Thursday, December 5, 2024

Tooniversary: Return to Oz (1964)

 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, airing tomorrow, isn't the only Rankin-Bass special turning 60 this year.

Before Rudolph, Arthur Rankin, Jr. & Jules Bass adapted L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz once more, but this time reworking the original story for Return to Oz, which, like Rudolph, premiered on the General Electric Fantasy Hour.

Despite the fact that this references the conclusion of the original story, Romeo Muller's script puts Dorothy and friends back at square one. The animation is the same as 1961's Tales of The Wizard of Oz, as Rankin-Bass used the same animation house as before, Crowley Films.


I think the goal here was to bring closure to the Takes series, which was syndicated, by bringing the animated version of the story to a wider audience.

No rating. Just a public service.

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