I may
be stripped of all credibility for admitting this but prior to this past week I
had never seen The Wizard of Oz from
start to finish. In all fairness, I thought I had. As it turns out the movie I
remembered seeing was actually Michael Jackson’s The Wiz (My wife didn’t understand why I was so adamant that the
flying monkeys were supposed to be wearing roller skates, this would be why). So this past week I popped in the latest
Blu-Ray release of ‘Oz’ which Warner Bros. was kind enough to send me and began my
trip down the yellow brick road.
I don’t
think I really need to go in-depth with a review of a film which is the
accepted definition of Hollywood classic so I’ll keep my thoughts on the film
to a few lines. In short, the reasons for which this film garnered the
reputation we all know is still readily apparent some 70 years later. Judy
Garland is surprisingly easy to watch for the modern viewer as her performance
doesn’t have that over acting feel that many of the stars of that time gave due
to working mostly in silent film and stage where you HAVE to over act. She’s
just gorgeous, genuine, and innocent the three most important factors for
someone taking that role. I’m stumbling here on how to point out my favoirites without
writing a whole review but the song and
dance numbers have to be next on the list. The one place where you loose most
adult men is at the musical theater portion. The song’s are kept important but short
and the whole thing is lifted miles thanks to the performances, the kind of
film that will have you saying to yourself “Am I really ENJOYING this?? I’m a
30year old man!. Yes you will, and I’ll explain why. Simply put, no matter how old
you get that little kid you lost so long ago isn’t gone, just laying dormant
until the proper time. Movies like Wizard
of Oz have the perfect mix for pulling the inner child to the front. A
movie about never giving up, how friends are good to have, and not judging
others without knowing them and of course, that there’s no place like home.
The
Blu-Ray is what I watched and am I glad that I waited until Warner Bros. was
ready to release the film to see it. The Blu-Ray transfer provided by Warner
Bros. is hands down the best transfer I’ve ever seen. Usually if you transfer a
particularly old medium to something higher res, like blu-ray, some things are
much crisper, others just simply show its age whether it’s from degradation of
the film or simply that the props weren’t made to be seen that clearly. This is
not the case with Wizard of Oz, the
transfer is so amazingly flawless you can at the same time feel what it was
like to see this on opening day and imagine you’re on set…it looks that good,
honestly I can’t lodge one sincere complaint against either the audio or the
video, 10/10 on both. The audio is actually much more important than you would
think…the right from the studio clarity with which the songs are brought into
your home really brings you inside the world of Oz as opposed to watching some
70 year old film in your livening room. Oh, you are a special features buff you
say? Got ‘em by the truck load and then some with great features, commentary
tracks, even a sing-a-long version that would be great for introducing the
little ones to Dorothy and her magical time in the land of OZ.
Quite simply I’m amazed. Something done SO lo-tech, SOOO
long ago, still maintains the same level of magical wizardry on its
viewers. I couldn’t be happier
suggestions this as viewing material for your little ones, with all that’s going
on in our faced paced world we have to work harder and harder to preserve the
innocence of our children so that they may have a chance at enjoying their childhood fully, as is their right, as
is our duty.
Film 10/10 Audio/Video- 10/10 Special
Features 6/10
