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The MPAA rated The Wizard of Oz G.

Just when you thought you'd been down the Yellow Brick Road, and seen all the Wizard the was to see, Warner Brothers Home Video brings you three discs worth of extra features to The Wizard of Oz, a classic since it's theatrical début in 1939.

For the handful of people not familiar with the story, Dorothy (Judy Garland) is a young girl living on a Kansas farm. Life should be a breeze for someone this sweet, but instead it turns into a literal tornado, which sends the pigtailed lass and her dog Toto (along with her aunt's house) into the biggest spin cycle in history.

After a short but dizzying flight, the building lands with a bump right on top of one of the wickedest witches in the Land of Oz. At this point, the black and white film bursts into beautiful color -- Dorothy's first clue that she's not in Kansas any more.

Although hailed as a hero by the resident Munchkins, the confused child's one desire is to return home. But only the Wizard himself can grant such a request, so she must follow the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. Along the way Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. As each of them has a wish to ask from the great wizard too, they decide to join her quest.

There is little in this film to concern parents. Some children may find the tornado sequence frightening (even though the depiction contains many comic elements, like the old Grandma in the rocking chair who knits while riding the winds of the storm). Other anxious moments in the Land of Oz center around the Wicked Witch as she does her best to regain the coveted red shoes Dorothy is wearing.

Meanwhile, as the foursome encounters obstacles and challenges, they are forced to face their greatest fears. With Dorothy's help each discovers the characteristics they are seeking have been within them all along. And it's this self-discovery process that gives the endearing movie its heart.

Talk about the movie with your family...

When Dorothy and her friends began their journey to Oz, they were counseled never to leave the Yellow Brick Road. What happened when they forgot that advice? How could this metaphor apply to real life?

What did it take for each of the characters to discover they already possessed the traits they wished they had? What can you learn from their example?

Video alternatives...

Barbie as Rapunzel also features a self-discovery theme. In Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, a boy named Charlie learns life lessons when he enters a world of pure imagination.

DVD Notes...

DVD Release: 25 October 2005

Warner Home Video presents 304 minutes of The Wizard of Oz, for fans of the classic 1939 movie. Audio Tracks are available in English (Dolby Digital 5.1and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) and French, with subtitles in English, Spanish and French. John Fricke and the cast provide commentary.

Disc 1 offers an ultra-resolution restored version of the 106-minute-long movie with a new Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Bonus materials include: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook, Prettier Than Ever (the restoration of Oz), We Haven't Really Met Properly (character bios), music-only track, original mono track, and theatrical trailers.

Disc 2 features a 1990 TV special, The Wonderful World of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic, a 2001 TCM documentary, Memories of Oz The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz, and Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz. As well, you can take a peek at composer Harold Arlen's home movies, outtakes and deleted scenes, special effects sequences, the 1938 MGM short From the Vault: Another Romance of Celluloid: Electrical Power, the 1939 newsreel Cavalcade of Academy Awards, the 1939 trailer Texas Contest Winners, audio vault, the radio promo Leo Is on the Air, the 1939 radio show Good News, the December 25 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast, and stills galleries.

Disc 3 includes: L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain, The Wizard of Oz (1910 short), The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914 short), His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz (1914 feature), The Wizard of Oz (1925 feature) and The Wizard of Oz (1933 animated short). Other Collector's Edition Exclusives are: The Wizard of Oz Comes to Life (Grauman's Chinese Theatre Souvenir Premiere Program on August 15, 1939), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio News (the IntraCorporate House Organ/Newspaper for the week beginning Monday, August 14, 1939 -- specifically celebrating the release of The Wizard of Oz), Photoplay Studies - Rare Secondary Education Scholastic In Honor of The Wizard of Oz (magazine, volume V, number 12: circa August 1939), the studio's invitation to The Grauman's Premiere (that included tickets to the original opening night, plus a newly designed commemorative ticket), and Deluxe Collector's Portfolio (reproductions of original 1939 Kodachrome Publicity Art, with nine portraits and on-set photographs).

Whew!

Kerry Bennett

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