THE WIZARD OF OZ 70th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition DVD

THE WIZARD OF OZ 70th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. Dolby Digital Surround Sound 5.1, Full Screen, Digitally Remastered, 2 Discs, 1 hour 42 minutes.

Hollywood magic has rarely worked as well as it did in MGM's adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel. This fairy tale about a Kansas farm girl who is swept by a tornado into the land of the Munchkins has burned itself into the collective consciousness of generations of moviegoers. When Dorothy (Judy Garland) steps out of monochromatic Kansas into the Technicolor splendor of Oz, the moment still invokes wonder. And the songs, especially the Academy Award-winning "Over the Rainbow," remain infectious. As the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, and Cowardly Lion, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr, respectively, bring humor and humanity to their make-believe characters, while the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) remains among the screen's scariest villains. Finally, though, it is the emotional truthfulness of Judy Garland's performance, infused with all the yearnings of adolescence, that makes The Wizard of Oz a masterpiece.

The 2009 Wizard of Oz Two-Disc Special Edition DVD has the sharp 2005 restoration using Warner's Ultra Resolution process and an accompanying featurette on how it's done. Other features include a commentary track by critic John Fricke supplemented by vintage cast interviews (he offers a lot of trivia, and debunks the myth that Shirley Temple was ever close to getting the Dorothy role); profiles of nine cast members and clips of other movies they appeared in (including Toto); a lightly animated 10-minute storybook narrated by Angela Lansbury; and the original mono track and a music-and-effects track. New for 2009 is a sing-along track that you can turn on as you watch the movie or you can select from 10 numbers to sing along with karaoke-style subtitles. The second disc has the Lansbury-hosted documentary The Making of a Movie Classic; the outtakes and deleted scenes, including Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow" reprise and the home-movie recording of "The Jitterbug"; the sketches and stills and composer Harold Arlen's home movies; the audio underscores and radio programs; the 1979 interviews with Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, and Jack Haley; 2001 and 2005 behind-the-scenes featurettes; a 1950 Lux Radio Theater broadcast; and other items too numerous to mention.