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The World of Oz: A Fantastic Expedition Over the Rainbow: 08/13/24
The World of Oz: A Fantastic Expedition Over the Rainbow by Allen Eyles (1985) was released as promotional material for Return to Oz (1985). It is a comprehensive survey of the Oz books, films, plays and the people responsible for them. Although the book is only 96 pages, they are multi-column, small typeface, dense pages. The book begins with Baum's biography, followed by an annotated bibliography of the fourteen books Baum wrote the the series as well as various adaptations made of each volume: silent films and plays, with illustrations of how major characters in each were portrayed. There's of course a section devoted to the MGM film which is compared and contrasted with two versions of The Wiz. Were the book newer, it would have included the most recent version too. The section that interested me most was the one on the post Baum books. These are the ones written by Ruth Plumly Thompson, John R. Neill, and others. I am a few volumes shy of starting Thompson's books. Eyles is a bit dismissive of her contribution to the series, something I disagree with based on the one of hers I have read, Speedy in Oz (1934). Sprinkled throughout the book are descriptions of how characters and books were adapted into Return to Oz. Of course this book is enthusiastic about the project and hopeful for it being the launch of a new series of Oz based films. That didn't happen for reasons I might cover in a different post. Four stars Comments (0) |