Monday, July 16, 2012

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Part 1 (Thank you, Anne Hathaway)



Been catching up today after being offline for most of last week. San Diego was awesome and I'll try to get a report up tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm finally reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Or rather, Anne Hathaway is reading it to me. I'm enjoying it a lot, especially the difference between L. Frank Baum's version and the classic movie. For instance, I really like the small contingent of Munchkins at the site of the East Witch's death and how before Dorothy completely leaves Munchkinland, she stops off for a party at a remote farm. It feels more like Frodo sneaking out of the Shire than the huge production number from the film.

Also, Hathaway is awesome at the voices and her Scarecrow is especially funny and pleasant. I'm not too far in, but I'm looking forward to the rest now that I'm back in town and can listen in my car again.

2 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Theres been a little Oz-buzz lately, probably related to the recent string of trailers for Oz films like Disney's "Oz: Great and Powerful" and the star studded animated feature from Summertime Entertainment. There have been more than I few documentaries on L Frank Baum on the Discovery Channel lately.

I wonder what all the sudden hubbub is about all the sudden. I heard that the original "Wizard" book had lapsed into public domain, but I can't be sure.

Whatever the reason, I'm a bit envious of your opportunity to go back to the beginning. Makes me wish I hadn't canceled by membership with audible.com.

Michael May said...

I'm still undecided if Audible is for me or not. It's not cost effective, but I haven't made up my mind yet if the convenience is worth the extra money.

I'm not sure what the hubbub over Oz is right now. It's been in the public domain for a while, so I'm guessing it's just one of those things like when we get two Snow White back to back. Small press comics have been doing sequels to Oz for a while now, so I think movies are just catching up.

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