The Wizard Of Oz: Which Home Video Edition?!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by svoegtlin, Nov 25, 2015.

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  1. svoegtlin

    svoegtlin Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Milton, NH, USA
    Good Morning Friends

    It seems the great Wizard of Oz has been issued and reissued countless times for home video. My two year old has started showing significant interest in musicals lately (we've watched the 2014 version of Annie so many times I can't even sleep without hearing the songs in my head) so I've decided (against the wife's advice) of showing her The Wizard of Oz.

    I am personally a big fan of The Wizard.. so when I purchase it, I want to get a definitive version. My home video setup includes a good VHS player, DVD, Blu Ray AND Laserdisc.

    Tell me what your go to release of The Wizard of Oz is.. and why..
     
  2. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    3D Blu-ray. Great conversion. Looks & sounds incredible.
     
  3. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    The latest version on DVD or Blue Ray are excellent. If it is just the film, that can be had cheaply enough(you can get it for less than 10$ at Walmart. But if you want all that bonus stuff you have to go overboard with the multi disc deluxe sets.
     
  4. svoegtlin

    svoegtlin Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Milton, NH, USA
    Curious, has anyone seen the Criterion Laserdisc?
     
  5. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    I had it. Great in it's time (which is long gone), but all DVD versions totally blew it away, and the Blu-ray releases are much, much better still. In fact, the MGM Ultimate OZ laser box set (which I still have, for the uncut script that was enclosed) was much better then the Criterion, which seriously lacked color.
     
  6. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    The latest DVD/Blu-Ray release is stunning in terms of video quality. Highly recommended. :righton:
     
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  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    [​IMG]
     
  8. questrider

    questrider Forum Resident

    Location:
    Middle, Nowhere
    Ere and Vidiot like this.
  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    That's a great deal. The current Blu-ray looks fine to me. When they pin-register the 3-strip Technicolor, the results are flawless and in some ways are better than the film looked in theaters. It's not quite the look of a Technicolor IB print, but I suspect fewer and fewer people alive know what that was.
     
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  10. captainsolo

    captainsolo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Murfreesboro, TN
    Any of WBs high profile films eventually get untouchable state of the art transfers that wipe the floor with everything else. Thus the newest Blu release of Casablanca or Oz are technically flawless...but they may not be fully representative of theatrical prints.
    Both have nice Criterion CAV releases from the LD days and the Oz one is one I've wanted to get since hearing on here somewhere that they utilized an IB source.
    So get the newest BD for as cheap as you can and the Criterion for curiosity and nostalgia.

    (Just don't get me started on some of the color choices on North by Northwest and how hey again left off the original far superior mono.)
     
  11. Derek Gee

    Derek Gee Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit
    Ditto, this is hands down the best version. It's also the most correct version, having some small mastering mistakes fixed in it. So watch it in 2D with a 3D player if you don't have a 3D television... The 2D disc included in the metal casebook package is NOT fixed. It's the same as previous home video release.

    Derek
     
  12. Vahan

    Vahan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glendale, CA, USA
    How about getting the 1980 VHS version. B&W, instead of Sepia Tone.
     
  13. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Didn't the Criterion laser-disc have some supplementary material not carried over to the Warner Home Video editions? wasn't there a commentary?
     
  14. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Tell us how you REALLY feel, Vidiot!
    Seriously, how many 3D rigs ARE there really? The only one I have seen outside of the store is my sons. And they are AMAZING at times. Other times not so much.
     
  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    3D screens? There's a lot of them that are sold, but the real question is how many people bought the glasses, and how many are actually using them. I think that number is fairly low.
     
  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    I used to own a British Technicolor print of THE WIZARD OF OZ, struck in 1955. No digital version will do anything for me. Spoiled. Even though I don't have the print anymore, I'm ruined.
     
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  17. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Millions of 3-D enabled hi-def screens have been sold. Sales slowed down drastically because people have them now and they tend to hold onto their TV's for a long time. The glasses come with the TV and everybody who enjoys 3-D watches it. Now the new 4K screens many of which are also 3-D enabled are making a dent in the market. So the answer to your question is, a lot. Also, there are a few hundred 3-D blu-rays available, and with more coming. There are also many more 3-D movies coming to cinemas. So there.
     
  18. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Well ... there's no competing with 35mm film. Digital is what we settle for.
     
  19. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    My Panasonic 3D set came with 2 pairs of glasses.

    Didn't all sets come with glasses as well?
     
  20. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    Mine sure didn't.
     
  21. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    Nor did mine, and the glasses for the Panasonic plasma that I have were around $80 a pop!
     
  22. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    I have the 75th Anniversary Blu-ray and it looks amazing. I also have the LD (not the Criterion version), and the Blu-ray trounces it.
     
  23. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    This is a Panasonic Broadcast BT300 plasma monitor. The manual said it had 3D and there was a 3D position in the setup menu, but I haven't tried it. In truth, I'm kinda "eh" on 3D except in unusual situations. Dolby Vision 3D in the theater is not too bad.
     
  24. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    My kid swipes em from the theater. They work fine.
     
  25. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    3-D, or rather Stereoscopic photography has been around since the 1850s. It was invented with photography itself. There was a time when every home in early America had a stereo viewer and a box of stereocards, not to mention all over Europe.

    Stereoscopic cinematography began in 1922, I think it was.

    You have two eyes, one on the left and one on the right. Binocular vision. That's another word for stereo. Not unlike having two ears, one on the left and one on the right side of your head. Stereo vision is the natural way to see. It follows, then, that stereo imaging simply emulates how we see. Pluck out one eye and you're half blind. Cut of one ear and you're half deaf. Why then are visual arts done half blind? Artists paint and photograph in a false perspective in a flat space, trying to create a sense of depth that isn't there.

    There's nothing quite like a state-of-the-art stereo film, with the left eye and the right eye properly projected in perfect sync. If the visual syntax is applied, a stereo film can pull you into the frame or put images into the seat next to you. It can create a physical sensation as you watch. It is not often done, unfortunately, but it can be done and has been done.

    Personally I love 3-D movies.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2015
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