Wizard Of Oz:SE is fantastic!

I just finished watching this great disc and I must disagree completely with the harsh DVDFile review.

I didn't see any of the problems mentioned in the review. The picture is as sharp as I have ever seen and I thought the DD 5.1 was excellent.

I was disappointed that the original mono was not included as it is mentioned on the back as a supplement. Also, I wish WHV could have crammed that audio commentary on the disc. Overall, I was very pleased with this disc.

BTW---The menus are very well done with a twister sweeping across the Warner Bros logo to take you to the fully-animated menus. Cool!

For reference, my equipment used to view this disc is as follows:

Toshiba 40" Widescreen TW40F80
HK AVR-85 DD receiver
Toshiba SD-2006 DVD Player

If you are a fan of this classic, don't hesitate with the purchase of this disc!

Kolin N.

Kolin,

I completely agree with your assessment of The Wizard Of Oz. The transfer looks like it was made yesterday and I've never seen it look so good (and I've seen EVERY release of this classic).

Some nice extras came with the spl.ed. box set - still photos and poster repros along with a book of a reprint of the complete original script.

I highly recommend either disc.

Brad V.

[Rejemy]

I just got mine today and I'm blown away by the quality of the image! Wow! I can't believe the film is in such great shape! I know it was recently restored, but considering how much Star Wars decayed in a measly 20 years, Wizard of Oz must have been shot on superhuman film!

The menus and extras are great too. For the price, this disc should be in pretty much everyone's collection.

Howdy

Just a quick note about our reviews. I know sometimes they sound harsh, but we just try and be really critical and not overuse the 5-star rating. We try to not overdo it, as to not give one false hopes . Kind of the "rather have them be surprised than disappointed" theory. Don't want to say "every disc is utterly fantanstic" blah blah blah with no mention of any faults, minor or otherwise.

Anyway, hope this makes sense!

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Peter M. Bracke
Editor

Satan,

I can see your point with your review policy. I just had to comment since I felt that Cliff's review of the Oz disc was so far off the mark.

I just can't see the problems he mentioned. What about that comment regarding some of the film looking like "3-D without the glasses"?

I think the review may have caused many to not consider this disc. I know I was worried about my pre-order after reading this review.

Oh well, enough griping. I love this site and your reviews as most of the time they are right on the mark!



Kolin

[Will Munney]

I'd rather the reviews were harsh than overly gushing. I can't even read the DVDReview reviews anymore, because they seem to love every disc. I don't think they've ever given anything a negative review.
That said, I did hold off on buying The Wizard of Oz because of the review here. Now that I know the image is fine, I'll have to pick it up.

[Sir Edmund]

Not that I'm this huge fan of DVD-Review or anything, but their page clearly states that they only bother to review movies they feel are worth mentioning. I also find myself agreeing with many of their reviews. On the other hand, I think it's a good thing the websites are so critical. It's better keeping the studios on their toes. There's nothing they would like more than to sit back and push out old laserdisc transfers...

In reference to the comment "like 3-D without the glasses"...

Many films using the old 3-strip Techicolor process have had this problem. I especially noted it during the reissue of "Gone With the Wind" on the big screen. Since the elements have all aged differently, the three strips no longer line up exactly, resulting in the color registration to be imperfect. In fact, it looks a lot like a 3-D comic book, with one color just slightly moved to the side of the other...

= Derek =