Compare Prices on The Wizard of Oz
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 fantastic transfer. The sepia-tone Kansas sequences are startlingly entertaining and determined, and the Technicolored world “Over the Rainbow” is truly shapely. 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 tale, 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 imprint of the DVD alone, but there’s so grand more: an international poster gallery, interviews with cast members, deleted scenes, production stills, radio clips, etc, etc. There’s enough material to withhold even the most casual viewer fascinated for hours, and a right Oz buff will be occupied for days!
If you only bought a DVD player to observe this one disc, it would well be worth the expense. Treat yourself, and topple in like with this classic film again … for the first time.
I was unbiased critized for foisting off the following review of the 3-disk DVD area as a review of the recent Blu-ray. I didn’t; Amazon did. As anyone who’s been here for a while will see, 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 kill.
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 consume.
It does. Oh, yes it does.
“The Wizard of Oz” has always looked obedient, one of the better Technicolor films. Unlike “Gone With the Wind”, which was generally shaded and desaturated, and which UltraResolution greatly improved, I didn’t query remarkable enhancement for “Oz”.
Was I ever obnoxious. I stared with my jaw hanging commence. “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 fresh prints did not seem obviously lacking in either. Even more fabulous is the expansion of the tonal scale. Dusky scenes (particularly those in the forest and outside the “witches” castle) are now filled with rich detail. Have you ever noticed how attractive the Winkies’ red, white, and gray uniforms are? I hadn’t — until now.
These enhancements combine beget the biggest improvement of all — a major revelation of _texture_. The “feltiness” of many costumes is positive. 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 come out and stroke. You can spy every last strand of hair.
I’m exaggerating only slightly when I say the improvements of this UltraResolution transfer are not great 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 plan it, you cannot imagine what this film (that is, the fresh camera negatives) _really_ looks like. It’s a shame the people who created “Oz” never got to seek it this diagram.
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 conception 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 considerable work for a miniature improvement. (A friend suggested that these sorts of things are left in because videophiles luxuriate in finding them.)
As to the differences between the two- and three-disk sets… The latter includes a packet of fresh 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 position of 10 reproductions of Kodachrome publicity photographs. For this viewer, these extras alone elaborate the higher heed.
The third disk will be of most interest to lovers of all things Oz. It includes a handsomely produced biography of L. Frank Baum (though-provoking enough that you might want to gape it more than once), plus all the quiet Oz films and a Technicolor Oz cartoon. The existence of these is notorious 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 believe dinky relation to the unusual book. The Larry Semon — a once wildly-popular but now virtually forgotten cartoonist and silly * — version is especially tainted, as it is diminutive more than a vehicle for Semon’s label of physical comedy. The Baum estate is at least partly to blame — _any_ movie version must have seemed more fair than none, especially as the technology to compose a convincing version of “Oz” would not exist for another 15 years.
The film’s opening titles praise the book’s “edifying philosophy”, which seems to be either “You already have everything you need to be tickled”, or “The respond to your problems lies within yourself”. These are not so mighty “marvelous” as reflections of the hard-nosed “All your problems are your believe fault” and “If you’re not a success, it’s because you’re slothful” homilies that grew out of the gigantic opportunity for personal development and material success this country offered.
I hold L. Frank Baum had something a bit different in mind. “The Wizard of Oz” is a fairy story in which magic has no bearing on the issues at the center of the legend. I own Baum wanted to discourage children from fantasizing that magic could be a solution to one’s problems.
So… he has the four principals beget a grueling toddle to the Emerald City, then glean the wizard is a humbug. (What a shame the blander “counterfeit”, “fraud”, or “phony” have replaced that savory word.) He posesses no magic to supply wit, adore, or grit, which the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion have demonstrated they already have.
Baum’s “just” is simple — Esteem, wisdom, and courage are what we need to accept through life. No one can _give_ them to us, because we _already_ own them, and all we need to do is assert them.
“Is that moral? ”
“That’s all it is.”
Now… the request you’ve been waiting for the reply to… Is the Blu-ray space worth the ticket?
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. (Scrutinize the preceding review.) It was, and mild is, a demo-quality DVD.
When played on the BD player, and upconverted to 1080p, the DVD’s image on the Kuro is ravishing darn proper — 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… Ticket the enhanced detail and texture in the weather-beaten wood above the WWE’s wearisome legs. And in the crowd scenes, you can glance (impartial about) every Munchkin face. There is virtually no smearing of detail.
So… should you race correct out in a buying frenzy and gain the BD edition? It depends.
The DVD is safe enough for an favorable recount on a high-quality SD monitor. But even upconverted, it isn’t worthy enough for a _large_ HD prove. If you have, say, a 40″ display; your BD player has a worthy upconverter (not all do) ; and you don’t sit “on top of” the cover (as I do) ; you might leer slight disagreement 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 grasp 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 allotment of junk. The develop shows no particular style, wit, or imagination. And as others have said, “The Dreamer of OZ” is a unhappy transfer, very badly unpconverted to 1080. It is not of acceptable quality, and should have been effect on the DVD disk.
I will arrive aid later (I hope) with some more comments on the sound and the other extras. Forcing yourself to repeatedly behold gigantic chunks of a movie, regardless of its quality, is an ennervating experience.
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