You might have noticed that I lamented that Warner Brothers was not really doing anything to take advantage of the 85th anniversary of MGM's The Wizard of Oz and the hype around the film adaptation of Wicked. (To recap, we got a steelbook repack of the 4K edition that offers nothing new for a very premium price.)
The saltiness of my opinion burns even more while watching The Mysteries of Oz, a 3-episode documentary available for purchase exclusively through Amazon Video for $9. Because, why was this on Amazon instead of getting a release on Max? It's not made by Warner Brothers, but given the use of clips from the MGM film, they had to have licensed it.
AMS Films is the producer behind the documentary, doing three episodes instead of a massive nearly 3-hour documentary. It's a good choice as it allows you to pace your experience, while also allowing you to binge it if you wish to watch it all in one go.
The documentary is presented as a countdown of eighty-five questions about Oz, mostly centered around the MGM film. Answering them are a number of familiar faces to me. Representing the current generation of Oz fans are Tiffany Sutton (followtheyellowbrickgirl on Instagram), Sean Barrett (art director for the Land of Oz park), Victoria Calamito (Tori of the Oz Vlog), Nichelle Lewis (Dorothy from the most recent Broadway production of The Wiz) and Tara and EmKay of the Down the Yellow Brick Pod podcast. We also get Jay Scarfone and William Stillman, who have written four well-researched books on the MGM film. There's also drag performer Ginger Minj, who does her answers almost as a standup routine in front of an audience. There's also Books of Wonder's Peter Glassman, Jane Lahr, Bert Lahr's daughter, Ryan Bunch, current president of the International Wizard of Oz Club, and Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and its three sequels, the "Another Day" trilogy, Tales Told in Oz and the upcoming Elphie. Other experts, including Joey Luft and surviving child Munchkin cast members, are also involved.
If you want to know about factual accuracy, nothing really stuck out to me as being inaccurate, so let's get that out of the way. The talking heads do a great job of answering, being concise, giving more context when needed, keeping up the energy very well, as well as the use of relevant film and video clips, images, and even an audio clip of Bert Lahr's hosting the first telecast of the MGM first with Liza Minnelli. (I was very surprised to hear that.)
The documentary does a great job of addressing the myths around the movie as well as more about Oz lore. I wish there had been a bit more about Oz fandom and the international impact of Oz, but hey, even three hours and 85 questions about Oz can't do everything.
In addition to being informative, this was a great celebration of the MGM film and Oz as a phenomenon. It just about makes up for Warner Brothers not really doing anything. Just about.
You can find out more about the documentary on their website.
