For a rather extended period of my childhood, I wanted to be the Wicked Witch of the West when I grew up. This doesn’t mean I intended to act unkindly (or homicidal) toward little girls. Then, as now, I had no real interest in little girls, nor was I particularly interested in scarecrows, tin men, or chubby little comics wearing ill-fitting lion costumes. But witches were another matter entirely, and especially witches with bright green complexions, witches who could make dramatic entrances in explosions of hot pink smoke. In my youth I recognized this as style, and I’m happy to report that my youthful discovery is all the more apparent now that MGM’s sublime 1939 masterpiece, The Wizard of Oz, is available again in a new 75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, which includes Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and UltraViolet versions. This essential set follows an exclusive IMAX/3D engagement presented recently in theaters nationwide. There are many bonuses and special features included in the home version, of course, but most of us will simply want to cheer this visually enhanced incarnation of Our Lady of the Green-Faced Witches as she fights to get her poor dead sister’s shoes back from that dreadful little Dorothy. Warner Home Video (wbshop.com). —Jack Stalnaker
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