The Wizard of Oz in HD

[Katatonia]

Has anyone checked this one out on Blu-ray yet? It's absolutely stunning in HD, from a new restored (that's an understatement) transfer. The technicolor looks marvelous and the level of detail must be seen to be believed.

In order to bring all the visual splendor of The Wizard of Oz to the Hi-Def world of Blu-ray Disc, the film has been entirely remastered, with each of the original Technicolor camera negatives scanned using 8K resolution. From this scan, a final ‘capture’ master was created in 4K, yielding twice the resolution seen in the master utilized for the film's previous DVD release.

Working in ‘full film Resolution’, extreme care was taken to ensure that all of the image fidelity contained in the original negatives was properly captured for this new presentation. The sounds of Oz will come alive on Blu-ray disc utilizing the full audio spectrum capabilities available through Dolby TrueHD audio. The net result is one of unprecedented quality that is sure to make The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition a benchmark in the history of the Blu-ray format.

DVD Beaver comparisons - although those screencaps look only a fraction as good as the actual presentation does.

This and The Longest Day on Blu-ray are prime examples of just how good a 70 year old film can look, and a 45+ year old black and white film.

The 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collection gets my vote for being one of the best presented sets on the Blu-ray format thus far.

Originally Posted by Katatonia

Has anyone checked this one out on Blu-ray yet? It's absolutely stunning in HD, from a new restored (that's an understatement) transfer. The technicolor looks marvelous and the level of detail must be seen to be believed.



DVD Beaver comparisons - although those screencaps look only a fraction as good as the actual presentation does.

This and The Longest Day on Blu-ray are prime examples of just how good a 70 year old film can look, and a 45+ year old black and white film.

The 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collection gets my vote for being one of the best presented sets on the Blu-ray format thus far.

Same here as well! I LOVE every frame of this painstakingly beautiful restoration. It's an amazing job done, from start to finish.

[othervoice1]

Yea I picked up the single disc blu-ray edition at Walmart for 19.99 this week- I didnt watch it all but popped it in to just check out the picture quality and it looked amazing.

Originally Posted by othervoice1

Yea I picked up the single disc blu-ray edition at Walmart for 19.99 this week- I didnt watch it all but popped it in to just check out the picture quality and it looked amazing.

Yup. I settled for the Target edition I bought on parish over recently, and I'm a regular Amazon ordering man once a month, and so once I get up enough cash, I plan to get & keep and take good care of the multi-disc (I believe it's six discs, isn't it?) on there. It's a bit too expensive to get before Christmas for me now, as of late, but as a die hard fanatic of it witht he seminal classic of 35mm cinema that it is, and me being a huge collector & lover of it, I'm most definately getting it.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by captain_brandon

and I'm a regular Amazon ordering man once a month, and so once I get up enough cash, I plan to get & keep and take good care of the multi-disc (I believe it's six discs, isn't it?) on there.

It technically contains just 4 discs. Two Blu-rays, a dual-sided DVD, and a Digital Copy disc. If you have the Target 3-disc, it might even be identical sans the Digital Copy disc and the goodies you get in the box. I considered getting that at first, but the price difference (minus tax) was only about $10 or less between the two. I ordered mine from Amazon, and it arrived double boxed for full protection.

I believe they put two-discs worth of bonus material on the 2nd Blu-ray, which is actually just split between two seperate discs on the DVD version of the ultimate collector's edition. It's really far nicer to have them all on a single Blu-ray...which easily holds more data than two seperate DVD's in the first place. And then there's still a ton of bonus materials included on the first Blu-ray.

The DVD has an extensive 6-hour MGM documentary on it, and I'd easily call it two discs worth of material instead of just one.

Needless to say, there's enough bonus material in the set to overwhelm virtually anyone. Documentaries galore, featurettes, deleted scenes/outtakes, audio commentary, the earlier Oz films from 1910-1933, etc.

In the Ultimate Collector's Edition you also get a limited edition watch (actually very nicely done) in it's own custom mini-tin case. Also included is an oversized hardcover book, a seperate full reproduction of the original 1939 campaign book, and a replica of the original film budget. This all comes in a large custom flip-top box with seperate compartments.

[othervoice1]

The only thing I wish I had that I wont with my lonely little one disc edition is the deleted scenes/outtakes, those would be cool to see but I couldnt justify the additional cost right now. Are the deleted scenes/outtakes on the dvd or the blu-ray disc? Anyways they did a wonderful job on the movie and it sounds like they really nailed it with the extras too.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by othervoice1

Are the deleted scenes/outtakes on the dvd or the blu-ray disc?

They're on the Blu-ray. Basically everything is on the two Blu-rays in the set, except for the 6-hour MGM studio documentary which is seperate on the dual-sided DVD.

[othervoice1]

Watched the whole thing tonight and was pretty amazing how clean it was and how bright and beautiful the colors were for a film this old. The deleted scenes/outtakes actually are included on the single blu-ray disc version even though it isnt listed on the case, which made me very happy. I found them to be very interesting especially the extended Scarecrow scene.

[Matt89]

The level of detail in these Technicolor prints never cease to amaze me (An American in Paris being another one).

~Matt