That’s right: a movie you’ve seen dozens of times, almost surely all of them on television, is returning to theaters in a newly-mastered high-definition print for one night only. That’s tomorrow night, September 23, 2009, the 70^th anniversary of the film’s general release:

NCM Fathom, Warner Home Video and Turner Classic Movies present “The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Hi-Def Event” featuring the first ever High Definition presentation of “The Wizard of Oz.” This One Night Event will take place on Wednesday, September 23rd at 7:00 p.m. (local time). In addition to the feature presentation of “The Wizard of Oz,” this exclusive event will include a special introduction by Robert Osborne, a classic film historian and host of Turner Classic Movies, followed by “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” a look into how L. Frank Baum’s classic novel was transformed into one of the most beloved films of all time including archival interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and rare musical outtakes. Whether seeing it for the first time or the 100th time, it is only fitting that audiences nationwide will have the chance to enjoy the 70th Anniversary of this multi-generational favorite in movie theatres for an exclusive One Night celebratory event.

Before our current home theater age, the only way to see a movie after its initial run was in re-release. The Wizard of Oz was re-released many times, only showing up on TV in the late 1960s, and even then only in special annual broadcasts (a tradition that has remained more or less intact even as the channel has changed from CBS to TBS or TCM). I think the last TV holdout was Gone With The Wind, another MGM-distributed film from 1939 (though not MGM-produced as Oz was), which did not grace TV screens at all until 1976.

The last time they did something like this was twenty years ago, for the film’s 50^th anniversary. That was the first time the film had been “restored” rather than just making new prints from the original color negative. In the original theatrical showings of 1939, the black-and-white framing sections had been hand-dyed with a sepia tone to give them the more “brown” look of a dusty Kansas—they were all rich shades of brown rather than just grays and blacks. The whole film was cleaned, of course, and the color sections were reprinted more vibrantly than they ever had been.

I got to go see it in downtown San Jose on one night of what I think was a three-night engagement back then. I remember that Andy Stadler and Chris Espinosa were both there, because they invited me to join them and several others for dinner afterwards, a kindness to a still-mostly-confused transplant that I’ve always remembered. And even in a small theater, seeing it on the big screen was wonderful. Nothing about this film had been designed for the smaller screens that hadn’t yet been invented. It was big and it was magical.

Now, admittedly, the version you have on DVD is at least equal to the one I saw on the big screen in 1989. That version became a VHS (and LaserDisc) release within a few months, and it and its documentary were the basis for the 1999 DVD release of the movie. A few years later, Warner Bros (now owners of the MGM library through Time Warner’s acquisition of Ted Turner’s empire) started doing digital remastering on these classic movies, including previously impossible tasks like precisely aligning the color plates. Similar to CMYK printing, early Technicolor® movies were shot with film in separate colors for red, blue, and green; all three films were printed together to make the final product. The alignment was done by hand, and the human eye simply isn’t that precise. When they applied this technique to Gone With The Wind, they were astonished to find that they could even see the detailed lacework on Scarlett’s party dress in the opening scenes. That and much more visual information had always been in the negatives, obscured by the blurring of slightly misaligned color film.

While the 1999 version says it’s a “digital remaster,” I don’t think it is—just the very clear analog restoration from 1989. The digital version was first seen in the 2005 special two-disc DVD release, no longer available, and limited to DVD resolution (720×480 pixels at 30fps). It makes sense that they’d control the downsampling of the digital version of the original 35mm negative at the lab, but it means that there’s a lot more visual information in the digital remastering than anyone outside Warner Bros has ever seen.

Tomorrow night’s your chance to see it on the big screen, where it belongs. I’m already calculating to see if I can pull it off (I have a Thursday morning appointment). This version comes to Blu-Ray and DVD next Tuesday, including (in these “ultimate collector’s editions”) the six-hour 1991 documentary MGM: When the Lion Roared, hosted by Patrick Stewart, that is absolutely indispensable for any film fan or Hollywood history buff. That only appeared on DVD itself in January, and it’s a wonderful addition to Oz in a new home video release. I’m now really really sad that I haven’t found a way to get a Blu-Ray player yet.

But even on a 62-inch LCD screen in gorgeous Blu-Ray, it can’t match the experience to be seen in theaters tomorrow night. If you can find any way to go see it, go. You can see showtimes and (if you’re lucky) buy tickets through Fandango. Most of the great epic movies lose quite a bit when seen on anything less than the biggest screen you can find. The Wizard of Oz is one of them, especially with digital realignment and remastering—what you’ll see is probably a clearer, more awe-inspiring picture than anyone who was not on the set has ever seen before.

Think about the differences in watching sports between standard definition and high-def. Now think of how high-def is still inferior to a good seat at the stadium. That’s the kind of difference we’re talking about here. It should be amazing. Go see it.