Hi-

I was wondering if anyone had seen / bought the new, 3 dvd version of the 1939 Wizard Of Oz remaster set, with the 1937 (?) cartoon short that came with it.

Is it restored? Is it complete? Is it in color?
I'm curious, because I have 2 versions myself, and one is all b&w, and the other seems like a b&w with a slight tint. Also, my 2 versions have slightly different, somewhat choppy soundtracks.
It would be nice to know if it was cleaned up, and 'restored'.

Was this cartoon very rare prior to this?
Thanks.

I do not have the DVD, but can give you some information on this.
Originally, the feature was released with the black and white sections printed on sepia stock, hence the tinting, being transferred from such elements.
The cartoon is the 1933 independently-produced cartoon, made by Ted Eschbaugh.
I do have a VHS tape from Warners on the feature, and the quality is outstanding. I am wondering if those you own are licensed or bootleg tapes, due to the choppy sound----you should check what they are.

I have this box set. The cartoon may not be complete, the storytelling is so disjointed, it's difficult to tell (but that wasn't unusual for Van Beuren). I haven't watched it in a while, but I seem to remember some stuff probably missing from the ending. It is in color (except the Kansas scenes, just like the classic), but faded. When I first looked at it I thought is was in Cinecolor, but a few yellows and purples lead me to realize that it's full color. The IMDB states "Legal difficulties prevented its release in 1933". That would probably be referring to Disney three year exclusive Technicolor contract, since the release date is 1933.

I hope that helps.

Steve

If your interested in seeing what the film should look like in full color, click on this link to a thread in GAC Forums which I started last year.
http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showth...ighlight=Wizard

Also, Mr. Muctu, yous stated that the cartoon was made by Van Beuren, this is incorrect. It was made independly by Ted Eshbaugh. I am not sure who the distributor was going to be, probably Film Laboratories or Invincible Pictures, as they were in charge for Eshbaughs little 1933/32 color cartoon The Snowman

I otherwise read somewhere the backing of some Canadian group on the Oz cartoon allowed for it to be filmed in three-strip Technicolor as well, as I assume the rights to the process in animation was limited in the US to Disney during that time.

Any lack of good quality in the cartoon can be attributed to the fact it is in public domain. While it was made in full 3-strip Technicolor, many black & white prints came onto the home movie market in 16mm by way of Official Films back in the 1940's. Official had licensed to release Eschbaugh's independent cartoons.

Regarding the Eshbaugh WIZARD OF OZ, it had been announced that a series was to have resulted. This was announced in trade journals, and appear in print in the book, SOUND MOTION PICTURES by James Cameron (not the director of TITANIC), published in 1933 and all sebsequent reprints into the 1950s.
And while a series was planned, it was never produced because Eshbaugh did not have the rights to the property, which was then owned by Samuel Goldwyn, who later sold it to MGM in 1937. The intention of a series may explain the non-conclusive ending of the Eshbaugh cartoon. What is most puzzling is that The Cowardly Lion is missing, there are no Munchkins, and most of all no witches. The cartoon skips past a lot of vital story elements, and wastes time with things such as butterflies and a senseless bit about a chicken and a growing egg that explodes to reveal a normal sized chick. Aside from the title, there is little in this cartoon that follows the original story, which was superior to the one devised for this cartoon.

So, I take it, it never had a theatrical release?
Is it known who wrote the story for the cartoon?

Actually, there was a witch in the cartoon. If I remember correctly, we see her for a few seconds waving from a window overlooking the parade.
Tom

The figure you site is in silhoutte in the forground. While the profile wears a pointed hat with a broad brim and has a pointed nose, this is really not a witch, but a citizen of The Emerald City. The pointed hat was worn mostly by the Muchkins according to the original W.W. Denslow illustrations. This was carried over as a design element for this character. As important as the Wicked Witch is to the story, again, she is absent from the 1933 cartoon.

As for who "wrote" the story for the cartoon, that is vague since the credits site "Colonel" Frank Baum for the story. This is odd since Baum attended a military school and was discharged at age 12 for a heart condition. For this reason, he never served in the United States Army as a grown man, so the reference to him as "Colonel" is puzzling. But the "story" as it is, is a very skeletal version of Baum's book, using only 3/4 of the main characters, and is missing much of charm and witty dialog, as well and the dramatic contrasts. I suspect that the animators took a free interpretation since there really is no story structure per se, but merely a series of scenes set in a pedestrian fashion.

On another note, it's interesting to see Carl Stalling credited for the music, some of which he reused in PORKY IN WACKYLAND. Other credits refer to "Drawn by" Frank Tipper, Cal Dalton, Bill Mason, Vet Anderson, and "Hutch."

Maybe it was honorary, like Sanders.

Well, there was a chicken in this cartoon, although I don't believe it was supposed to be Belina from the sequel book, OZMA OF OZ.

It is a puzzling cartoon. It was around in b/w for years- most of those prints from Morcraft films, duped froma nice b/w original from a collector. Many years later (in the late 80's) another collector got a 16mm Anscocolor print from Bill Everson, who worked with Eshbaugh in the 60's. The soundtrack wasn't very good on that print, so the collector used the sound from the b/w print and struck some new prints, and those are the prints that show up on Ebay from time to time. Not a bad print, but there's a hair in the filmgate throughout.. It does appear that Oz was shot in three strip tech. There's an article about Ted Eshbaugh from around 1933, showing one of the backgrounds from Oz and featuring two characters (one looks just like Dorothy), a boy and a girl, and mentions that it is a scene from a series (forget the name right off, but it's not OZ) I'll see if I can dig that out....

Eshbaugh's films are pretty interesting- Both OZ and Snowman were produced in LA, though Eshbaugh maintained a studio address in New York through the early 30's. He worked for Van Beuren in 1934 and 35, and produced a series of 'filmstrrips' (more like comics that are projected) for the duracolor Toy Projectors in the mid 30's. Now, if only a print of Goofy Goat would show up in color....

I once read that a second Goofy Goat cartoon, GETTING HIS NANNY, "has been traced" (I'm recalling the quote from wherever I read it). I'm curious as to whether there's any truth to this.