The Wizard of Oz (1982 film)

The Wizard of Oz (オズの魔法使い, Ozu no Mahōtsukai) is a 1982 anime feature film directed by Fumihiko Takayama, from a screenplay by Yoshimitsu Banno and Akira Miyazaki, which is based on the 1900 children's novel by L. Frank Baum, produced by Yoshimitsu Banno and Katsumi Ueno for Toho.

The Wizard of Oz
オズの魔法使い
Screenshot of The Wizard of Oz anime, featuring the four main characters
Directed byFumihiko Takayama
Written byAkira Miyazaki
Produced byYoshimitsu Banno
Katsumi Ueno
StarringMari Okamoto
Kazuo Kumakura
Edited byNobuo Ogawa
Music byJoe Hisaishi
Yuichiro Oda
Production
companies
Distributed byToho
Release date
July 1, 1982[1]
Running time
78 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Cast
Character Japanese English
Dorothy Gale[2] Mari Okamoto Aileen Quinn
The Wizard Kazuo Kumakura
Seri Machika (as the Beautiful-Winged Lady)		 Lorne Greene
Scarecrow Kotobuki Hizuru Billy Van
Tin Woodman Jōji Yanami John Stocker
Cowardly Lion Masashi Amenomori Thick Wilson
Omby Amby Unknown
The Good Witch of the North Miyoko Asō Elizabeth Hanna
The Wicked Witch of the West Kaori Kishi
Glinda, the Good Witch of the South Kumiko Takizawa Wendy Thatcher
Aunt Em Taeko Nakanishi Unknown
Jellia Jamb Elizabeth Hanna
Uncle Henry Naoki Tatsuta Unknown
Toto Shohei Matsubara
Omby Amby Motomu Kiyokawa
Monkey King Toshiyuki Yamamoto

Production

The film was produced in 1981 and it was the first animated feature in which Toho participated in the production.[1] It is notable for its Western character design, unusual in anime. In fact Topcraft used to work for American animation studio Rankin/Bass at the time. Dorothy's design is therefore derived from Ann Marie's from That Girl in Wonderland episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, also animated by Topcraft. Voice actress Mari Okamoto had already voiced Dorothy in the 1974 TBS dub of the 1939 The Wizard of Oz. This film's writer, Akira Miyazaki, also wrote for the 1986 anime television series of the same name.

Relation to the novel

The film is known for staying particularly close to the novel, its primary elimination being the journey to Glinda, which is only now slightly less of a deus ex machina than in the MGM version. Also borrowed from that version are the red "magic shoes" rather than the silver shoes of Baum's text. Some familiarity with the later books is clear, as the houses are the same two-chimneyed domes found in the artwork of John R. Neill, who never illustrated the first Oz book. Glinda's appeareance is also borrowed from Neill's illustrations of Princess Ozma. It is one of the rare films to depict the various forms the Wizard appears to each of the travelers, such as the Beautiful-Winged Lady (shown to be a puppet rather than the Wizard in a costume, as in the book), the Terrible Beast (looking like an ordinary rhinoceros) and the Ball of Fire.

Music

The music was written by future Studio Ghibli's composer Jō Hisaishi along with Yuichiro Oda and performed by Columbia Orchestra.[3] The Lyrics were written by Keisuke Yamakawa. The single containing the songs was released in April 1981 (Catalog# CK-584[4]), over a year prior the movie release; thus, it is possible that it was decided only later to use it as a soundtrack.

  1. "Someone is waiting for me" (だれか私を待っている, Dare ka watashi wo matte iru) (Main theme) (Singer: Mitsuko Horie)
  2. "What is 1+1?" (1＋1は何？, Ichi tasu ichi wa nani) (Insert song) (Singers: Mitsuko Horie and Koorogi '73)

A third song also sung by Horie can be heard in the middle of the film, but it remained untilted never having been released on record.

The English dubbed version featured new different lyrics by Sammy Cahn and Allen Byrns, all sung by Aileen Quinn.

  1. "It's Strictly Up to You" (Main theme)
  2. "I Dream of Home"
  3. "A Wizard of a Day"

Release and home media

Although it was produced for a theatrical release, the film was eventually released in Japan straight to VHS, Betamax and on satellite television (CS) on July 1, 1982.[3][2][1] It was also broadcast on AT-X as early as December 19, 2002.[5] The English version of this film, edited by Johann Lowenberg and produced by John Danylkiw, appeared on television and home video in the United States on October, 9 1983.[6][7] Alan L. Gleitsman was the executive producer of Alan Enterprises, which did the English dub for the North American release. New Hope Entertainment was also involved in producing the English-dubbed version. It was distributed in English-speaking countries and territories, including the United States and Canada, by Alan Enterprises. Paramount Home Video released the English dubbed version on VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, and CED in 1983 and on VHS in 1991.

However, the film was shown in cinemas in some countries in the 1980s, such as Czechoslovakia and Spain or in Latin America.[8][9] The film was dubbed into the Czech and Slovak language except for the songs, which were performed by Japanese singers (from the original Japanese music version). Some other foreign dubs, such as the Italian, Spanish and Greek versions, had this premise edit as well, while the French, Dutch and Hungarian dubs had their own rendition of the songs.

Except for a Polish Japanese-language DVD the movie never got an official DVD release in any other country.[10]

See also

References
  1. "U.S. Copyright Office entry (Ozu no mahotsukai.)". Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  2. "東宝版アニメ「オズの魔法使い」". Biglobe.ne.jp. Archived from the original on May 21, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  3. ふらいすとーん (December 31, 1982). "Disc. 久石譲 『オズの魔法使い』 *Unreleased". 久石譲ファンサイト 響きはじめの部屋 (in Japanese). Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  4. 堀江美都子 - だれかが私を待っている (in Italian), April 1981, retrieved October 3, 2022
  5. "オズの魔法使い". AT-X. Archived from the original on December 22, 2002. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  6. "U.S. Copyright Office entry (The Wizard of Oz)". Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  7. "The Wizard of Oz – 1982 – Web Wizard Of Oz". 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  8. s.r.o. (FDb.cz), 2003-2019, Filmová databáze. "Čaroděj ze země OZ (1982)". FDb.cz (in Czech). Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  9. "El Mago De Oz [animación] - Ficha eldoblaje.com - Doblaje". www.eldoblaje.com. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  10. "«Czarnoksiężnik z Krainy Oz» (1982) [DVD] Reżyser: Fumihiko Takayama • DVDmax.pl". www.dvdmax.pl. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
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