UHD Review The Wizard of Oz 80th Anniversary UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

In honor of the film’s 80th Anniversary, Warner Bros. has released the classic The Wizard of Oz on 4K UHD Blu-ray taken from an 8K scan of the original Technicolor camera negatives.



The Wizard of Oz (1939)



Released: 25 Aug 1939
Rated: PG
Runtime: 102 min




Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, King Vidor
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Musical



Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Writer(s): Noel Langley (screenplay), Florence Ryerson (screenplay), Edgar Allan Woolf (screenplay), Noel Langley (adaptation), L. Frank Baum (from the book by)



Plot: Dorothy Gale is swept away from a farm in Kansas to a magical land of Oz in a tornado and embarks on a quest with her new friends to see the Wizard who can help her return home to Kansas and help her...

Continue reading...

 

[Osato]

Thank you!

Ordered!!!

 

[Albert71292]

For someone like me, who first saw the movie on our family's black and white living room TV, the most recent version I bought is good enough. On the regular Blu-ray, I noticed Judy's freckles for the first time. I was mad they digitally removed the wire holding up the Cowardly Lion's tail however. It was clearly visible on the VHS and DVD. Historical context was gone.

 

[Robert Crawford]

For someone like me, who first saw the movie on our family's black and white living room TV, the most recent version I bought is good enough. On the regular Blu-ray, I noticed Judy's freckles for the first time. I was mad they digitally removed the wire holding up the Cowardly Lion's tail however. It was clearly visible on the VHS and DVD. Historical context was gone.

Todd, thanks for your fine review.

As someone that first watched this great film on an old black and white TV circa 1960, I think this 4K/Dolby Vision video presentation looks terrific and is now good enough for me. Seriously, I watched it on Saturday in a Dolby Cinema theater and again today on my 65" LGOLED and was more impressed with the 4K/DV video presentation on the latter. My earliest recollection of TWOO was being scared of the flying monkeys so I had to be around 4-5 naive year old at that time.

 

[Will Krupp]

I was mad they digitally removed the wire holding up the Cowardly Lion's tail however. It was clearly visible on the VHS and DVD. Historical context was gone.

I think the original dye transfer prints would have hidden the wire and 1939 audiences would have missed it. I don't think it was even visible until VHS?

 

[Will Krupp]

My earliest recollection of TWOO was being scared of the flying monkeys so I had to be around 4-5 naive year old at that time.

Mmmmm hmmmm.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Mmmmm hmmmm.

Yeah, unlike the 4-5 years old today, we were very sheltered in 1960. Kids today would just laugh at those flying monkeys compared to what they're exposed to in 2019.

 

[Will Krupp]

Yeah, unlike the 4-5 years old today, we were very sheltered in 1960. Kids today would just laugh at those flying monkeys compared to what they're exposed to in 2019.

Are you kidding? Those monkeys STILL freak me out!

 

[Jason_V]

This should be in my mailbox when I get home tonight. I promised my pup we'd do a "Daddy and Daughter" movie night tonight. I've very much looking forward to it...I don't think she is.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Was George Lucas involved with removing those wires?

 

[PMF]

Was George Lucas involved with removing those wires?

You must be thinking of "Star Woz".

 

[warnerbro]

I hate that they digitally removed the wires. I always loved watching for those wires where the lion sings "If I Was King Of The Forest." I found it charming that the wires showed, but they're gone now. Not cool to mess with this. They also did that for MARY POPPINS. I loved watching for those wires, too, in the scene leading up to "Step In Time" where they pop out of the chimney.

 

[johnmcmasters]

I settled in last night to sample only a few minutes of this 4K/UHD release and, of course, ended up watching the entire film. Like so many of you, I have many versions of this film: VHS, the Criterion CAV, the LD Deluxe set (in that gorgeous box!), the Blu-ray, and now the 4K/UHD. The only down side is that I am one of those losers who got stuck with an OLED prone to burn in from only normal day to day use of my TV over a period of a few months -- and the specific sepia tone for the opening sequences really brings out those compromised areas of my TV screen in ghastly clarity. Cloudy green splotches hover over Kansas and the cast of characters like a miasmic spillage...if only if only a Wiz there was who could solve that! Luckily the burn in disfigurements become less noticeable when we venture over the rainbow to full color. Wish I could send my TV over the rainbow, too.

 

[Tom McA]

Removing wires - I'm not mad at that. I ge the historical context thing, but if the guiding principle in restoration is "What would the filmmakers have done if they had today's technology", then yes, they would have 86'd the wires in a heartbeat.

 

[David Wilkins]

My comment is in reference to what seems to be all relatively recent official reviews here at HTF. Why the change in formatting? Now on the main post we get a graphic, with an active link that leads to the actual review. The link doesn't spawn a new window, but it does switch to a different "format" for lack of a better word, and that different format lacks most if not all the features that are allowed on regular posts, such as the ability to "like" a comment or capture a quote from a comment. I don't live here, but I don't remember this being the case in the past. Reviews were presented in much the same way as other posts.

 

[David Wilkins]

Disregard my earlier post. Now I see what's going on, it's just a bit confusing where clicking the link to read the review is concerned.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Why is it sometime I only see “Reply” and other times I get the full “More, Quote, etc”. How do I get the later and not the former. Is it due to iPhone iOS and not regular OS?

 

[Timothy A Goldich]

I hate that they digitally removed the wires. I always loved watching for those wires where the lion sings "If I Was King Of The Forest." I found it charming that the wires showed, but they're gone now. Not cool to mess with this. They also did that for MARY POPPINS. I loved watching for those wires, too, in the scene leading up to "Step In Time" where they pop out of the chimney.

I get where you are coming from. There should exist a maximally presented picture with mono sound, no changes. Such a thing would be the most authentic presentation of the classic. AND, I am very happy that the wires are gone.

This issue is only going to grow over time. In 20 years they'll be selling the 100 year anniversary addition. How will they sell it? By improving it---there's no other way. That's how they've been able to sell it over and over again. Each time, picture and sound have been improved. But, this 4K release makes further significant picture/sound improvements difficult or maybe impossible. This 4K is probably about as good as it can possibly be. And so now, to improve it further, looks like they're going to have to get creative.

Perhaps they'll add digitally fabricated strips on either end of the image to render it widescreen. Perhaps it will be completely digitally re imagined. Maybe the faces of the actors will be all that remains of the original image. Technology will also make it possible to up-graded the sound to modern levels. The original film as originally presented will also be available, but many, like yourself, will be horrified just the same. My ask of people with your sensibilities is please, be horrified quietly. Don't spoil it for those of us who are drooling to see WoOz presented in a whole new way. You who are horrified need never look upon the heinous thing. You can watch the exact same thing in the exact same way for the thousandth time, your eyes never tormented by anything fresh or new or improved.

As far as I'm concerned the worst possible outcome of a full re-imagining is a bad viewing experience, in which case, I won't watch it again, no harm done---no harm AT ALL. But, the best possible outcome is something wondrous---the product of film geniuses, a labor of love by people besotted by OZ, a fresh new experience, NOT identical to the experience I've already experienced a hundred times. Hate on it all you want, but please don't create such a hostile environment, do not protest so, that such projects get shut down before they begin. Don't prevents me, and others like me, from getting what we want.

 

[Timothy A Goldich]

Todd Erwin submitted a new blog post

The Wizard of Oz 80th Anniversary UHD Review

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

Thanks Todd for an in-depth review. Special thanks for being the only reviewer anywhere to care enough about the sound portion of the film to make in-depth comments about it. I was hoping it would be the sound as slightly augmented for the 3D release, sounds like it is and maybe a bit more.

 

[Worth]

I get where you are coming from. There should exist a maximally presented picture with mono sound, no changes. Such a thing would be the most authentic presentation of the classic...

Wires or no wires, the fact that it's in 4K with HDR and 5.1 now means it's already far removed from anything authentic - this is nothing what it would have looked or sounded like to audiences in 1939.