The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

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The Wizard of Oz
Original film poster
Directed by	Victor Fleming Uncredited: Richard Thorpe George Cukor King Vidor
Produced by	Mervyn LeRoy
Written by	Novel: L. Frank Baum Screenplay: Noel Langley Florence Ryerson Edgar Allan Woolf
Starring	Judy Garland Frank Morgan Ray Bolger Jack Haley Bert Lahr Billie Burke Margaret Hamilton
Music by	Harold Arlen
Cinematography	Harold Rosson, ASC
Distributed by	1939-1986: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (all rights) 1986-1997: MGM (video) Turner Entertainment (TV and theatrical) 1998-present: Warner Bros. (Distribution rights via Turner)
Release date(s)	August 25, 1939
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US $2,777,000 $41,200,000 in 2007 dollars[1]
Followed by	Return to Oz
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.^[2] The film features Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch of the North, Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Frank Morgan as the Wizard.

The film, set in late Nineteenth Century Kansas, follows schoolgirl Dorothy Gale who lives on a farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." After being struck unconscious during a tornado, by a piece of broken window. Dorothy dreams that she, her dog Toto, and the farmhouse are transported to the magical Land of Oz. There, the Good Witch of the North advises Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz, who can return her to Kansas. During her journey, she meets a Scarecrow, Tin Man and a Cowardly Lion, who join her, hoping to receive what they lack themselves (a brain, a heart and courage, respectively), all of this is done while also trying to advoid the many plots of the Wicked Witch of the West, in her attempt to get the ruby slippers that Dorothy received from the squashed Wicked Witch of the East.

Initially, The Wizard of Oz was not considered a commercial success in relation to what was then considered its enormous budget, although it made a small profit and received largely favorable reviews. Its songs became widely popular, with "Over the Rainbow" receiving the Oscar for Best Song of the Year, and the film itself garnering several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The film received much more attention after frequent television screenings and has since become one of the most beloved films of all time. It is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time in various critics' and popular polls, and has provided many indelible quotes to the American cultural consciousness. Its signature song, "Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland, has been voted the greatest movie song of all time by the American Film Institute.^[3]

[edit] Plot

Orphan Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) lives a simple life in Kansas with Aunt Em (Clara Blandick), Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin) and three colorful farm hands, simple-minded Hunk (Ray Bolger), blustery-but-timid Zeke (Bert Lahr), and would-be engineer Hickory (Jack Haley). One day, stern neighbor Miss Almira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton) is bitten by Dorothy's dog, Toto. Dorothy senses that Miss Gulch will try to do something dreadful, but her aunt and uncle, as well as the farmhands, are too busy with their work to listen. Dorothy yearns for a better place in the song "Over the Rainbow". Miss Gulch shows up with a court order and takes Toto away to be destroyed. Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who is momentarily elated, but then realizes that Miss Gulch will soon return to retrieve Toto. Fearing for his life, Dorothy decides to take Toto and run away. On their journey, Dorothy encounters Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan), a fraudulent but kindhearted fortune teller who, out of concern for Dorothy, tricks her into believing Aunt Em is ill so Dorothy will return home. Dorothy rushes back to the farm just ahead of a sudden huge "twister" (tornado). She tries to get into the storm cellar under the house, but it is locked and nobody inside can hear her pleas for help over the noise. She takes shelter inside the house and is knocked unconscious by a falling shutter.

A confused Dorothy awakens what seems like a few minutes later to discover the house has been caught up in the twister. Through the bedroom window, she sees a parade of people fly by, including Miss Gulch, who seemingly transforms into a frightening witch. Moments later, the twister drops the house, Dorothy and Toto back onto solid ground. Opening the door and stepping into full three-strip Technicolor, Dorothy finds herself in a village and parkland of unearthly beauty. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke), arrives magically. She informs Dorothy that she is in Munchkinland and that she has killed the ruby-slippered Wicked Witch of the East by "dropping a house" on her.

Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West.

Encouraged by Glinda, the timid Munchkins come out of hiding to celebrate the demise of the witch, while singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" and proclaiming Dorothy as their national heroine. The witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (also played by Margaret Hamilton), makes a startling appearance in a blaze of fire and smoke to claim the powerful ruby slippers. Glinda magically transfers the slippers from the dead witch onto Dorothy's feet and reminds the witch of the west that her power is ineffectual in Munchkinland. The witch vows revenge on Dorothy before leaving the same way she arrived. Glinda advises Dorothy, who is anxious to return home, to seek the help of the mysterious Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City in her quest to return home to Kansas; Glinda explains that she can find Emerald City by following the yellow brick road. She also advises Dorothy that she must never remove the slippers or she will be at the mercy of the Wicked Witch of the West. After a farewell kiss, Glinda too disappears, leaving Dorothy and Toto to find their own way to Emerald City.

On her way Dorothy befriends a Scarecrow with no brain (also played by Ray Bolger), a Tin Man with no heart (also played by Jack Haley), and a Cowardly Lion (also played by Bert Lahr). The three decide to accompany Dorothy to the Wizard in hopes of obtaining their desires. Along the way the group confronts a forest of angry apple trees, a poisonous field of poppies, and a warning from the witch to the others that they are not to help Dorothy in her quest for the Wizard. Undaunted by the witch's threats, the gang reaches Emerald City. They are greeted kindly, but the Wicked Witch appears on a broomstick over the city, while skywriting the message "Surrender Dorothy." The group talks to the Wizard of Oz - a disembodied and imposing head with a booming voice - who says that he will consider granting their wishes if they can bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch.

On their way to the witch's castle, they are attacked by flying monkeys, who carry Dorothy and Toto away and deliver her to the witch, who then demands that Dorothy hand over the ruby slippers. After the witch threatens to kill Toto, Dorothy agrees to give her the shoes; but their removal is prevented by a shower of sparks. The witch says that the shoes cannot be removed unless Dorothy first dies. While the witch is distracted, Toto takes the opportunity to escape. The witch then locks Dorothy in the chamber and leaves to consider how to kill Dorothy without damaging the shoes' magic. Toto finds Dorothy's friends and leads them to the castle. Once inside they free Dorothy and attempt an escape. The witch and her Winkie soldiers corner the group on a parapet, where the witch sets the Scarecrow on fire. To douse the flames, Dorothy throws water on them, while accidentally splashing water on the horrified witch, causing her to melt. To the group's surprise, the soldiers are delighted. Their captain (played by silent film actor Mitchell Lewis, who played the Sheik in the silent Ben-Hur) gives Dorothy the broomstick to thank her. Upon their return to Emerald City, Toto inadvertently exposes the great and powerful wizard as a fraud; they find an ordinary man hiding behind a curtain operating a bunch of buttons and levers. They are outraged at the deception, but the wizard solves their problems through common sense and a little double talk, rather than magic, by suggesting that they already had what they had been searching for all along.

The wizard explains that he too was born in Kansas and his presence in Oz was the result of an escaped hot air balloon. He promises to take Dorothy home in the same balloon after leaving the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Lion in charge of Emerald City. Just before takeoff, Toto jumps out of the balloon's basket; Dorothy jumps out to catch him and the wizard, unable to control the balloon, leaves without her. She is resigned to spend the rest of her life in Oz until Glinda appears and tells her that she has always had the power to return home. Glinda explains that she did not tell Dorothy at first because she needed to find something out for herself. When asked what she has learned, Dorothy replies: "The next time I go looking for my heart's desire, I won't look any further than my own backyard; if it's not there, then I never really lost it to begin with." Dorothy says goodbye to the friends she has met in Oz, and then follows Glinda's instructions to "tap your heels together while repeating the words, 'There's no place like home'." Back in sepia tone she awakens in her bedroom in Kansas surrounded by family and friends and tells them of her journey. Everyone laughs and tells her it was all a dream, except Uncle Henry, who says seriously "Of course we believe you, Dorothy." Toto appears and jumps onto the bed with Dorothy. A happy Dorothy, still convinced the journey was real, hugs Toto and says, "There's no place like home."

[edit] Differences from the original novel

Main article: The Wizard of Oz book to film comparison

The most significant departure from the book is in the Kansas scenes: The film greatly expanded the Kansas section, creating several characters (the farmhands, Miss Gulch, Professor Marvel and the country doctor) who did not appear in the book; it also created a new sub-plot involving a quarrel between Dorothy and Miss Gulch over Toto. Part of the reason for the expanded Kansas section was to give the actors a chance to appear without their heavy make-up and costumes, which might have otherwise rendered them unrecognizable to their fans. The main cast members who had to wear a lot of make-up as characters in Oz were given counterpart roles in the Kansas scenes. The studio also felt that a major star like Frank Morgan should be given more screen time than what would have been required had he played only the Wizard. The closing credits list all of these actors as playing their Kansas persona only. Glinda and Nikko are the only Oz characters to be listed in the closing credits as they have no Kansas counterparts. Dorothy's family is given a much larger role in the film than in the novel.

For the most part, the movie only follows the novel in a very general way: Many details are omitted or altered, while many of the perils which Dorothy encountered in the novel do not even get mentioned in the movie. Due to time restraints a number of sub-plots from the book, including the China Country and the Hammerheads, were cut; the Kalidahs are mentioned only in passing. Nevertheless, the film was far more faithful to Baum's original book than many earlier scripts (see below). The movie also interprets the Oz experience as a dream, in which many of the characters that Dorothy meets represent the people from her home life. In the book, her adventures in Oz are unambiguously meant to be real.

Some characters were merged or simplified. The film's character of Glinda is actually a composite of two book characters, the (nameless) Good Witch of the North and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, who does not appear in the novel until the very end. Burke's performance is a combination of the grandmotherly, less powerful Witch of the North and the young-seeming, wise, powerful, and dignified Glinda. In the novel, the Wizard takes on various forms to fool and terrify Dorothy and friends – giant head, winged lady, terrible beast, and ball of fire; however, in the film, we only see the giant head combined with the fire aspect. A moment edited out of the film, in which the Carriage Driver at the Emerald City reversed his moustache to become the Guard, implied that the Doorkeeper, the Carriage Driver, and the Guard at the Emerald City were all actually the Wizard in disguise -- and all were played by Frank Morgan.

In the novel, the Emerald City was actually constructed of white marble, but the Wizard decreed that the populace had to wear green glasses (to cut down on the glare, as the city was supposedly very bright), and so people accepted that he had turned the city green. In the movie, the city really was green, and nobody needed to wear any glasses.

A notable visual change made to the film was the changing of Dorothy's silver slippers to ruby slippers, to make them visually dazzling against the yellow brick road on the Technicolor screens.^[4] Baum's original world was made dramatically more colorful overall. Each region of Oz has a "favorite color" which predominates over others -- blue for Munchkinland, yellow for the Winkies, and so on -- but this concept does not appear in the film at all.

The Wicked Witch of the West was much more cowardly in the novel. She was afraid of the dark, never left her castle, and carried an umbrella rather than a broom, since water would cause her to melt. She was pale, but not green. She was also missing an eye, with the other described "as powerful as a telescope". Her presumably blond hair (based on the original illustrations) was tied in three pigtails.

Perhaps the most severe change is that of Dorothy becoming a damsel in distress figure needing to be rescued by her male friends. In the novel, Dorothy rescues the others after she has dispatched the witch. Her behavior toward the witch in the novel is much more aggressive; in the novel, the Silver Shoes can be taken off with no harm, and the witch trips Dorothy in order to get the shoes. Outraged, Dorothy deliberately douses her with the bucket of water, unaware that this will cause the Witch to melt. In the movie, her hitting the witch with the water is a complete accident, for which she apologizes to the captain of the Winkie guards afterwards.

The famous line that Dorothy repeats in the movie that sends her back to Kansas occurs rather early in the novel. While she is getting acquainted with the Scarecrow, Dorothy explains that she would rather live in Kansas than the Land of Oz because, “There is no place like home.” The line does not recur in the novel.

Other changes served to keep the pace of the movie. In the novel, Dorothy took five nights and six days to reach the Emerald City; then, an additional four days to plead their cases before the Wizard, and one more night before setting out to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Thus, Dorothy was in her eleventh day in Oz before setting out to kill the Witch. After being brought to the Witch, Dorothy spent several more days as the Witch’s servant before killing her. The film never gives a definite timing for these events, and only offers vague clues as to the passage of time. The film's running time is 103 minutes, while Dorothy is lost in Oz for about 80% of the movie. Much of her time spent in Oz seems to follow real time, with many of the scenes flowing naturally into their following scenes. Their are a few instances, nevertheless, which suggest that an unspecified period of time has elapsed: For example, when asked by the apple tree why she had picked one of his apples, Dorothy replies, "We've been walking a long ways and I was hungry . . ." Only at the end do we get any real sense of how long Dorothy has been in Oz (or unconscious): Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan) shows up just as Dorothy is coming out of her delirium to inquire as to whether she made it home safely. It would seem that Dorothy had been unconscious for some time, while her family had been unable to rouse her, as Uncle Henry is heard expressing some concern that they thought that they might "lose her." Dorothy's own perception of how long she had been away is revealed when she tells the others: "But I did leave -- and I tried to get back for days and days." Whatever timeframe we assume for the film, Dorothy's time spent in Oz would almost certainly be an abbreviated adventure from the journey she made in the novel.

[edit] Production

[edit] Development and pre-production

In January 1938, MGM bought the rights to the hugely popular novel from Samuel Goldwyn. The film's script was adapted by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf. Several people assisted with the adaptation without official credit: Irving Brecher, William H. Cannon, Herbert Fields, Arthur Freed, Jack Haley, E.Y. Harburg, Samuel Hoffenstein, Bert Lahr, John Lee Mahin, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jack Mintz, Ogden Nash, Sid Silvers, Richard Thorpe, George Cukor and King Vidor.

The script went through a number of revisions before the final shooting. The original producers thought that a 1939 audience was too sophisticated to accept Oz as a straight-ahead fantasy; therefore, it was reconceived as a lengthy, elaborate dream. Because of a perceived need to attract a youthful audience through appealing to modern fads and styles, the script originally featured a scene with a series of musical contests. A spoiled, selfish princess in Oz had outlawed all forms of music except classical and operetta, and went up against Dorothy in a singing contest in which Dorothy's swing style enchanted listeners and won the grand prize. This part was initially written for Betty Jaynes.^[5] The plan was later dropped.

Another scene, which was removed before final script approval and never filmed, was a concluding scene back in Kansas after Dorothy's return. Hunk (the Kansan counterpart to the Scarecrow) is leaving for agricultural college, and extracts a promise from Dorothy to write to him. The implication of the scene is that romance will eventually develop between the two, which also may have been intended as an explanation for Dorothy's partiality for the Scarecrow over her other two companions.^[6]

The final draft of the script was completed on October 8, 1938 (following numerous rewrites).^[7]

A persistent rumour suggests that negotiations took place early in pre-production for Shirley Temple to play the part of Dorothy, on loan out from Twentieth Century Fox, who in turn promised to loan Clark Gable and Jean Harlow to MGM. The tale is almost certainly untrue, as Harlow died in 1937, before MGM had even purchased the rights to the story. Despite this, the story appears in many film biographies (including Temple's own autobiography).

[edit] Casting

Buddy Ebsen was originally cast as the Tin Man. Ebsen fell ill due to contaminates in the makeup he wore for the role, and was therefore replaced by Jack Haley two weeks into shooting.

Casting The Wizard of Oz was problematic, with actors shifting roles repeatedly at the beginning of filming. One of the primary changes was in the role of the Tin Man. The Tin Man was originally to have been portrayed by Ray Bolger, and Buddy Ebsen (later famous for his role as Jed Clampett on the 1960s TV show The Beverly Hillbillies) was to play the Scarecrow.^[7] Bolger, unhappy with being assigned the role of the Tin Man, convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him in the role of the Scarecrow. Ebsen did not object to the change, he recorded all of his songs, went through all the rehearsals as the Tin Man and started filming with the rest of the cast.^[8] However, nine days after filming began, Ebsen suffered a reaction to the aluminum powder makeup he wore as the Tin Man; the powder had coated his lungs from his breathing it in as it was applied daily. By that point in critical condition, Ebsen had to be hospitalized and left the project. MGM did not publicize the reasons for Ebsen's departure and even his replacement, Jack Haley, did not initially know the reason.

The makeup used for Jack Haley was quietly changed to an aluminum paste makeup; although it did not have the same dire effect on Haley, he did at one point suffer from an unpleasant reaction to it. Despite his near-death experience with the makeup, Ebsen outlived all the principal players, although his film career was damaged by the incident. His career did not fully recover until the 1950s, when he began a string of popular film and TV series appearances that would continue into the 1980s. Although his lungs had presumably recovered from the effects of the powder makeup, he eventually died from complications from pneumonia on July 6, 2003 at the age of ninety-five.^[9]

The book The World of Entertainment (1975) by Hugh Fordin, created with the full cooperation of uncredited associate producer Arthur Freed before his death, is said to suggest that Victor Fleming fired the actor when he took over as director. In a later interview (included on the 2005 DVD release of Wizard of Oz), Ebsen recalled that the studio heads initially did not believe he was ill. No footage of Ebsen as the Tin Man has ever been released — only photographs taken during filming and test photos of different makeup styles remain.

Gale Sondergaard was originally cast as the Wicked Witch. She became unhappy with the role when the witch's persona shifted from sly and glamorous (thought to emulate the wicked queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) into the familiar "ugly hag." She turned down the role and was replaced on October 10, 1938 by Margaret Hamilton. Hamilton was severely burned in the Munchkinland scene when she was to disappear in a puff of fiery smoke. When she returned from the hospital, Hamilton refused to do the scene where she flies a broomstick billowing smoke, so the directors chose to have a stand-in perform the scene instead. The stand-in was also severely injured doing the scene after a malfunction occurred during filming. Margaret Hamilton plays a remarkably similar role in the Judy Garland film Babes in Arms released that same year. She is a busybody social worker who wants to remove Judy Garland's character from the custody of her parents, much as Almira Gulch wants to remove Toto from the Gale family.

On July 25, 1938, Bert Lahr was signed and cast as the Cowardly Lion. Frank Morgan was cast as the Wizard on September 22, 1938. On August 12, 1938, Charley Grapewin was cast as Uncle Henry.

[edit] Filming

Filming commenced on October 12, 1938 on the MGM Studios lot in Culver City, California, with Richard Thorpe directing. After an unknown number of scenes were shot, Thorpe was fired and George Cukor temporarily took over. Initially, the studio made Garland wear a blond wig and heavy, "baby-doll" makeup, and she played Dorothy in an exaggerated fashion. Cukor changed Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton's makeup and costumes and told Garland to "be herself." This meant that all scenes Garland and Hamilton had already completed were discarded and refilmed. Cukor didn't actually shoot any scenes for the film, and because of his prior commitment to direct Gone with the Wind, left on November 3, 1938, at which time Victor Fleming assumed the directorial responsibility.

Ironically, on February 12, 1939, Fleming replaced Cukor in directing Gone with the Wind. The next day, King Vidor would be assigned as director to finish the filming of The Wizard of Oz (mainly the sepia Kansas sequences, including Judy Garland's singing of "Over the Rainbow"). In later years, when the film became firmly established as a classic, King Vidor chose not to take public credit for his contribution until after the death of his friend Fleming.

Filming concluded on March 16, 1939; with subsequent test screenings on June 5, 1939.^[10]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Release

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale.

The Wizard of Oz premiered at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939 and Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on August 15, 1939. The New York City premiere at Loew's Capitol Theater on August 17, 1939 was followed by a live performance with Judy Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney. They would continue to perform there after each screening for a week, extended in Rooney's case for a second week and in Garland's to three. The movie opened nationally on August 25, 1939.

The film grossed approximately $3 million against production/distribution costs of $2.8 million in its initial release. It did not show what MGM considered a large profit until a 1949 re-release earned an additional $1.5 million.

Beginning with the 1949 re-issue, and continuing until the film's 50th Anniversary videocassette release in 1989, the Kansas sequences were printed and shown in ordinary black-and-white, not sepia, and so TV viewers saw them in black-and-white for more than thirty years. However, with the film's fiftieth anniversary restoration, the sepia tone was brought back to the Kansas scenes, and beginning in 1990, the film was shown on television as originally released in 1939.

The film was again re-released in 1955 in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio version, with portions of the top and the bottom of the film removed to produce the effect. The re-release trailer falsely claimed "every scene" from Baum's novel was in the film, including "the rescue of Dorothy", though there is no such incident in the novel.

Main article: The Wizard of Oz on television

The film was first shown on television November 3, 1956 on CBS, as the last installment of the Ford Star Jubilee. It was shown in color (posters still exist advertising the broadcast, and they specifically say in color and black-and-white), but because most television sets then were not color sets, few members of the TV audience saw it that way. An estimated 45 million people watched the broadcast. However, it was not rerun until three years later. On December 13, 1959 the film was shown (again on CBS) as a two-hour Christmas season special, and at an earlier time, to an even larger audience. Encouraged by the response, CBS decided to make it an annual tradition, showing it every December from 1959 through 1962. The film was not shown in December of 1963 as might have been expected, perhaps due to the proximity of the John F. Kennedy assassination November 22, 1963. Others say that there was no room on the schedule, due to the fact that by then there were other Christmas specials on television, though not nearly as many as in later years.

Still, the film was shown very early in 1964, and the showings were therefore still only roughly a year apart. The January 1964 broadcast marked the end of the Christmas season showings, but The Wizard of Oz was nevertheless still televised only once a year for more than two decades. In the late 1960s, the film was bought for annual TV showings by NBC, but by 1976, it had reverted to CBS. It is now shown several times a year, on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel, Turner Network Television, and the TBS Superstation, often several times during the same week "in rotation" on these three channels.^[11]

The Wizard of Oz became the first videocassette released by MGM/CBS Home Video in 1980; all current home video releases are by Warner Home Video (via current rights holder Turner Entertainment). The first laserdisc release of The Wizard of Oz was in 1989, with a second in 1993, and a final laserdisc release on September 11, 1996. The first DVD release of the film was on March 26, 1997, and contained no special features or supplements. It was re-released for its 60th Anniversary on October 19, 1999, with its soundtrack presented in a new 5.1 surround sound mix. The DVD also contained an extensive behind-the-scenes documentary: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic, produced in 1990 and hosted by Angela Lansbury. Despite being a one-disc release, outtakes, the deleted "Jitterbug" musical number, clips of pre-1939 Oz adaptations, trailers, newsreels and a portrait gallery were also included, as well as two radio programs of the era publicizing the film. In 2005, two new DVD editions were released, both featuring a newly restored version of the film with audio commentary and an isolated music and effects track. One of the two DVD releases was a 2-disc "deluxe edition", featuring production documentaries, trailers, various outtakes, newsreels, radio shows, and still galleries. The other set, a 3-disc edition, included these features as well as complete copies of the 1925 silent film version of The Wizard of Oz and a 1933 animated short version.Warner Brothers has also stated that The Wizard of Oz will be reerleased on bluray disk in 2009

In 1999, the film had a theatrical re-release in Australia, in honor of the 60th Anniversary. The film was also scheduled for theatrical re-release in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2006.

[edit] Worldwide release dates

Lobby card for the 1955 re-release of The Wizard of Oz.

[edit] Reception

Regarding the original Baum storybook, it has been said: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is America's greatest and best-loved home grown fairytale. The first totally American fantasy for children, it is one of the most-read children's books . . . and despite its many particularly American attributes, including a wizard from Omaha, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has universal appeal."^[12] The film itself is widely considered to be one of the most well known, beloved films of all time, and was one of the earliest films to be deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In June 2007, the film was listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.^[13]

The film has gained many listings from the American Film Institute (AFI). In 1997, the AFI ranked The Wizard of Oz sixth on its "100 Greatest Movies" list; in its Tenth Anniversary Edition, it was rated tenth. Two songs from the film are on AFI's 100 years, 100 songs list ("Over the Rainbow" at #1 and "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead" #82). In 2006, this film ranked #3 on their list of best musicals. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly released a guide celebrating the greatest films ever made, with The Wizard of Oz listed in the top 10. In addition, a 2005 poll by the AFI ranked Dorothy's line "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" as the fourth most memorable line in cinema history.^[14][15] It was also placed at number 86 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.^[16]

In 1977, Aljean Harmetz wrote The Making of The Wizard of Oz, a detailed description of the creation of the film based on interviews and research; it was updated in 1989. ISBN 0-7868-8352-9

All of the film's stars except Frank Morgan lived long enough to see and enjoy at least some of the film's legendary reputation after it came to television. The last of the major players to die was Ray Bolger. The day after his death, a prominent editorial cartoonist referenced the cultural impact of this film, portraying the Scarecrow running along the Yellow Brick Road to catch up with the other characters, as they all danced off into the sunset. Neither director Victor Fleming, nor music arranger Herbert Stothart, screenwriter Edgar Allan Woolf, or actor Charley Grapewin (who played Dorothy's Uncle Henry) lived to see the film become an icon of cinema and a television tradition. By a curious coincidence, Fleming, Stothart, and Morgan all died in the same year - 1949. Costume designer Adrian died in September 1959, only three months before the highly successful second telecast of the film, the one that would persuade CBS to make it an annual tradition. The film's principal art director Cedric Gibbons passed away in the spring of 1960, after the 1959 telecast, but months before its next TV showing.

According to The Observer, the film has the greatest soundtrack of all time.^[17] The film was nominated for several Academy Awards upon its release, including Best Picture and Academy Award for Visual Effects. It lost the award in the Best Picture category to Gone with the Wind (another MGM release), but won in the category of Best Song (Over The Rainbow) and Academy Award for Best Original Score. Although the Best Song award went to E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, the Best Original Score Award went to, not the songwriters, but Herbert Stothart, who composed the background score. Judy Garland received a special Academy Juvenile Award that year, for "Best Performances by a Juvenile" (this meant that the award was also for her role in the film version of Babes in Arms). The Wizard of Oz did not receive an Oscar for its now-famous special effects - that award went to the 1939 film version of The Rains Came, for its monsoon sequence. Additional nominations were for Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning for Art Direction and to Hal Rosson for Cinematography (color).

In current reviews, The Wizard of Oz is still praised by critics. On the film's Rotten Tomatoes listing, 100% of critics give the film positive reviews, based on 60 reviews.^[18]

[edit] Music

Main article: Musical selections in The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is widely noted for its musical selections and soundtrack. Music and lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won the Academy Awards for Best Music, Song for "Over the Rainbow". In addition, Herbert Stothart, who composed the instrumental underscore, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

The song "The Jitterbug", written in a swing style, was intended for the sequence in which the four are journeying to the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West. Due to time constraints, the song was cut from the final theatrical version. The film footage for the song has been lost, although silent home film footage of rehearsals for the number has survived. The sound recording for the song, however, has survived, and it is included in the 2-CD Rhino Record deluxe edition of the film soundtrack, as well as on the VHS and DVD editions of the film. A reference to "The Jitterbug" remains in the film; the Witch remarks to her flying monkeys that they should have no trouble apprehending Dorothy and her friends because "I sent a little insect ahead to take the fight out of them."

The songs were recorded in a studio before filming. Several of the recordings were completed while Buddy Ebsen was still with the cast. Therefore, while Ebsen had to be dropped from the cast due to illness from the aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice remained in the soundtrack. In the group vocals of "We're off to See the Wizard," his voice is easy to detect. Jack Haley spoke with a distinct Boston accent and thus did not pronounce the r in wizard. By contrast, Ebsen was a Midwesterner, like Judy Garland, and thus pronounced it. Of course, Haley re-recorded Ebsen's solo parts at a later date.

The Dark Side of the Rainbow is the term sometimes given to the act of watching the The Wizard of Oz to the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. Many claim an apparent sychronicity between the motion picture and the Pink Floyd album.^[19]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

The Wizard of Oz (film)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Wizard of Oz

• Official DVD Website
• The Wizard of Oz at the Internet Movie Database
• The Wizard of Oz at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Wizard of Oz at Allmovie
• The Judy Garland Online Discography Wizard Of Oz Soundtrack Pages
• The Judy Garland Online Discography Wizard Of Oz Decca Records Pages