Young Dorothy Gale and her dog are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return he... Read allYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.Young Dorothy Gale and her dog are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
- Directors
- Victor Fleming
- George Cukor(uncredited)
- Mervyn LeRoy(uncredited)
- Writers
- Noel Langley(screenplay)
- Florence Ryerson(screenplay)
- Edgar Allan Woolf(screenplay)
- Stars
Top credits
- Directors
- Victor Fleming
- George Cukor(uncredited)
- Mervyn LeRoy(uncredited)
- Writers
- Noel Langley(screenplay)
- Florence Ryerson(screenplay)
- Edgar Allan Woolf(screenplay)
- Stars
- Won 2 Oscars
- 13 wins & 16 nominations total
Videos15
Terry
- Totoas Toto
- (as Toto)
The Singer Midgets
- The Munchkinsas The Munchkins
- (as The Munchkins)
Franz Balluck
- Munchkinas Munchkin
- (uncredited)
Josefine Balluck
- Munchkinas Munchkin
- (uncredited)
Amelia Batchelor
- Ozmiteas Ozmite
- (uncredited)
Charles Becker
- Munchkin Mayoras Munchkin Mayor
- (uncredited)
Freda Betsky
- Munchkinas Munchkin
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Victor Fleming
- George Cukor(uncredited)
- Mervyn LeRoy(uncredited)
- Writers
- Noel Langley(screenplay) (adaptation)
- Florence Ryerson(screenplay)
- Edgar Allan Woolf(screenplay)
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMany of The Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought to be too frightening for audiences.
- GoofsDorothy smiles and tries not to laugh after she smacks the lion and he asks "Is my nose bleeding?"
- Quotes
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
The Scarecrow: I don't know! But some people without brains do an *awful* lot of talking, don't they?
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.
- Crazy creditsToto is listed in the end credits as being played by Toto, when he was actually played by a dog named Terry.
- Alternate versionsFrom 1968 to 1984, on NBC-TV and CBS-TV airings of the film, the film was edited to sell more commercial time. As the amount of commercial time on network television gradually increased, more scenes were cut. According to film historian John Fricke, these cuts started with solely a long tracking shot of Munchkin Land after Dorothy arrives there. The rest of the film remained intact. Also according to Fricke, more wholesale cutting of the film took place when CBS regained the TV rights in 1975. By the 1980s, the other excised shots included: the film's dedication in the opening credits, continuity shots of Dorothy and Toto running from the farm, establishing shots of the cyclone, the aforementioned tracking sequence in Munchkin Land, the establishing shot of the poppy field, and tiny bits and pieces of the trip to the Wicked Witch's castle. CBS, which had shown the uncut version of the film in 1956, and again from the films first telecast until 1968, finally started to show it uncut again beginning in 1985, by time-compressing it. Network airings in the 1990s were uncut and not time-compressed; the film aired in a 2-hour, 10-minute time period.
- ConnectionsEdited into Chain Lightning (1950)
Top review
a milestone
People talk about The Wizard of Oz as a backdrop to their lives; and how true that is. I just saw it again, DVD, for the first time in--gosh!--20 years. There was a little art house in Lansing Michigan USA that ran it back then, on the popular premise that there's nothing like TWoO on "the big screen." That's the last time I'd seen it, 'til today.
I guess the part that "gets" me about the movie is how the writers made it pretty plain that the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion really already had what they thought they were missing; that their respective problems were in misapprehending their own complete natures. That's a powerful statement for many of us. I found myself most touched in scenes where the Scarecrow was showing wisdom, the Tin Man feeling deeply ("...when I think of Dorothy in that awful place..."), and the Lion...well, maybe accomplishing this effect was harder in his case...what *is* true courage?
Anyway, if you're reading this here, you must be a movie weenie, and you've no doubt already seen the movie, so I'm not going to recite the usual "go see this movie" mantra.
I was just very touching to see this movie again, at this phase in my life.
I will mention a few more things about how I now see this movie as a "growed up" (I'm almost 50): It's interesting how you can see the production values of the time; the lot sets and special effects and so forth. This movie is a powerful example of how a good story overcomes limited means in other areas.
People who look back with disdain on the low-tech chintz of old movies can see in TWoO the magic ingredient; narrative solidity. And I'm not a pollyanna about this: I'm sure the underlying reality behind its making is rife with horror stories of expert disagreement, rewrites, discarding, jerryrigging, and the rest of it. But in the end, something like narrative love won out; and that's the important thing.
Oh: And having Harold Arlen write the music was good luck indeed. And orchestrations which cleverly appropriated very tasty new ideas in composition (polymodalism, non-standard phrasings, etc.) didn't hurt, either!
Geez, this movie is such a little universe....I'd better stop here.
I guess the part that "gets" me about the movie is how the writers made it pretty plain that the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion really already had what they thought they were missing; that their respective problems were in misapprehending their own complete natures. That's a powerful statement for many of us. I found myself most touched in scenes where the Scarecrow was showing wisdom, the Tin Man feeling deeply ("...when I think of Dorothy in that awful place..."), and the Lion...well, maybe accomplishing this effect was harder in his case...what *is* true courage?
Anyway, if you're reading this here, you must be a movie weenie, and you've no doubt already seen the movie, so I'm not going to recite the usual "go see this movie" mantra.
I was just very touching to see this movie again, at this phase in my life.
I will mention a few more things about how I now see this movie as a "growed up" (I'm almost 50): It's interesting how you can see the production values of the time; the lot sets and special effects and so forth. This movie is a powerful example of how a good story overcomes limited means in other areas.
People who look back with disdain on the low-tech chintz of old movies can see in TWoO the magic ingredient; narrative solidity. And I'm not a pollyanna about this: I'm sure the underlying reality behind its making is rife with horror stories of expert disagreement, rewrites, discarding, jerryrigging, and the rest of it. But in the end, something like narrative love won out; and that's the important thing.
Oh: And having Harold Arlen write the music was good luck indeed. And orchestrations which cleverly appropriated very tasty new ideas in composition (polymodalism, non-standard phrasings, etc.) didn't hurt, either!
Geez, this movie is such a little universe....I'd better stop here.
helpful•15839
- rzajac
- Nov 12, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Čarovnik iz Oza
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,777,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $24,668,669
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,354,311
- Nov 8, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $25,637,669
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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