The Wizard of Oz

[Lino]

December 2009 will see the 70th Anniversary of this classic. News here. No specs announced for now but Zona DVD in Spain says that the SD will have 5 discs while the Blu-Ray will have 4 (if I'm not mistaken).

Bring it on, that's what I have to say about all this for now!

[Matt]

A 4-disc Blu-ray! All I want is the movie in HD. When Warners had their last round of special editions (Oz, GWTW, The Searchers), they had the lavish multi-disc collector editions and then a bare-bones release for reasonable people. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore if the crap-loaded Casablanca is any indication.

I flatly refuse to upgrade if this is my only option.

[Tommaso]

In retrospect, I even wonder why I bought the three-disc-version way back then; I wanted to see those silent versions, of course, but they were all ranging from truly poor to at best average and have nothing but some mild historical interest in my view. So either they have produced some new extras for this new package or they have unearthed another batch of dubious earlier or later versions. But for those who have BluRay, this new release looks like a must-have.

[eight_and_a_half]

December 2009 will see the 70th Anniversary of this classic. News here. No specs announced for now but Zona DVD in Spain says that the SD will have 5 discs while the Blu-Ray will have 4 (if I'm not mistaken).

Bring it on, that's what I have to say about all this for now!

What's the point? They'll only re-issue it yet again in five years time for the 75th anniversary.

If anything, they do need a new commentary track for this film. John Fricke's commentary unfortunately adds little to the experience, because it simply serves as an advertisement for other features included in the set. There is far too much emphasis on incorporating archival interviews and snippets from relatives onto Fricke's Wizard of Oz commentary track, which is unnecessary given that most of this material is already included in other documentaries on the DVD.

I really do detest these type of commentaries, as they serve little purpose from a historical or technical standpoint. Personally, I wanted to hear more of Fricke's insights regarding the production itself and the merry-go-round of directors (Taurog, Thorpe, Vidor, Cukor and Fleming) who worked on this picture. Judging by the rest of the extras, it would have been far more interesting had Fricke and John Waters done the track by themselves.

[mfunk9786]

I was just considering trying to land one of the 3-disc sets from eBay, but I guess I'll just wait and see what'll be included on this. Oh, Warner.

[dx23]

Apparently Warner thinks we are made of money and has priced both, the Wizard of Ozset and Gone with the Wind at $84.99.

[Matt]

Someone should read them the riot act over this at the upcoming HTF chat.

[knives]

Those better be some great extras, like a free prostitute.

[domino harvey]

New way to enjoy an old classic

[Person]

New way to enjoy an old classic

Good, cheap, harmless fun. Ain't much of it left, kids. Grab it while you can.

[dx23]

New way to enjoy an old classic

And today I'm going to be having nightmares about that fellow.

[dx23]

From dvdactive.com:

Title: The Wizard of Oz (IMDb)
Starring: Judy Garland
Released: 29th September 2009
SRP: $24.98 (2-Disc DVD)

Further Details:
Warner Home Video has announced a 70th Anniversary DVD release of the The Wizard of Oz for the 29th September. Retail will be $24.98. The film has been completely remastered and will include Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio for the first time, as well as the original Mono track. Extras will include a sing-along track, a Music and Effects track, an audio commentary, featurettes ("Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic", "Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz", "We Haven’t Really Met Properly", "The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz", "Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz"), outtakes and deleted scenes, Harold Arlen’s Home Movies, 3 Vault Shorts, a Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook, still galleries, 6 theatrical trailers, and more.

Also available from the 29th September will be DVD ($69.92) and Blu-ray ($84.99) releases of The Wizard of Oz: Ultimate Collector's Edition. These will include all of the above features, plus the following additional features ("Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman", "L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain", "Celebrating Hollywood’s Biggest Little Stars", "The Dreamer of Oz [1990 TV special]", "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)", "The Wizard of Oz [1933]", "The Magic Cloak of Oz [1914]", "The Patchwork Girl of Oz [1914]", "The Wizard of Oz [1925 feature]"). On top of all that, you'll also get a Collectible and numbered 70th Anniversary Wizard of Oz watch with genuine crystals, a replica of the original film budget, a 52-page Behind the Curtain book, and a reproduction of the original 1939 campaign book. We've attached the official package artwork for each of the releases below:

[manicsounds]

All the releases on DVD have had a 5.1 track. Nothing new.

[atcolomb]

I noticed that Amazon.com only has the one blu-ray of OZ and that is the box set but at Amazon.uk they have a 2 disc blu-ray package at 15.29 euro but i wonder if the extras on the UK version are in the PAL version? I am certain that later on Warner Bros. will release a smaller version of OZ like they did with Casablanca....

[Antoine Doinel]

Don't expect to see any wires.

[aox]

How do you guys feel about that? Since film is about 1080, weren't the wires seen in the original theatrical presentation and just haven't been clear for the past 60 years on VHS, Laser, and DVD?

[domino harvey]

It's revisionism, period

[aox]

Well, yes..
But there is a huge difference between George Lucas/William Friedkin revisionism, Scott revisionism (sort of blend of the other two), and Oz/Raiders revisionism.

[Caged Horse]

Why bother buying the Blu-ray, when that 'wires' article basically admits there'll be an ever higher definition format in a few years' time?

[Matt]

Why bother buying the Blu-ray, when that 'wires' article basically admits there'll be an ever higher definition format in a few years' time?

That's not really what's being said in that article. It's just that companies who have been doing high-definition transfers for a long time (Warner, Criterion) have now discovered that those transfers aren't up to the full capabilities of Blu-ray. Now they're having to do the transfers all over again. When ultra-high-definition comes around, whenever that is, they don't want to have to do the transfers yet again. You really don't want to be running your preservation film elements through scanners every ten years.

[Person]

A carefully done 8k digital transfer ought to see us out until the crack of doom. But what worries me is that Warner could make an error, ie. The Searchers and then consider that 8k master the definitive source for TV/home video presentations. Over the years we have had hundreds of far-from-perfect transfers of hugely popular films ("canon" titles) but before we could at least have said, "oh well, hopefully they'll get it right the next time," but with 8k, there probably won't be a next time. The stakes are starting to get very fucking high.

[HarryLong]

weren't the wires seen in the original theatrical presentation and just haven't been clear for the past 60 years on VHS, Laser, and DVD?

Oh, heck. I remember seeing them in TV broadcasts.

[SuperBlu]

Will the extras on the blu-ray be in HD? I highly doubt it due to the enormous amount of extras. I'm also somewhat troubled by the fact that "MGM: When The Lion Roars" will be on both the Oz and GWTW blu-ray. There will be those (like me) who may get both Oz and GWTW blu-rays and they will essentially pay twice for the doc.

It says here that "The Magic Cloak of Oz" silent is an all-new extra on the blu-ray. But isn't it already on the 3-disc SD edition?

[jsteffe]

How do you guys feel about that? Since film is about 1080, weren't the wires seen in the original theatrical presentation and just haven't been clear for the past 60 years on VHS, Laser, and DVD?

This is what George Feltenstein says:

Before making the final call, Felstenstein said he went to resoration guru Robert Harris for advice, and that Harris's basic mantra was that "if 1939 audiences didn't see the wires when they saw the film in theatres, then present-day audiences shouldn't see them on the Blu-ray."

And 1939 audiences didn't see the wires due to the state of projection technology and the three-strip Technicolor alignment process being what they were some 70 years ago, along with the general coarseness of 1939-era film stock.

I think Feltenstein's decision makes sense and appreciate the fact that Warner has been transparent about the move and the rationale behind it. I'm assuming that they're keeping both the original 8k scan of the film elements and the touched-up digital file.

But by the same token, with regards to Harris and the restoration of VERTIGO, according to that philosophy shouldn't we have been getting the original soundtrack as an optional track on *all* the DVD versions, without the re-recorded foley work?

[Flike]

The Harris, Felstenstein rationale behind this seems to be well placed. If folks would be more upfront about such things, there'd probably be a lot less hand-wringing when things are altered on Blu (did we ever find out what the hell happened with Do the Right Thing, and why?)

That said, this post by Jeffy Wells is a little frightening:

Tastefully, respectfully and not radically, but tone it the fuck down. The monks can go on and on and on and on, but there's no way they'll ever convince me that King Vidor and Victor Fleming and John Ford were queer for grain in 35 mm film. They lived with it, is all. It was part of what film was and there was no getting around it.

But if given a chance to tone it down in the future I can't imagine their ghosts being against this.

Sigh...