In an effort to offer something a little different from the ton of different reviews out there, I'm coupling unboxing photos with impressions as I go on the various components of the set. Details on extras and just about every detail one could ask about will be answered in the captions below. Lighting was horrible due to rushing, but that will improve in further posts of this type.
The box itself takes up a great deal of shelf space horizontally, but it can also be set up on its side. This is intended by design, since when you set it up on its end, there's "spine art" on it. Whichever way you set the thing, it takes up a hell of a lot of room.
Art from the underside of the lid.
The cover of the 52-page The Wizard of Oz: Behind the Curtain of Production 1060 hardcover book that greets you inside the box.
A couple of pages from said book.
The back cover of the book (l.) and a color copy of the budget sheet for "Production 1060" on top of a black ribbon that lifts the book & budget sheet from the box.
The cover of the reproduction of the 1939 ad campaign "exploit" book can be seen (r.), with the tin case for the watch peeking out (l.)
Inside the campaign book. What isn't immediately apparent is the book on the right. I could do a photo post just on the inside of this book. Oz collectors will love this detail more than any other.
The tin for the watch, with a green leather strap and REAL CRYSTALS (stressed nearly that much on the stickers that were on the cellophane. The disc case itself is thicker than a standard size DVD or Blu-ray case and is the same physical size for both the DVD & BD versions of the set. I greatly prefer the Target-exclusive version of this pack, which has the same discs in a case much thinner and less easy to smudge (I'll get to that in a minute). Underneath the disc case is the Digital Copy disc in a cardboard sleeve (not pictured, my apologies) and a few small ad inserts.
The discs feature all of the extras on the previous 3-disc DVD set and add a few more: a 34-minute documentary (Victor Fleming, Master Craftsman), a 93-minute TV movie from the 90's (Dreamer of Oz), a featurette (Hollywood Celebrates Its Biggest Little Stars), and two vintage films shy of feature length (The Magic Cloak of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz ). The MGM: When the Lion Roared documentary is an exhaustive, chronological look at the history of MGM that would make many Film History courses across the country appear lacking.
The picture quality really is outright remarkable, but you need to see it on an HD monitor to properly appreciate it. When you slide out the inner disc digipack and open it, the features of each disc are listed on either "page", each of which then fold out to reveal...
...the discs themselves. On the Blu-ray set, disc 1 is a Blu-ray...
...disc 2 is a Blu-ray, and the double-sided disc 3 is a DVD that includes the six-hour MGM: The Lion That Roared documentary (narrated and hosted by Patrick Stewart).
One side of the ad insert for the similarly decked-out and remastered deluxe Gone With the Wind set...
...which they recommend you buy "for your loved one", but unfortunately, neither I nor my wife are really into the movie. I am, however, really into docs about famously fraught productions...
I'm glad to see an ad for the Warner Archive titles in just about every deluxe or semi-deluxe release from WB. Tomorrow I'll be digging into some recent Archive titles that are particularly noteworthy.
This is one of the top releases of the year, with or without all the extra bells, whistles, watches and tchotchkes. Target is selling the no-Digital-Copy, 3-disc Blu-ray for $34.99, so it's a matter of whether all the extras are worth $17 more for the $51.99 Amazon is asking for the Limited Edition version. In the interest of full disclosure, Warner Bros. sent me a copy for review, but if I had to choose, I'd probably go for the huge box over the $35 one. The Digital Copy, hardbound book, and marketing exploitation reproduction are worth seventeen bucks to me, but they wouldn't be for everyone. Oz is more than just a film I respect or admire academically, it's one of my "desert island" films, as a friend put it recently. Yes, I want it available to me in glorious 1080p on my TV and in SD on a portable computer or media player I have with me at any given time.
