The Wizard of Oz in Hi-Def

My good friend Tami and I went to watch The Wizard of Oz in Hi-Def tonight at the movie theater in Dublin. This is my favorite childhood movie. It's always my answer when I'm asked what my favorite childhood movie is. I don't know if it's because it was in Hi-Def, because it was on the big screen, or some other reason, but there were many things I noticed in the movie this time around that I've never noticed before or that I noticed were different than other times I've seen it.

I never noticed:

When Dorothy "oils" Tinman there is actually oil (or chocolate or some other dark liquid) that comes out of the can. I always just though there was a sound effect but never saw anything coming out).

When Lion is singing I Am King of the Forest his tail is swishing around all over the place. It's a little distracting once I realized he was doing it. Also, Dorothy trips on the red carpet and she walking towards lion.

When the group is running through the poppies on the way to Emerald City, Dorothy trips on the poppies as she's coming down the hill.

The colors were much more vibrant, especially the greens. The creatures in the talking apple tree orchard are actually REALLY fake, plastic creatures that you see in peoples houses for Halloween with the fake red eyes that are really just tiny red lights... did I mention they looked fake?

Different from other times:

The only thing I really noticed that was different from other times is when they meet the witch on the house and she's throwing fire at Scarecrow... there are big, pretty peacocks that are running around the house, however this time around there were some birds off in the background and not really noticable... but no peacocks.

Before the movie started there was about 20 minutes of informative facts about the movie. I found out that the coloring on Tinman was originally an aluminum paste that got the first actor who was playing Tinman sick, so they had to use another actor and a different way to color him silver.

The lady playing the wicked witch of the West was a single mother who was working "bit parts" to support her 3 kids. She wasn't too thrilled to play the wicked witch, but I'm sure now she's glad she did!

When the movie first opened up there were 15,000 (or perhaps it was 1,500, now I can't remember, but it was still a LOT) people in line to see it. They lined the buildings for many blocks.

It showed Judy Garland accepting at award at the Emmy's. Boy have they changed. It used to be those nominated and the best of the best in attendance only, the awards were sitting on a table in front of the podium where the awards were accepted, and people actually listened to and cared about the acceptance speeches. NOTHING like they are nowadays that's for sure.

While sitting in the audience and hearing people laugh at funny parts and sing along during the songs I felt a little of what I think people felt back when the movie came out. Good camraderie, happy times, innocent cinema, fond memories...