"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) starring Judy Garland is an iconic movie, and it ranks sixth on AFI's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. Also, it received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won two Oscars: Best Original Score and Best Song ("Over the Rainbow").
The version of "The Wizard of Oz" released on DVD in 1999 was serviceable, but now there are two new DVD versions that offer the feature film with better picture quality, better sound quality and many more bonus materials. Here I'm focusing primarily on the new Three-Disc Collector's Edition, but there's also a new Two-Disc Special Edition. Both new editions provide the same DVD content except for the presence or absence of Disc Three. Of course, the two-disc set is cheaper.
So what's on Disc Three of the Collector's Edition that might make you willing to buy it rather than the Two-Disc Special Edition? For one thing, there's a half-hour documentary on L. Frank Baum, the American author who wrote "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" back in 1900. Also, there are four black-and-white silent films adapted from Baum's Oz stories: a short film from 1910, two longer ones from 1914, and a feature-length film from 1925. In addition, there's a 1933 cartoon short that's in Technicolor and has a soundtrack. The total running time of all five pre-1939 screen adaptations of Baum's stories is about three hours and ten minutes. Thus, there are six remarkable bonus materials on Disc Three, but it seems to me their content is of more interest to the film buff than to the general moviegoing public.
Both of the new DVD editions of the "The Wizard of Oz" provide extras that were not on the 1999 disc. One of these is historian John Fricke's feature-length commentary, which contains archival interviews with Barbara Freed-Saltzman, Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, John Lahr, Jane Lahr, Hamilton Meserve, Dona Massin, William Tuttle, Buddy Ebsen, Mervyn LeRoy and Jerry Maren, all of whom had some relationship with the movie.
Other bonus materials on the new DVD editions that were not on the 1999 disc include Angela Lansbury reading from Baum's book while illustrations from it are shown, information on restoring the movie, memories of Oz from people involved with making the movie, a tribute to Oz, and a feature on the legacy of Oz.
The extras that were provided on the 1999 DVD have been carried over to both of the new editions, where they are contained on Disc Two. The most important of these is the 51-minute 1990 making-of documentary hosted by Angela Lansbury. Among the other extras carried over from the 1999 DVD are the deleted scenes, the most interesting of which are Judy Garland tearfully reprising "Over the Rainbow" and the deleted musical number "The Jitterbug."
In terms of DVD content, the only advantage offered by the Three-Disc Collector's Edition over the Two-Disc Special Edition is the material on Disc Three. However, there's another advantage as well: only the three-disc set has packaged with it certain collectible printed material, which comes in two small packets. One packet consists of ten 5" x 7" reproductions of publicity photos. The other packet contains facsimiles of various 1939 artifacts related to the movie.
Below I've listed all the details for the "Wizard of Oz" Three-Disc Collector's Edition DVD.
DVD Details:
Release Date: October 25, 2005
Number of Discs: 3
Disc One:
Feature Film: Full-Screen (1.33:1), Color and Sepia Tone, Run Time 1 Hr. 43 Min., MPAA Rated G
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Music and Effects Track
English Subtitles
Spanish Subtitles
French Subtitles
Commentary With Historian John Fricke and 12 Others
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook (2005, 10 min.)
The Restoration of Oz (2005, 11 min.)
Supporting Cast Profiles (2005, 21 min.)
Disc Two:
The Making of a Movie Classic (1990, 51 min.)
Memories of Oz (2001, 27 min.)
The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz (2005, 30 min.)
The Legacy of Oz (2005, 25 min.)
Harold Arlen's Home Movies
Outtakes and Deleted Scenes
The Tornado Tests
Off to See the Wizard
From the Vault
Audio Vault
Stills Galleries
Theatrical Trailers
Disc Three:
L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain (2005, 28 min.)
Silent Short: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910, 13 min.)
Silent Film: The Magic Cloak [of Oz] (1914, 38 min.)
Silent Film: His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914, 59 min.)
Silent Feature Film: The Wizard of Oz (1925, 1 hr. 12 min.)
Color Cartoon: The Wizard of Oz (1933, 8 min.)
Packet of 10 Reproductions of Kodachrome Publicity Shots
Packet of Facsimiles of 1939 Artifacts Related to Movie
