GWTW and Wizard of OZ again in 2013 (1 Viewer)

[Jason_V]

Ha! Not a phillistine, but here's my fear with the suggestion.

Consumers will grow to think the colorized version is the original and the original BW will be lost. Like what has essentially happened the original SW trilogy.

One of the great things CBS did with the Trek TOS BD's (and HD-DVD) was include both the original and new effects. But even with that release, eyes will gravitate to the new flashy stuff instead of to how the filmmakers/artists intended it in the first place.

But, in the end, as long as the original is released with the "new" version, I'm okay with it.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

SW is a different case, as the filmmaker himself doesn't want those versions out there. I do have a theory that has as much to do with who would be owed money upon release of the original versions as much as Lucas' preference for the new editions...

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by Moe Dickstein /t/322693/gwtw-and-wizard-of-oz-again-in-2013/120#post_3968132
SW is a different case, as the filmmaker himself doesn't want those versions out there. I do have a theory that has as much to do with who would be owed money upon release of the original versions as much as Lucas' preference for the new editions...

Yeah, I've heard that theory. Maybe it's right, and an argument can be made that the originals are available on DVD albeit not in the configuration most of us would prefer.

 

[TravisR]

SW is a different case, as the filmmaker himself doesn't want those versions out there. I do have a theory that has as much to do with who would be owed money upon release of the original versions as much as Lucas' preference for the new editions...

I'm assuming that you're talking about Marcia Lucas and that theory doesn't make any sense to me. If the only thing you had to do to avoid paying your ex-wife money is to make some changes to your movie then alot more directors would be recutting their movies.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I'm assuming that you're talking about Marcia Lucas and that theory doesn't make any sense to me. If the only thing you had to do to avoid paying your ex-wife money is to make some changes to your movie then alot more directors would be recutting their movies.

The situation with Marcia is different. It involves deals made to buy her out of Lucasfilm at the time of the divorce. She was also the editor on the picture, so this is a unique instance.

 

[Ransom Stoddard]

So the count will be:
Wizard of Oz: 4 Blu-ray versions
Return to Oz: 0 Blu-ray version

Hey Warner how about releasing OTHER classic films. You do have them you know, like:
John Ford movies
Astaire and Rogers movies
James Cagney gangster movies
James Stewart movies
Cary Grant movies
Alfred Hitchock movies
Film noir
Val Lewton movies
Busby Berkeley movies
Etc.
Etc.
All movies you just seem to be sitting your arses on while you stare longingly into the eyes of three movies that you re-release over and over and over again.

 

To be fair, it is up to Disney to release "Return to Oz."

 

[Ejanss]

To be fair, it is up to Disney to release "Return to Oz."

And even then...I wouldn't wait up nights. The original theater audiences aren't the ONLY ones with deep long-standing traumas about the movie.

 

[TonyD]

I saw it when it was first run and thought it was great and still do. I'd buy the blu in a second.

 

[JohnS]

I saw it when it was first run and thought it was great and still do. I'd buy the blu in a second.

I would also love a bluray copy of Return to Oz.
Such a creepy film, especially the

Spoiler

severed heads hallway

and really imaginative.
So much to like about this film.
It would be nice to have a Fairuza Balk commentary.

 

I read the "Return to Oz" novelization and watched the PBS making-of documentary when the film first came out, and enjoyed them both. I didn't go to see the actual film, and didn't see it until the vhs release. I would love to have to doc on disc.

 

[Ejanss]

I would also love a bluray copy of Return to Oz.
Such a creepy film, especially the

Spoiler

severed heads hallway

and really imaginative.
So much to like about this film.
It would be nice to have a Fairuza Balk commentary.

Yes, but it's not supposed to BE "creepy"--I'd read the original Baum books too, and, by 1910 children's-literature standards, "scary" was the last thing L. Frank Baum wanted them to be.
If you separate the script from Walter Murch's direction, there's actually a reasonably serviceable attempt to work two of the novels into an understandable canon, in Baum's view of an Oz that mixed "fairyland" with Yankee sensibility.
But then they went and gave it to Murch, who had severely selective memories of what the '39 movie was about, and flailed wildly between cloying mush and sadistic nightmare fodder from scene to scene.
In the books, for example,

Spoiler

the princess with the head collection is a bored, selfish snot, and since nothing ever dies in Oz, heads are only a fashion accessory--And since magic was outlawed after the Wicked Witch, the character of Mombi was only your standard grumpy witch. The director combined the two into a literally snarling psychopath.

(Put it this way: Anyone ever catch that stark-raving-bats "Nutcracker 3D" last year, either in the theaters or on VOD? I was trying to find something to compare that psychotic episode to, and couldn't think of any other adjective to describe it but "Return to Oz". That just sort of said it all. )

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Ejanss /t/322693/gwtw-and-wizard-of-oz-again-in-2013/120#post_3968738
And even then...I wouldn't wait up nights. The original theater audiences aren't the ONLY ones with deep long-standing traumas about the movie.

It's darker in tone but i personally like it, many films are nothing like their book counterparts.

 

[Richard--W]

Return to Oz is a fine film, close in spirit and intent to the L. Frank Baum novels, but it's not a comedy or a musical and it scared children. There were constant walkouts. I remember mothers leading their crying children up the aisles. I remember one mother telling off the usher "There isn't any singing or dancing in this movie!" as if it were his fault. Audience expectations were based on The Wizard of Oz (1939). It never occurred to anyone that a filmmaker would try a different approach.
Personally, I wish Walter Murch had followed up with two sequels just like it.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by Richard--W /t/322693/gwtw-and-wizard-of-oz-again-in-2013/150#post_3968946
Return to Oz is a fine film, close in spirit and intent to the L. Frank Baum novels, but it's not a comedy or a musical and it scared children. There were constant walkouts. I remember mothers leading their crying children up the aisles. I remember one mother telling off the usher "There isn't any singing or dancing in this movie!" as if it were his fault. Audience expectations were based on The Wizard of Oz (1939). It never occurred to anyone that a filmmaker would try a different approach.
Personally, I wish Walter Murch had followed up with two sequels just like it.

I thought it was a pretty good film, too, and I would like to see Disney give it some Blu-Ray attention. It would make the perfect tie-in for Oz: The Great and Powerful, which is probably one of the big reasons WB is reissuing The Wizard of Oz.

 

I'm sure they will release it.

 

[Matt Hough]

I thought Return to Oz was in that large group of Disney vault titles that were being spread out during the last half of the year to be released on Blu-ray. Wasn't it? Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[ufacat]

"Everyone should bear in mind that WHV's transfer of Gone With the Wind has never been right in the first place. It is oversaturated with yellow, flamboyantly so, turning reds to orange etc. They put all this time and money into restoration, scanning and clean-up, then Ned Price comes along with his yellow crayon to twist the pallet. Hopefully a new set of eyes will supervise the new scan and transfer. I'm willing to spend the money again for a properly color-timed Gone With the Wind. The first Blu-ray corrected the problem partially. Now it's time to finish the job."
Yes, there IS that--the public digital screenings are malarial and I have to take the blu-ray into red to get a normal skin tone. (I will say, that once I do that, it looks perfect!) I get the 39 timing issue and the idea of bringing the color to a candlelit effect, but Selznick liked the early 50s release which had bolder color (especially reds) and more realistic skin tones.
I am hoping that the release of GWTW will contain the outtakes and deleted footage that were in Art Arling's possession and went to the Tumblin-Shaw collection. I know the red tape involved has kept this from the public, but should it be resolved and put on a new blu-ray, I will bet that a lot of folks would spring for it.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I am hoping that the release of GWTW will contain the outtakes and deleted footage that were in Art Arling's possession and went to the Tumblin-Shaw collection. I know the red tape involved has kept this from the public, but should it be resolved and put on a new blu-ray. I will bet that a lot of folks would spring for it.

That would constitute an automatic "buy" from me.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Me too--I can't believe they don't make those public. It's not like there's no curiosity about them. Kinda unfair, if you ask me.