The Wizard of Oz

[Antoine Doinel]

WB will provide a free HD stream on Saturday, October 3 on Netflix of the new restoration.

[jsteffe]

Whatever the merits of removing the wires in Oz the general "correction" argument starts to look shaky when they start talking about North by Northwest. The visible wires in the Crop dusting climax are part of a long long element of Hitchcock's use of special effects, opticals, mattes and minatures which were always just apparent to the eye. He persists - much to the detriment of the film I think - with some very poorly processed rear transparencies in a couple of shots from something as late as Marnie, but when you look back he's still using very obvious minatures in the British pictures, (Young and INnocent, 39 Steps, Lady Vanishes) and even some of the early American work like Saboteur. You can read him copiously but nowhere do you get much solid evidence for his preferences on this other than - again - the Birds for which he decided to use the Disney facilities for the mattes as technically superior to the effects Universal came up with. certainly he never mentions the Crop duster scene and the fakery in anything I've read.

You raise an interesting point about Hitchcock's use of special effects. Marnie in particular is notorious for the obviouis rear projection shots and matte work. It's been a number of years since I read the Donald Spoto books, but I remember in the first book (The Art of Alfred Hitchcock) he defended that film's artificiliality as a kind of Expressionist device. On the other hand, I recall that in the later biography (The Dark Side of Genius) Spoto said no, that Hitchcock simply had a casual attitude towards special effects. In effect, he focused most of his energy on the initial design of the films (montage as planned through storyboarding) and was somewhat less engaged at later stages. I haven't read all of the Patrick McGilligan book, so I'm not sure what he has to say about Hitchcock's working methods.

[jsteffe]

P.S.--

The new digital restoration of OZ will be showing theatrically on September 23, one night only:

http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/Premiere/WizardofOz.aspx

I would imagine this is like the live Met HD broadcasts that Fathom Events has been doing in recent years. (Which are actually pretty good! Last year I saw the new Metropolitan Opera production of DOCTOR ATOMIC.)

[jsteffe]

Yes JS, Hitchcock and effects are a whole career issue.

What if anything are the NBNW restoreres doing with the Drunken Cary Crant Mercedes car chase down the hill in which Hitch speeds up and slows down the frame rate for two shots, as if in some homage to his early British sound films? The anachronism of the shots is patently obvious and intentional.

I vaguely recall that, but I need to take a look at it again at some point, perhaps when the Blu-ray comes out.

BTW, I *am* planning to see the digital projection of THE WIZARD OF OZ on the 23rd, provided I don't stuck in a writing tarpit. If I get to see it I'll report back here.

[manicsounds]

DVDBeaver on Wizard of Oz BD

[Matt]

There will be a reasonable, non-Ultimate Collector's Edition release of the Blu-ray, but it will be a Target exclusive at $34.99. Probably still cheaper to buy the region-free UK edition.

[dx23]

There will be a reasonable, non-Ultimate Collector's Edition release of the Blu-ray, but it will be a Target exclusive at $34.99. Probably still cheaper to buy the region-free UK edition.

There will be also a single disc released that seems to be exclusive for Wal-Mart according to several reports including this pic:

[mfunk9786]

It's doubtful that Warner would press special bonus feature-less discs just for Wal-Mart, so this exclusive should still be stacked. And the features listed on the sticker are all ones that are on Disc 2 of the big set, so I'm guessing that the Wal-Mart exclusive will be two discs, and a wonderful development (expecially if it is indeed only $20...)

[dx23]

So we are looking at Target having a 3 or 4 disc set without the rest of the crap, Wal-Mart probably having a 2 disc set that will only be missing the Lion Roars documentary and digital copy and the rest of retailers having the big 4 disc set with all the promotional material?

[Napier]

Apparently the economy is rock solid in OZ.

[dx23]

Reports in the avsforum indicate that the Wal-Mart version is only a 1 disc release.

[jsteffe]

Did anyone here get to see the nationwide HD digital projection of The Wizard of Oz on September 23? I was very interested but up to my ears in writing and work-related stuff.

[Antoine Doinel]

Here's the BluRay.com buying guide for Oz.

Congrats WB for making buying Oz a completely baffling affair.

[mfunk9786]

If the rumor is true that the WalMart disc has all the features from Disc 1 of the UCE, and is still only $19.96, then I'm going to take my copy of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and burn it in effigy. I was pretty bummed that my only option for this release was a $50+ behemoth, and now that I can get it for under $20, it's a dream come true.

[Matt]

On all the Blu-ray editions, the only thing actually in HD is the film itself. Unless you want all the crap that comes in the Ultimate Collector's Edition or are an Oz superfan, everyone is probably best served by getting the 1-disc Walmart Edition. The MGM documentary is available separately, and is probably best as a one-time Netflix rental anyway. If you have the most recent SD release of the film, you probably already have all the extras you want anyway.

[dx23]

I think most of the people here are going to prefer the Target Emerald Edition version, but you better hurry since it seems that they only stocked 5 per store.

[cdnchris]

I just happened in Target today and saw it so picked it up. I hadn't picked up the previous DVD versions so I'm cool with this one since I hadn't seen any of the features before. It's three discs, the third is a DVD, though, only containing the Lion Roars doc.

[domino harvey]

You're gonna regret not buying that stupid box in a couple weeks when you're wondering what time it is

[dx23]

The 4th disc on the other set is just the digital copy, so you are not missing anything as far as I know.

[mfunk9786]

I was actually able to get Target to pricematch Wal-Mart. I know it's borderline criminal, but it sure was nice to get the Emerald set for $19.96. 8-)

[cdnchris]

You're gonna regret not buying that stupid box in a couple weeks when you're wondering what time it is

Damn it, you're right. What the hell was I thinking!?

Yeah, I knew the fourth disc was the digital copy so I wasn't concerned about that. And heck, I never thought of trying to price match Wal-Mart. Clever.

[mfunk9786]

It was as YMMV as it comes. I'm shocked that it worked. I had my reciept from Wal-Mart and actually went into Target to see if they had any copies of the Target exclusive Gremlins [they didn't] - and I thought "why don't I give pricematching with the reciept a try." Thank goodness for 8 AM store opening employee apathy.

[unclehulot]

I think most of the people here are going to prefer the Target Emerald Edition version, but you better hurry since it seems that they only stocked 5 per store.

That sounds about right....there were only 2 left at noon today at the location I grabbed it from.

I'm curious if the big boxed set version contains a list of all of the audio material in the "jukebox" section? It's pretty tough to navigate through all of that without a list of cues (thankfully, I still have the previous 3 dvd box version which DOES provide a detailed list), and a number of cues grouped under each menu selection....one reviewer (at dvdtalk) guessed there was 70 minutes of material, but the old dvd says it's over 4 1/2 hours, and that sounds closer to the truth to me.

[swo17]

I think most of the people here are going to prefer the Target Emerald Edition version, but you better hurry since it seems that they only stocked 5 per store.

My local Target had 6 in stock--that is, before I came through.

[dx23]

I think most of the people here are going to prefer the Target Emerald Edition version, but you better hurry since it seems that they only stocked 5 per store.

My local Target had 6 in stock--that is, before I came through.

I went by Target today and they had restocked. I purchase a copy for a friend of mine using a raincheck receipt I was given when they went out of stock last week for $35.99.