Return to Oz [1985]

Country of Origin: UK / USA
Year of Production: 1985
Running Times: 108 mins 109 mins [USA]     [Sweden]     113 mins [UK]
Format: Technicolor
Ratio:
Sound: Dolby

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Walt Disney Productions / BMI (No.9) Ltd / Oz Productions Ltd / Silver Screen Partners II
Executive In Charge Of Production: Bruce Sharman 
Original Executive In Charge Of Production: Thomas L. Wilhite [uncredited]
Executive Producer: Gary Kurtz
Producer: Paul Maslansky
Associate Producer: Colin Michael Kitchens
Production Co-Ordinator: Barbara Allen
Assistant Production Co-Ordinator: Moyra Simpson

SCRIPT
Script: Gill Dennis, Walter Murch
Novels: Ozma of Oz and The Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum

DIRECTION
Director: Walter Murch

PHOTOGRAPHY
Directors of Photography: David Watkin, Freddie Francis [uncredited]
Assistant Camera: David Budd, Roger McDonald, Shane O'Neill
Camera Operators: Gordon Hayman, John Palmer, Ken Worringham
2nd Unit Camera Operator: James Devis
2nd Unit Clapper Loader: Simon Mills
Best Boy: Ronnie Homewood
Gaffer: Maurice Gillett, Roy Larner
Camera Grips: Jim Dawes, Kenneth Atherfold
Grip and Lighting Packages: Lee Lighting Ltd [uncredited]
Stills: Barry Peake, Richard Blanshard
Video Co-Ordinator: Christopher Warren
Video Technicians: Christopher Kenny, Robert Bridges

EDITING
Editor: Leslie Hodgson
2nd Editor: Peter Boita
Senior Assistant Editor: Kerry Kohler
Assistant Editor: Daniel Farrell

MUSIC
Music: David Shire
Orchestrator: Herbert W. Spencer
Music Performed By: The London Symphony Orchestra
Cello Soloist: Douglas Cummings
Violin Soloist: Michael Davis
Conductor: David Shire
Associate Conductor: Harry Rabinowitz
Music Recorded At: Anvil-Abbey Road Studios, London
Music Recording Mixer: Eric Tomlinson

SOUND
Production Sound: Robert Allen
ADR: Mayflower Recording Ltd
Re-Recording Facilities: Thorn-EMI Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, England

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Mechanical Characters Hair Design: Stuart Artingstall
Costume Designer: Raymond Hughes
Assistant Costume Designer: William McPhail 
Mechanical Characters Costume Design Supervisor: Lyle Conway 
Wardrobe Supervisor: Paul Vachon
Wardrobe Assistant: Anthony Allen, Hilary Watson, Rosemary Worth
Mechanical Characters Fabric Designers: Lesja Liber, Val Johnston, Cas Willing 
Mechanical Characters Textiles: Helen Lewis

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Claymation Producer: David Altschul
Claymation Director: Will Vinton
Claymation Technical Supervisor Gary McRobert
Claymation Artist: Douglas Aberle, Bruce McKean, Craig Bartlett, Joan C. Gratz, Joanne Radmilovich, Mark Gustafson, Tom Gasek, William Fiesterman
Effects Animator: Allen Gonzales 
Senior Effects Technicians: Barry Whitrod, Brian Morrison, David Watkin, Trevor Neighbour
Effects Technicians: B. Frank Richardson, Brian Lince, David Watson, Ken Gittens, Michael Dawson, Peter Davey, Ray Lovell
First Process Engineer: Don: Henry 
Mechanical Characters Senior Designer: Tim Rose
Mechanical Characters Designers: Chris Eveleigh, Chris Ostwald, John Coppinger, Nick Rayburn, Richard Padbury, Stephen Norrington
Mechanical Characters Additional Design: Gary Frutkoff 
Mechanical Characters Mechanical Design: H.W. Hamilton Smith, John Stephenson
Mechanical Characters Foam Latex Supervisor: Tom McLaughlin 
Mechanical Characters General Assistant: David Sainty 
Mechanical Characters Original Drawings: John R. Neill 
Mechanical Characters Patternmaker: Brian Archer 
Mechanical Characters Supporting Plasterer: Paul Jiggins 
Mechanical Characters Technicians: Colin Hurry, Derek Frampton, Ian Rolph, Neal Scanlan, Roger Nichols, William Plant
Disney EFX Supervisor: Philip Meador 
Matte Paintings: Disney EFX
Model Camera Operator: John H. Harris, David Worley
Additional Opticals: Disney EFX; General Screen Enterprises; Oxford Scientific Films Ltd; Peerless Camera Co Ltd; Peter Govey Film Opticals; Rank Film Laboratories; Westbury Design and Optical

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Norman Reynolds
Heads of Construction Department: William Beecham, Kenneth Clarke, Peter Collins, Michael Driscoll, I.F. Lawrence, Albert Long
Preliminary Artwork: Maurice Sendak [uncredited]
Production Buyer: David Lusby 
Prop Management: Tommy Ibbetson 
Title Designer: Richard Morrison

MISCELLANEOUS
Unit Manager: Phil Kohler
Continuity: Sally Jones
2nd Unit Continuity: Doris Martin, Melinda Rees
Animal Trainer: Mike Culling 
Assistants To Director: Francis Ford Coppola [uncredited], Steven Spielberg [uncredited]
Director's Secretary: Sue Matthews 
Executive Producer's Secretary: Glynis Robertson
Secretary to Producer: Annie Britten
Publicity: Alan Arnold
Publicity Assistant: Rebecca West
Captions Assistant [Publicity]: Judy Britten [uncredited]
Marketing Consultant: Craig Miller [uncredited]
Mime Movement Arranger: Pons Maar 
Assistant Accountants: Linda Gregory. Michael Yell, Tony Miller [uncredited]
Supporting Accountant: Sam Williams
Tutors: Cathy McMahon, Mary Jo Macvey
Unit Nurse: Muriel Murch

LOCATIONS
Locations: London, England, UK; Thorn-EMI Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, England
Location Manager: Grania O'Shannon

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special Thanks To: George Lucas, Robert Watts

CAST
Fairuza Balk [Dorothy Gale]
Nicol Williamson [Dr J.B. Worley / Nome King]
Jean Marsh [Nurse Wilson / Princess Mombi]
Piper Laurie [Aunt Em Blue]
Matt Clark [Uncle Henry Blue]
Michael Sundin, Timothy M. Rose [Tik-Tok]
Sean Barrett [voice of Tik-Tok]
Mak Wilson [Billina]
Denise Bryer [voice of Billina]
Brian Henson, Stewart Larange [Jack Pumpkinhead]
Lyle Conway [voice of Gump]
Steve Norrington [Gump]
Justin Case [scarecrow]
John Alexander [cowardly lion/Wheeler]
Deep Roy [tin man]
Emma Ridley [Ozma]
Sophie Ward [Mombie II]
Fiona Victory [Mombie III]
Pons Maar [lead wheeler / Nome messenger]
Rachel Ashton, Robbie Barnett, Ailsa Berk, Peter Elliot, Roger Ennals, Michele Hine, 
Mark Hopkins, Colin Skeaping, Ken Stevens, Philip Tan, Robert Thirtle [wheelers]
Bruce Boa [policeman]
Nicola Roche, Cheryl Brown, Alison Lynn, Sarah White [doubles for Dorothy]
Cherie Hawkins [Polychrome - uncredited]
Susan Dacre, Geoff Felix, David Greenaway, Swee Lim [supporting puppeteers]

Though back with her family in Kansas, Dorothy is still obsessed with Oz and Auntie Em takes the girl to see a doctor who has strange ideas about curing problems with electricity. Dorothy flees from the doctor with her chicken Billina and find herself back in Oz. But things are not at all well - the Nome King has magically transformed all her old friends and the evil witch Mombie is after Dorothy's head...

A much better [if rather belated] sequel to the mighty Wizard of Oz [1939] than one might have expected. Fairuza Balk is great as Dorothy and her new menagerie of strange travelling companions are wonderfully realised. It's a shame it hasn't got a better reputation than it has, though in recent years it has picked up a raft of new fans willing to defend it.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
DVD Distributor: Anchor Bay

Australia
Rating: PG

Finland
Rating: K-8

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: PG

USA
Rating: PG

1985
June
21: USA - theatrical release

September
20: Sweden - theatrical release

November
1: Finland - theatrical release

If there's one thing you must do this summer, it's "Return to Oz..."

Return to the land where the adventure began.

Oz - working title
The Adventures of the Devil in the Sky - alternative working title?
Nel fantastico mondo di Oz - Italian title
Oz - Eine phantastische Welt - German title
Oz - ihmeiden maailma - Finnish title
Ritân tû Ozu - Japanese title
Oz - en fantastisk värld - Swedish title

SEQUEL TO
The Wizard of Oz [1939]

SEE ALSO
La Conquête du pôle [1912]
His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914))
Suspiria [1977]
Close Encounters of the Third Kind [1977]
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi [1983]
Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz [1987]
Kumo kai no meikyû [1993]
Trauma [1993]
Seiken densetsu 3 [1995]
Virtual Oz [1996]
The Nome Prince and the Magic Belt [1996]
Oz: The American Fairyland [1997]
Seiken densetsu: Mana no monotagari [2000]
The Whimsical World of Oz [1985]
The Walt Disney Comedy and Magic Revue [1985]
The Hollywood Road to Oz [1990]
The Land of Oz [1910]
The Land of Oz [1960]
The Wonderful Land of Oz [1969]
Journey Back to Oz [1971]
L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz [1981]
Ozma of Oz [1987]
The Marvelous Land of Oz [1987]
The Nome Prince and the Magic Belt [1996]

MAGAZINES

Cinefantastique vol.15 no.6 [January 1986] pp.46-48, 50, 58; p.41 [USA]
illustrated interview with Will Vinton; illustrated review

Films April 1984 p.12 [UK]
review

Starburst no.72 p.7 [UK]
illustrated review

Video the Magazine June 1986 pp.12, 26 [UK]
illustrated review

NEWSPAPERS

Daily Star 9 April 1984 pp.14-15 [UK]
review

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

oz, book into film, sequel, chickens, witches, wizards, magic, children, tornadoes

Last Updated: 15 October, 2007