"Return to Oz" appreciation thread- Page 2

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:17am

Roquat-
I have the one that's got the Denslow illustrations. I got it at my library and um...never returned it.

This one.

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 12:17 AM

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 3:21am

I'm so old!

I went by myself to the first screening on the day it opened!

I was in Westwood - near UCLA - and it was me, five mothers and about twelve kids.

Before the end of the movie, it was just me. No lie!


=======================================

I was captivated by the film. John R. Neill's illustration had suddenly come to life and the darker aspects of Baum's storytelling weren't glossed over.

I understand that it isn't to everyone's taste. But for me, the strength of the film comes from the way it taps into childhood fears like Grimm Fairy Tales do.

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 03:21 AM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:01pm

Count me in as an Oz enthusiast (and of course I knew the origin of Roquat's name!).

I never got into the Ruth Plumly Thompsons (a little cutsey-poo for my taste, even as a kid), but I loved even the worst of the Baum's. Rinkitink in Oz, anyone?
Updated On: 8/12/08 at 12:01 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:10pm

How about a little appreciation for Journey Back to Oz, featuring the combined talents of Liza Minnelli, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle, Margaret Hamilton, Herschel Bernardi, Rise Stevens, Danny Thomas and Jack E. Leonard?

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 12:10 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:14pm

That's asking a lot.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:15pm

Though casting Margaret Hamilton as the voice of Aunt Em is kind of wonderful.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:17pm

Yes. I always thought of it as a very healing gesture.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:51pm

I actually loved Journey Back to Oz. I even ended up paying 50 bucks for the Japanese LP Release with Peter Lawford as Scarecrow.

And Reg-
Rinktink was at least tolerable, the one I have never been able to suffer through is "Road to Oz" it's the only of the original 6 I haven't read.

I wish they would but the 1982 Oz Anime w/Aileen Quinn on DVD...I have a transfer, and the thing on VHS, but a DVD copy would be nice.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:04pm

As I said, Husk, I loved them all.

Our public library somehow managed to have a copy of one of the two(?) that John R. Neil wrote. I even liked that one; it was odd and dark and featured a "turn-style" that, when you went through it, changed your clothes!

At least that's the way I remember it. If it turns out not to be accurate, well, then you all just learned a lot about me . . .

[CMoore]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:11pm

Since we are in the era of films being made based on books, i.e. "Lord of the Rings," "Harry Potter," "Twilight," etc., I wonder if someone will start making movies based on the "Oz" books. Maybe no one will touch it just because of how classic "The Wizard of Oz" is...

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:18pm

Reg-
I have one of his books, Scalwagons of Oz, and it's not in that one. It was the closest of all the later Oz books to Baum's style. You're probably thinking of either Wonder City of Oz or Lucky Bucky in Oz.

I wish more of Thompson's books were in print, I found a handful of them at Books of Wonder, but I didn't make it back when I had money.

CMoore-
I'm kinda shocked that it hasn't either, or at least a third anime (not the 1982 or 1987) that would fit closer in with the piece itself. I've always wanted to see Patchwork Girl, Lost Princess and Magic of Oz dramatized.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:28pm

"Wonder City of Oz"--that's it!

Jenny Jump captures a leprechaun named Siko Pompus (apparently a pun on "psychopomp") and forces him to make her into a fairy, but he only does half the job before escaping. Jenny then jumps to Oz using her half-fairy gifts. She soon sets up a fashionable Style Shop with a magic turnstyle which will give anyone high style and challenges Ozma to an Ozlection to become ruler of the Land of Oz.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:42pm

That sounds like a "b" movie in the making!

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:54pm

"the one I have never been able to suffer through is "Road to Oz" it's the only of the original 6 I haven't read."


Oh, husk! The Road to Oz is my absolute favorite of the Baum books. I loved it as a kid and reread it several times over the years.

EDIT: I also think it has the best John R. Neill illustrations of all the Oz books. They're so detailed and brilliant.

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 01:54 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:55pm

And PJ, I love Journey Back To Oz, too. As wacky as it is. Some of the songs (Faraway Land) are pretty good.

I even saw this one in the movie theatre as a kid, when it was first released (after over a decade on the shelf).

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:00pm

I like "The Road to Oz" as well; or, at least, I did when I was 12.

I also remember particularly liking "The Patchwork Girl of Oz."

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:01pm

besty-
I have tried about 6 times, and I never finish it. I get as far as the Truth Pond and lose interest.

To be fair though, I've always prefered the ones that took place in Oz, versus the ones that requried a journey to get there.

And, for the record, I'm still not totally convinced that Oz doesn't actually exist, and I just haven't found a way in yet.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:09pm

Then you need to get over not liking the journey required to get there!

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:17pm

I read the first couple of Thompson books.. but couldn't get over that they had not been written by Baum.

Didn't Baum's grandson or great-grandson recently write an Oz book?

Anyone read it? Worth checking out?

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 02:17 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:23pm

Roger Baum has written a handfull, ranging from short picture books to longer chapter books. Personally I don't like any of them after the first one (Dorothy of Oz)...mostly they are written in that condescending kids fashion that just doesn't read well as an adult (of sorts). However, if you want you can wiz through most of them in an hour.

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:29pm

Thank you, HC!

I'll probably pass and stick with the originals.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:33pm

I haven't read Dorothy of Oz in a while, but as memory serves it was more in tune with Baum's series...even if it did ressurect the Silver Slippers.


Does anyone else remember Tom Tedrow's book Dorothy - Return to Oz? About Dorothy, the Wizard and the Witch of the West's grandchildren?

ETA: Tedrow's proper last name.

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 02:33 PM

[roquat]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 3:46pm

Boy, did the floodgates open...

husk, that's the cookbook I have, and it's marvellous--real, genuine country-style cooking. I use those recipes all the time.

I love the Ruth Plumly Thompsons (especially "Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz", where they end up in OUTER SPACE) and "Wonder City" as well. As for the Baum originals, there's nothing wrong with "Rinkitink"--it seems jarring because Baum originally intended it as a separate series, on the order of the Trot/Cap'n Bill books ("Sky Island", yeah!!!!). It's jarring that he pulled in Dorothy at the end in order to make it an official "Oz book." And everyone says "Road" is the worst of the series, but I have a special affection for it.

Anyone who happened on this thread by accident probably thinks I'm writing in Swahili now...

Updated On: 8/12/08 at 03:46 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 3:50pm

I even liked "John Dough and Chick the Cherub." (No Ozzites at all in that one.)

I remember finding it in a bookstore, buying a couple of the best doughnuts I'd ever eaten (appropriately enough), and going back to the car to read for hours while everyone else was still in the mall shopping.

[musicaltheatrefan3]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 3:54pm

Loved it as a kid, and I love the Wizard of Oz, and I used to love Fairuza Balk. I like the movie now, but I don't love Fairuza anymore. Sorry that I haven't been posting much recently, I'm in Denmark and I haven't been on the computer much.