The Wizard of Oz (1982 film)

The Wizard of Oz , Ozu no Mahtsukai? 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 childrens novel by L. Frank Baum, produced by Yoshimitsu Banno and Katsumi Ueno for Toho Co., Ltd. The film was originally shown at the Cannes Film Festival, but did not have a regular run in U.S. theatres.

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 Baums text although the movie when first released included the silver shoes and was changed later for people who were used to the MGM film. Some familiarity with the later books is clear, as the houses are the same twochimneyed domes found in the artwork of John R. Neill, who never illustrated the first Oz book. It is one of the rare films to depict the various forms the Wizard appears to each of the travelers, such as the BeautifulWinged 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.Unlike most anime, it was first released in the United States the English dialogue was recorded first and released in North America on October 6, 1982, and the Japanesedubbed version was not released in Japan until 1986. The English version of this film was edited by Johann Lowenberg and produced and directed by John Danylkiw appeared on television in the United States in 1982. 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 Englishspeaking countries and territories, including the United States and Canada, by Paramount Pictures. ........

Source: Wikipedia