The Wizard of Oz is a timeless journey to a magical world led by an innocent country girl, who is just trying to find her way back home to Kansas. I remember watching this film as a kid and enjoy it now as an adult. It’s tough to make films for everyone to cling onto and enjoy, especially of this magnitude. But it happened in 1939 and since then generation after generation have enjoyed its lasting charm and visual wonderment. It’s easily one of the top films of all-time, if not the top film of all-time. It does so many things right and not really anything wrong, plus it perfectly represents the struggle of the American people during a tough time period in American history (lots of metaphors and whatnot in this film). It also does one of the most memorable things in the history of film; it changes to full-on Technicolor (first film to use it), which must have been a visual surprise to the first few audiences viewing it.
How can you review a film like this? You simply can’t because it’s perfect. Anything this beautifully woven and wound together deserves to be brought up again and again, which is why I don’t really mind improvements and additions to this classic when Warner Home Video makes a new version. I mean, there’s a good reason why you see this film during the holiday season every year. There’s a huge reason why it’s a family tradition to watch it on television during that time of the year (my family does it as well). It’s simply breathtaking and timeless.
So having said that, let’s get right into the technical aspects of this particular Blu-ray 3D release and the Blu-ray, which was a huge factor for this particular release of The Wizard of Oz.
(Viewed in Passive)
The 3D transfer of The Wizard of Oz is absolutely stunning for something 75+ years old. How Warner Home Video managed to pull this off is absolutely beyond me. Regardless, the careful attention to detail when converting this absolute classic is onscreen the moment you turn on the disc to play. From the opening scene of Dorothy running down the Kansas dirt road, the sheer depth between the foreground and background is quite vivid. The moment Dorothy steps out of her fallen house into the colorful, magical world of Oz, everything gets turned up a bit more. You’ll see Glenda’s bubble float down nicely towards the background of her introductory shot with visual prowess. Again, it’s absolutely amazing how much work Warner Home Video put into this to make sure that the 3D experience for this film was worth the time and money. There are no moments where the background or foreground are broken around the edges when separated, which proves that there was great care taken to make this 3D conversion happen. The proper depth of the landscape in regards to character positioning is spot on where it should be.
Outside of the technical aspect of converting this film to 3D, the storytelling aspect is changed because of this new view. When you see Dorothy and friends going into the haunted forest, it’s far more terrifying and huge in 3D. When you see the hallway of the Wizard for the first time, as our heroes travel down it, its scope is enormous in comparison to the 2D version. The world of Oz, and of Dorothy, becomes a more ‘real’ place than it was previous thanks to the 3D conversion. Even the hokey tornado in the background of the opening scene will make you sweat just a bit more in 3D, as it draws nearer and nearer to Dorothy and her family. It’s the little things that you don’t see in 2D, that make their way out in 3D and add a bit more flavor to the overall mood and/or story. Anytime you can make 3D more than just a gimmick, it’s a good time.
With that said, if I had one caveat about this entire thing, it would be that I wish they had included a special feature on how they did it, as it would have been fun to watch the conversion process in action. I’m sure they’re keeping that process under close guard, especially after the 3D results you get from this release. What could be next? If they can turn a 1939 film into a beautiful 3D experience, imagine what they could do with a film like Mutiny on the Bounty? I would imagine that there was some sort of careful detail put into finding the perfect classic film to convert to 3D, and The Wizard of Oz was definitely a solid selection. There aren’t a lot of effects put into the film; mostly sets and models, which bode well when you’re trying to change from 2D to 3D.
Now, the HD transfer of the film was very much on par with the 3D, though kind of rough in a few patches. For most of the beginning, the sepia tone actually looked pretty darn clean. There were little to no grainy moments from the film, which speaks volumes about Warner Bros. preservation of the source material (especially this source). When you get to Oz, the visual ante is upped. Lots of colors come through, with blue, yellow and red being the cleanest and most prominent. Even the darker moments at the witch’s castle shine through without blemish. The only moment where it looked rough, and this might just be on the film process of the time, is when Dorothy’s in the midst of the tornado and the folks are showing up outside of her window. It’s a bit rough, definitely grainy, but it looks a bit rough prior to HD. Having not been alive for the 1939 screening, I can’t say if it was the same or not. Regardless, this is the ONLY ugly scene of the bunch. Overall, no compression issues or color banding problems for this classic.
Finally, here’s what you should expect with the features:
– The Making of Wizard of Oz
– The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook
– We Haven’t Really Met Properly…
– Radio Promos
– Still Galleries
– Commentary from historian John Fricke/Crew
– Sing-Along Featurette
– Blu-ray 3D
– Blu-ray
– Digital code
The newest feature here is the ‘Making of Wizard of Oz’, which pretty much goes through the entire story of how the original tale was created, how it came to be in MGM’s hands (and what other attempts were made at making it), how Dorothy was cast, how the directors came and went, and how the film was finally put out. It’s pretty much the purest ‘making of’ that you’ll find about The Wizard of Oz on any format. It has some darn good interviews to support the story and makes you appreciate the final film that was brought out in 1939. It’s absolutely the best thing in this collection. As for the others, you get some great info from the commentary, some classic radio promos and some other nice things that compliment the overall feature.
Overall, the special features are phenomenal and just add another layer of greatness to this Blu-ray 3D release.