Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!cepu!ucla-cs!reiher From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: Re: RETURN TO OZ Message-ID: <6167@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Thu, 27-Jun-85 03:28:26 EDT Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.6167 Posted: Thu Jun 27 03:28:26 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 29-Jun-85 03:26:03 EDT References: <741@vax2.fluke.UUCP> <1583@orca.UUCP> Reply-To: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (Peter Reiher) Distribution: net Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department Lines: 36 Summary: In article <1583@orca.UUCP> davidl@orca.UUCP (David Levine) writes: > >Disney has a real winner with this one. Now let's see /The Black Cauldron/... > I have some reservations about "Return to Oz", but basically I liked it. I think it's a splendid film for children, and if it doesn't make a lot of money I will have no more sympathy for parents who moan about the dearth of children's films. >(P.S. Anybody know exactly what the "Special thanks to George Lucas" > at the end was for?) Walter Murch, the director, is the foremost sound editor in Hollywood (or the world, for that matter) and a fine film editor, too. Having done the grunt work for years on many successful films, he finally got a chance to direct the film he always wanted to make, an Oz movie. Alas, his experience had been of two kinds: student films and postproduction, and "Return to Oz" proved to be an enormously complex film, especially because it involved so many mechanical characters which usually didn't do what they were supposed to do. Murch essentially collapsed under the pressure. He more or less stopped shooting the picture. Fortunately for him, Walter Murch had friends, notably George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Coppola. All three of these men had worked extensively with Murch before, and Lucas and Murch were good friends back at USC. All three flew to London at various times to help out. Coppola and Spielberg essentially gave moral support. Lucas' help apparently was more substantial, and he stayed for a week or two. According to the released account, they made it sound like he just said helpful things to Murch and awed everyone with the fact that George Lucas was on the set. Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like he reorganized the production for Murch, then handed it back to him. Lucas did not shoot any footage according to all accounts I've seen. -- Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa soon to be reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU {...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher