Post and Courier: Celebrate 70 years of 'Oz' in high definit

Post by **silentfilm** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:06 pm

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009 ... he-wizard/

We're off to see the wizard ...
Celebrate 70 years of 'Oz' in high definition Wednesday
By Bill Thompson
The Post and Courier
Thursday, September 17, 2009

For 70 years, we've followed the Yellow Brick Road, venturing off to see the Wizard.

FILE/AP

“The Wizard of Oz” turns 70 this year. To celebrate, the film will be shown in high definition for the first time in theaters across the country. Locally, you can see it at Azalea Square Stadium 16 in Summerville.
Many recall "The Wizard of Oz" as the most captivating theater experience of their childhood.

Thanks to occasional revivals, those of us not old enough to have enjoyed the original 1939 release could see it as the director intended: on the big screen. But for most filmgoers throughout the world, their sole brush with this American classic has been on television: panned, scanned and cut to fit.

Now's your chance to see it writ large, and in high definition no less.

"The Wizard of Oz" 70th Anniversary Hi-Def Event, as it's being trumpeted, is a one-night only, nationwide in-theater presentation to be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Azalea Square Stadium 16 in Summerville, one of 450 theaters in the country who get to ride the tornado.

To be introduced by Robert Osborne, film historian and host of cable's Turner Classic Movies, the presentation also includes "To Oz! The Making of a Classic," which offers audiences a glimpse into the Land of Oz through interviews with original Munchkin actors, an audio outtake of "If I Only Had a Brain" with Ray Bolger and July Garland, home movie footage, and a look at how the MGM artists and craftsmen created the music, costumes and special effects for the picture.

Tickets are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.

It is hard to believe that in the year of its release, "The Wizard Oz" lost a million dollars for its studio, MGM. But there was heady competition that year, and with "Gone With the Wind" leading the Oscar race by a mile, neither "Oz" nor fellow nominees "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Dark Victory," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "Of Mice and Men" and "Ninotchka" could emerge from the shadow of the Civil War epic.

"Stagecoach" and "Wuthering Heights," both film immortals, didn't even make the cut.

Once called "Selznick's Folly" for its production cost and 220-minute run time, "Gone With the Wind" was clearly the most anticipated movie yet made. Still, all of these exemplars of Hollywood's Golden Age would go on to win classic status, especially "Oz," perhaps the most often televised film in history.

"Oz" director Victor Fleming had the enviable, or unenviable, role of being in competition with himself that year. Not only had he taken over the directing reins from King Vidor only a few weeks into production, but also took the helm of "Gone With the Wind" when George Cukor was fired. Fleming would win the directing Oscar for "Gone With the Wind" despite being replaced himself (late in the game) by Sam Wood after Fleming suffered a nervous breakdown.

Judy Garland, then 17, was the standard-bearer for the film at the Oscars, singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and winning a small statuette for Best Juvenile Performance (before the silly modern practice of child stars competing against adults in acting categories).

In the end, no movie would surpass the family appeal of "Oz" and its menagerie of characters: Dorothy (Garland), her dog Toto, the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Burt Lahr) and the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton). Adapted from L. Frank Baum's children's tale (published in 1900) about a Kansas girl's journey to a magical realm and back, "Oz" received five Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Song and Best Original Score. Warner Home Video's re-mastered Blu-ray and DVD release, "The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition," debuts Sept. 29 with a whopping 16 hours of bonus features. Visit the official Web site, www.thewizardofoz.com, for more information. Also available is the Aug. 20 release of the book "The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum" (Gotham Books) by Rebecca Loncraine.

Though some critics have questioned the author's research and conclusions, she writes that the native New Yorker's tale derived from Baum's deepest memories: the Scarecrow, for example, being drawn from the nightmarish visions of Civil War amputees he saw coming home. Baum, a playwright and newspaperman who championed women's suffrage and declared Christianity "outdated," proved an interesting subject.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson(at)postandcourier.com or 937-5707

boblipton · Post by **boblipton** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:48 pm

Have it been in HD that long? Wow.

Bob

dr.giraud · Post by **dr.giraud** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:15 pm

If this is the same "hi def" they use for concerts, opera, etc., you're probably better off staying home and watching a DVD (or the new blu-ray, though I have no experience with that format).

Jack Theakston · Post by **Jack Theakston** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:50 pm

Avoid this show like the plague. It's one of Fathom's "event" programs, which, depending on what theater you go to, are usually broadcast NOT into your 2k or 4k projectors, but the HD-quality DCN projectors, which run those digital slides before shows.

So you will be seeing the film in HD, but hardly a tribute to what the original film looked like in every screening previous.

FWIW, digital can look great. At the AMIA Reel Thing conference last month, WB ran several clips from OZ on a Sony 4k that looked absolutely stunning.