When it comes to movie classics, there is none more beloved than Victor Fleming’s 1939 musical, “The Wizard of Oz.” Based on the popular children’s book by L. Frank Baum, the film has been featured on numerous “best of” lists and continues to captivate people of all ages to this day. In celebration of its 70th anniversary, Warner Home Video is releasing the movie for the very first time in high definition in a special collector’s set designed exclusively for the hardcore “Oz” fan. This four-disc box set includes over 16 hours of bonus material, a 52-page commemorative book about the making of the film, a reproduction of the original 1939 campaign book, a replica of the film’s budget sheet, and a limited edition watch.
Of course, the main draw of the set is the film itself, and while many have logged complaints about the film’s new hi-def transfer following the one-night special engagement in theaters across the country, there’s no truth behind any of them. Though a movie as old as “The Wizard of Oz” is never going to look as pristine as one from the last decade, the hours of work that went into restoring the film for its Blu-ray debut can be appreciated the minute Leo the MGM Lion comes on screen. It’s not perfect, mind you, but when compared to the many reissues over the years, this version is hands down the best one yet. Colors pop off the screen without looking oversaturated, while the sepia-toned segments look sharper than ever.
As expected with a movie as legendary as “The Wizard of Oz,” Warner Bros. has crammed as many special features onto the four-disc set as possible — to the point that it’s almost overkill. Granted, one of those discs only contains a digital copy of the film, but the other three more than make up for it. Disc One features the movie, as well as a new audio commentary by “Oz” historian John Fricke and a sing-along track. The previously released TV special, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic,” hosted by Angela Lansbury also appears, as do featurettes on music, costumes and production design (“The Art of Imagination”) and the legacy of the film (“Because of the Wonderful Things It Does”).
As if that already weren’t enough, there’s also a short featurette on the new restoration process (“Prettier Than Ever”), profiles for every actor except Judy Garland, interviews with the surviving Munchkin players (“Memories of Oz”), a trio of radio shows promoting the film, a handful of trailers, clips from composer Harold Arlen’s home movies, and five deleted scenes including Ray Bolger’s extended dance sequence and the audio for original Tin Man Buddy Epstein’s version of “If I Only Had a Heart.”
And that’s just Disc One. The second disc also features documentaries on director Victor Fleming (“Master Craftsman”) and author L. Frank Baum (“The Man Behind the Curtain”), footage from the Munchkins’ induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the 1990 TV movie, “The Dreamer of Oz,” and six “Oz”-related short films made between 1910 and 1933. Disc Three, meanwhile, contains the six-hour documentary, “When the Lion Roars,” about the history of MGM. It’s a riveting look at Hollywood’s most famous movie studio (one that’s a mere afterthought today compared to the powerhouse it used to be), but it’s not something I would think most “Oz” fans would care to own. The same could be said for a lot of these extras, but the sheer fact that they’ve been included just goes to show how much Warner Bros. cares about “The Wizard of Oz.” If the upcoming “Gone with the Wind” Blu-ray release has been shown even a fraction of this tender loving care, it’s going to be one helluva year for fans of Golden Age cinema.
