The myriad pleasures of âThe Wizard of Ozââ â the beloved Judy Garland classic that was already just about as entertaining as anything to come out of Golden Era đŚHolđ¤Şlywood â are enhanced by its new and controversial 3-D conversion.
Playing exclusively in IMAX theaters for one week ahead of its video release, tŕźhis steređoscopic âOzââ looks great and sounds better than ever. The 3-D effects are subtle and have been respectfully applied by an army of 1,000 technicians who labored for 16 months.
By far the oldest movie to get a 3-D makeover to date â after âTop Gunââ (1986) â âThe Wizard of Oz,ââ whicâh turns 75 next year, is, in my opinion, on a very short list of studio-era classics thđŻat would benefit from conversion, given its musical fantasy setting and vast sets. Some purists would disagree.
You all know tâhe story, so Iâm going to get a bit tecđ hnical here.
Films in 3-D have been rightly criticized for often dim images resulting from the polađźrized glasses necessary to watch. But âOzâ is easily the brightest-looking stereoscopic movie Iâvę§e ever seen (from the â50s, â80s or this century) â a faithful representation of gleaming classic Technicolor, even in the filmâs night scenes.
It helps that there are many extended takes, and theꌏ camera moves relatively slowly by 2013 standards, so your eyes arenât jolted by lightning-fast edits and quick-moving tracking shots, which can cause headaches in 3-D in contemporary movies.
KudđĽos to the technicians who have precisely calibrated the stereoscopic effects, męŚost lightly used in the black-and-white Kansas scenes, except the tornado, which was never anywhere quite as effective in 2-D.
Most terrifying in the colorful Oz scenes is the attack of the flying monkeys, which blows away a similar sequence in this yearâs âOz theđŻ Great and Powerful,â shot in 3-D. The new effect is best used to accent things like the ruby slippers and the Wicked Witchâs nose. The vintage special effects hold up extremely well, and crowd shots â the Munchkins and the throngs in Emerald City â are handled nicely, as are the painted backgrounds.
I feel confident this presentation would get a big thumbs up in theđ sky from directors Victor Fleming and (the uncredited) King Vidor, cinematographers Hal Rosson and Allen Davey, composers Herbert Stothart and Harold Arlen, production designer Cedric Gibbons, special effects wizard Arnold Gillespie â and, of course, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan and Toto!
Youâre old school and the very idea of a 3-D âOzââ scares you more than the Wicked Witch of the West? Fine, that version isnât going to disappear as long as Warner Bros. can continue minting money from it. The 2009 restoration in 2-D (the starting point for the 3-D conversion) is included in the Oct. 1 Blu-ray releaseđ.
Note: I saw the 3-D version at the Kips Bay multiplex, which has one of the newer (and relatively smalleđŹr) âDigital IMAXââ screens. If you want to see it on a classic, six-story IMAX screen, youâll have to schlep out to New Rochelle. Probably worth it.