Wizard of Oz [VHS]

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Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley
Directed by: King Vidor, Mervyn LeRoy, Richard Thorpe, Victor Fleming
Binding: VHS Tape
Published: 1992-04-15

Features:

Black & White
Closed-captioned
Color
THX

Wizard of Oz [VHS]

Editorial Review:

When it was released during Hollywood's golden year of 1939, The Wizard of Oz didn't start out as the perennial classic it has since become. The film did respectable business, but it wasn't until its debut on television that this family favorite saw its popularity soar. And while Oz's TV broadcasts are now controlled by media mogul Ted Turner (who owns the rights), the advent of home video has made this lively musical a mainstay in the staple diet of great American films. Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her dog, Toto, and her three companions on the yellow brick road to Oz--the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)--have become pop-culture icons and central figures in the legacy of fantasy for children. As the Wicked Witch who covets Dorothy's enchanted ruby slippers, Margaret Hamilton has had the singular honor of scaring the wits out of children for more than six decades. The film's still as fresh, frightening, and funny as it was when first released. It may take some liberal detours from the original story by L. Frank Baum, but it's loyal to the Baum legacy while charting its own course as a spectacular film. Shot in glorious Technicolor, befitting its dynamic production design (Munchkinland alone is a psychedelic explosion of color and decor), The Wizard of Oz may not appeal to every taste as the years go by, but it's required viewing for kids of all ages. --Jeff Shannon
DVD features
The Wizard of Oz DVD released in 1999 was loaded with extra features, but it's now safe to throw away that version in all its cardboard-package glory in favor of this new two-disc edition. First things first: All the bonus material from the earlier disc is there (with one small exception). That includes the Angela Lansbury-hosted documentary The Making of a Movie Classic; the outtakes and deleted scenes, including Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" reprise and the home-movie recording of "The Jitterbug"; the sketches and stills and composer Harold Arlen's home movies; the audio underscores and radio programs; the 1979 interviews with Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, and Jack Haley; and other items too numerous to mention. (Some text introductions to the features have been replaced by narration by Lansbury, for whatever reason.) Brand-new to the 2005 edition is a sharp restoration using Warner's Ultra Resolution process and an accompanying featurette on how it's done. The technicians also discuss how the sound was remixed, though that would have been more effective had it included surround-sound demonstrations (the featurette is in 2.0). Other features on the new set include a commentary track by critic John Fricke supplemented by vintage cast interviews (he offers a lot of trivia, and debunks the myth that Shirley Temple was ever close to getting the Dorothy role); profiles of nine cast members and clips of other movies they appeared in (including Toto); a lightly animated 10-minute storybook again narrated by Lansbury; 2001 and 2005 behind-the-scenes featurettes; and a 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast. Oh, and if you were still wondering about the missing material mentioned above--the 1999 disc included one-minute excerpts of three early treatments of The Wizard of Oz. Those excerpts are not included in the two-disc special edition, but the third disc of the three-disc collector's edition includes the complete versions of those treatments and more. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Release date:

RELEASE DATE: September 29, 2009
Video
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby Mono
English: Sing-along
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby Mono
English: Sing-along (less)
Subtitles
TBA
(less)
Discs
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set
Digital copy

RATING SOMETHING BEFORE ITS RELEASED:

This is for all the people rating 1 star because of the price or whatnot.

blu-ray rip off:

There is no question this release in Blu-ray will be a knock out. But the price shown at Amazon is obscene. It's about the same cost as all three Lord of the Rings coming in Blu-ray. Why isn't there a "movie only" release for a budget price for budget times?

Hope they dont just rehash other dvd material on Blu Ray:

Well the time has come for MGM/Warner Brothers to release Thw fabulous Wizard Of Oz on Blu Ray.Well unfortunately The blu Ray discs were suppose to be the ultimate in DVD Entertianment but what has happened is in there want and greed for money the studios are just reproducing movies on Blu Ray and not taking the time to place all the extras on the disc that they now have the room for.Blu Ray has 7 times the amount of space as a reg dvd so that means a reg dvd is 2 hours you have 14 hours availible on Blu... more info

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