Wizard of Oz, The (DVD)

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The DD 5.1 mix opens up the sound quite a bit but never draws attention to itself. It simply appears natural and realistic, if a little bright and edgy. There are only some occasional effects in the rear channels, though, the surrounds mostly working to reinforce the film's musical ambiance. You can also notice some small degree of background noise or hiss at times, especially during quieter passages, if you turn the gain up too high, but it's hardly an issue.

Extras:
The big news in extras is that Warner Bros. have issued the movie in several new special editions, the one reviewed here being the big "Three-Disc Collector's Edition." Disc one contains the restored feature film presentation; with English and French spoken language options; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Additionally, disc one contains a new audio commentary by historian John Fricke, hosted by director Sidney Pollack, with selected archival audio comments by Barbara Freed-Saltzman, daughter of associate producer Arthur Freed; stars Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, and Jack Haley; actor Buddy Ebsen; orchestral and vocal arranger Ken Darby; Bert Lahr's son and daughter, John and Jane Lahr; Margaret Hamilton's son, Meserve Hamilton; make-up artist William Tuttle; producer Mervyn LeRoy; uncredited writer John Lee Mahin; and uncredited cast member Jerry Maren. The commentary reveals a wealth of background information and pure trivia, a delight of its kind.

If that weren't enough, we also get on disc one "Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz," eleven minutes; "We Haven't Really Met Properly...Supporting Cast Profile Gallery," narrated by Angela Lansbury, twenty-one minutes; "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" storybook, a ten-minute story adaptation read by Angela Lansbury; optional music-and-effects and original mono tracks; and an amazing fifty-five scene selections!

Disc two contains more than any mere mortal could possibly absorb about the movie. It's like getting lost in the Land of Oz itself. Things begin with "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic," hosted by Angela Lansbury, a fifty-minute, twenty-five chapter documentary made for Turner Entertainment in 1990; followed by "Memories of Oz," a twenty-seven-minute, 2001 TCM television special. Both documentaries use surviving cast members and filmmakers plus vintage and archival footage to make their points. Next come a pair of all-new, 2005 documentaries, "The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz," twenty-nine minutes, narrated by Sidney Pollack and including comments from any number of today's composers, actors, directors, and production designers praising the film; and "Because of the Wonderful Things It Does: The Legacy of Oz," twenty-five minutes on the film as a pop-culture phenomenon.

Next, we have four minutes of on-set home movies taken by the film's composer, Harold Arlen; followed by about fourteen minutes of outtakes and deleted scenes, five them in all, including "If I Only Had a Brain" in completed form, and "If I Only Had a Heart," "Triumphal Return to Emerald City," a reprise of "Over the Rainbow," and "The Jitterbug" supplemented by production stills and rough footage. After those items are "It's a Twister! It's a Twister!," eight minutes of tornado special-effects tests, and three vintage featurettes: "Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power," ten minutes of studio news from 1938; "Cavalcade of Academy Awards," two minutes from the 1939 and 1940 Oscar ceremonies; and "Texas Contest Winners," a little over a minute about a busload of Texas contest winners on the studio lot, who were made part of a studio promo.

Then, there are literally hours of audio-only items, like an "Oz Jukebox" of recording session materials, underscoring, and promos, and several complete radio shows like a 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast. Finally, the second disc includes an extensive stills gallery, six trailers covering the years 1939-1998, and about four minutes of cartoon segments from a 1967 television series called "Off to See the Wizard." Whew. And that's not all, folks!

Disc three is devoted to "Oz" creator L. Frank Baum, who published his first "Oz" book in 1900, and some early adaptations of his work. First, there's an all-new, 2005 documentary, "L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain," twenty-seven minutes long, that features interviews with some of Baum's grandchildren, U.C. Berkeley's Bancroft librarian, and assorted "Oz" historians and authors. Then, there are five early "Oz" movies: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," a thirteen-minute, 1910, live-action silent movie with piano accompaniment; "The Magic Cloak," a thirty-eight minute, 1914, live-action silent movie with organ accompaniment (and bearing only a passing resemblance to the "Oz" we know); "His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz," a fifty-nine minute, 1914, live-action silent movie that L. Frank Baum himself wrote and directed; "The Wizard of Oz," a seventy-one minute, 1925, live-action, restored silent movie featuring Oliver Hardy and Larry Semon, with a new, fully orchestrated score by Robert Israel; and "The Wizard of Oz," an eight-minute, 1933 cartoon that was the first dramatic treatment of the story to show Kansas in black-and-white and Oz in color (Technicolor).

As well as all of this, the "Three-Disc Collector's Edition" includes two packets of memorabilia reproductions related to the film. The first packet contains an invitation and ticket to the movie's 1939 première at Grauman's Chinese Theater; a copy of the original program; a copy of "MGM Studio News"; a copy of "Photoplay Studies" devoted to the movie; and a campaign poster page. The second packet contains ten glossy, 5"x7" reproductions of original Kodachrome publicity art. Short of resurrecting Dorothy herself, I can't think of anything more Warner could have done to make the "Wizard of Oz" fan happy.

A foldout, plastic-and-cardboard package holds the three discs and lists the contents of each, with the foldout and the accompanying two packets further housed in a handsome cardboard slipcase. Thank goodness, too, WB did not stack the second and third discs on top of one another, a horrid practice I hope the industry has abandoned.

Parting Thoughts:
"The Wizard of Oz" remains one of the most enduring musical fantasies of all time, and WB's new "Three-Disc Collector's Edition," with its restored print, remixed sound, and multitude of extras, makes it better than ever. How much do I like it, personally? When DVDs appeared on the scene in 1997, the very first three discs I bought were "Batman," "Blade Runner," and "The Wizard of Oz." I couldn't be happier than to see "The Wizard of Oz" in its new, improved wrappings.

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