The Wizard of Oz

Adapted from L. Frank Baum's story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (the rights to which were bought for the then princely sum of $75,000), The Wizard of Oz was made four times, including a short and an animated short before Louis Mayer got hold of it and decided on a big budget family film with a star.  There are rumours that he really wanted Shirley Temple but she was contracted to 20th Century Fox who wouldn't release her so the rising star Judy Garland , then about 15, was chosen to play the main character.  Wearing a corset to make her thinner and more flat chested, she was joined by the great character actors Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan and Buddy Ebsen in the principal roles.  Ebsen had swapped roles with Bolger but was hospitalised when the aluminium dust that was used to create the Tin Man effect got into his lungs so was replaced by Jack Haley and the effect was altered to a metallic paste (no point in hospitalising two men!).
 

The story is extremely simple: a young girl, Dorothy Gale, has frequent run-ins with the wicked woman down the road who gets a court order ordering Dorothy's dog Toto to be destroyed.  Heartbroken, Dorothy runs away but, when she sees a cyclone coming, returns home to try and get into the shelter.  Too late, she seeks refuge in her bedroom and the house is picked up and dropped in the strange land of Oz.  Dorothy is initially thought to be a witch as her house crushed the Wicked Witch of the East but she convinces Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, that she is from Kansas and is lost.  Glinda tells her that the Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City may be able to help and all she needs to do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.  On her way, Dorothy meets a Scarecrow who wishes he had a brain, a Tin Man who wants a heart and a cowardly Lion who's desperate for some courage.  If the Wizard can help her, there is no reason why he can't help them, so the four set off along the Yellow Brick Road.  However, the Wicked Witch of the West, sister of the late Witch of the East, is keen to have her sister's ruby slippers, now comfortably adorning Dorothy's feet so follows them and tries to sabotage their journey.
 
In the seventy years since it was first released, The Wizard of Oz has established itself as a truly great movie, with many organisations ranking it highly in both the family and fantasy categories and recognising its many memorable lines that have entered common parlance.  Such ideas that 'there's no place like home', 'we're not in Kansas anymore' and that the 'man behind the curtain' is a tiny figure representing something that doesn't exist have great cultural significance and have taken on meanings that neither Baum nor the screenwriters envisaged.  It's also been parodied and referenced in numerous films and TV shows from The Matrix to The Simpsons, such is the cultural impact.
 
It's odd for a film that is so widely loved to have so many detractors - both my mum and her sister hate the film, probably because it scared them as children, with other people I know dismissing it as camp, kitsch rubbish.  I think it's a great film with a wonderful story, a terrific performance by Judy Garland and extraordinary effects for the time.  The songs are great and it's incredible to think that Garland's moving rendition of Over the Rainbow nearly ended up on the cutting room floor.  The others are mournful or joyous and always memorable with a splendid score, often comprising motifs from the songs, accompanying the film.
 
The Wizard of Oz is a timeless classic that has been released several times already, most recently the 2005 Three-Disc Collector's Edition which had a specially restored transfer, two discs of bonus features and some memorabilia.  This version is practically the same but with the Sing-Along function on the Blu-ray and a bonus DVD containing the Sing-Along version too. For someone who loves horror, I have a real soft spot for this film and see this as a great package to do the film justice.
 




Extra Features
Most of these are ported straight from the previous Warner Brothers Home Entertainment release which was fantastic in terms of both quantity and quality and it's taken me hours to get through all of these
 
First up is a commentary introduced by the late Sidney Pollack which is 'hosted' by film historian John Fricke who has compiled a list of archive interviews which he plays throughout, adding his own knowledge and opinions along the way.  This is a good listen and there is plenty of trivia and interesting facts to keep it busy but not enough to become tiring.
 
There was a TV special making of, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic, hosted by Angela Lansbury, in 1990 which is a very watchable and informative piece.  There are three further retrospectives which also comprise interviews with relatives of the cast and archive clips: The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz, Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz and Memories of Oz.
 
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz StoryBook, Angela Lansbury reads the book with illustrations from the novel playing as a slideshow as the story progresses.
 
There is a featurette on the 2005 restoration which shows how the picture was cleaned up, both digitally and manually, from removing print damage on the computer to physically cleaning the negative.  It also covers the creation of the 5.1 soundtrack that was on the previous DVD but is not included on this release.  There is nothing about the transfer to high definition as it was made before the formats existed.
 
We Haven't Really Met Properly is a biography of eight cast members (nine if you include Terry the dog who played Toto!), again narrated by Angela Landsbury, with plenty of facts and interesting titbits.
 
The Jukebox contains a variety of scored music, rehearsal audio and songs including Jitterbug which was cut from the final version.  It's all split into a variety of cuts and different takes, showing the lengthy process that went into the musical element though will probably be of interest only to the hardcore fans.
 
There are also several different promotions, shows, excerpts and other material from the TV and radio as well as stills galleries and trailers.  One of these has footage from the initial shoot under the first director Richard Thorpe when the yellow brick road looked very different and Dorothy had curly blonde hair.  These are a great assortment and really make this a complete package.
 
Harold Arlen's Home Movies is a short piece of the composer's filming that he did on the set and in costume/make-up departments; it is a fairly interesting addition.
 
There are five outtakes and deleted scenes which can be viewed individually or together using a play all function and are worth a watch for fans and completists.  You also get It's a Twister! It's a Twister! The Tornado Tests which shows how the cyclone and the view from Dorothy's window was created again, like everything else, narrated by Angela Landsbury
 
So, onto disc 2 which contains some new material and kicks off with a fascinating new biography of the film's director: Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman which is an interesting look at his life and career with contributions from many directors and historians/authours such as William Friedkin, Rudy Behlmer and Leonard Maltin.  L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain is another well-made biography, this time for the author.  If Munchkins are your thing then you'll like Hollywood Celebrates its Biggest Little Stars!, a new 10 minute feature about the little people and featuring interviews with some.
 
Of much more substance is the 93 minute TV film The Dreamer of Oz from 1990 about L. Frank Baum and the writing of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Baum is played by John Ritter but the piece looks like it has been ported directly from a VHS tape and is of really poor visual quality.  The film isn't too bad and will be of interest to fans.
 
Perhaps the most interesting of the bonus material are the first attempts at adapting Baum's book for the screen, starting in 1910 with the short film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and taking in several features before the animated short The Wizard of Oz in 1933.
 
It seems that the biggest selling point is the Sing-Along version, providing karaoke style subtitles for the songs and it's a great idea to put a DVD in this set so you aren't restricted by where the Blu-ray player is located.  The Sing-Along function is on both formats and you can, at least on the BD (I wasn't provided with the DVD), choose which song you want to accompany.  Personally, I don't know why anyone would do this but it must be popular as there are Sing-Along cinema screenings of musicals so people must enjoy joining in.





The Picture
When the film began playing, I was reassured by the presence of grain as I had feared that, in their efforts to make the film as bright and impressive as possible, it may have been subjected to a massive amount of digital noise reduction (DNR) but the surface grain means that the DNR, if there was any, was kept to a minimum so you have all the detail plus the added clarity and definition of a HD picture.
 
The sepia scenes in Kansas aren't overly impressive (the one exception being when you see the witch out of her bedroom window and can see the sparkling shoes, indicating that it is the Wicked Witch of the East) but once Dorothy opens the door in Oz, the colours are breathtaking.  Shot in three-strip Technicolor, one of the first big films to do so, the fantasy element is reflected perfectly in the vibrant palette with bright greens, reds and yellows.  Dorothy's gingham dress has never looked better and the shot where they look towards the Emerald City showcases the picture perfectly.
 
One downside of such definition is that you can see the slight flaws in the make-up and costume design that will have been virtually unnoticed for the last seven decades.  These don't detract from the film but add to its charm.
 
The Sound
Fortunately they haven't included the simulated 5.1 track from the previous DVD, opting to go with the original mono and a new Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo track which does provide some surround style effects during the cyclone.  The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack comes from the front speakers and provides a beautifully clear and enveloping soundtrack that has a richness that the mono options don't have, sounding a little 'weedy' in comparison.  Amongst the many language options is the original 1.0 mono English track so you can do a direct comparison and choose the one that you like.  Additionally, there is a 'music and sound effects' option which just plays the score and effects, giving you a real sense of the effort that went into the score and sound design.  Some of it sounds a little odd, but it's a good listen.
 
Final Thoughts
Beautifully acted, directed and written, The Wizard of Oz is a timeless classic that looks superb in high definition, sounds better than it ever has and comes with more extras than any other version previously released.  This is one of the best releases of the year.