.
A few remarks on the extras… The wristwatch, as the kid in the Ally bank commercial says, is a fraction of junk. The form shows no particular style, wit, or imagination. And as others have said, “The Dreamer of OZ” is a glum transfer, very badly unpconverted to 1080. It is not of acceptable quality, and should have been set aside on the DVD disk.
I will arrive encourage later (I hope) with some more comments on the sound and the other extras. Forcing yourself to repeatedly glimpse gargantuan chunks of a movie, regardless of its quality, is an ennervating experience.
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