Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto 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 retur... Read allYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto 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 Toto 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.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 15 wins & 14 nominations total
- The Munchkins
- (as The Munchkins)
- Munchkin
- (uncredited)
- Munchkin
- (uncredited)
- Munchkin
- (uncredited)
- Munchkin
- (uncredited)
- Munchkin
- (uncredited)
- Munchkin
- (uncredited)
Summary
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This is the Movie of All Time, folks--a status achieved during its long run as a huge annual TV event during that classic era whose programs now show up on TV Land network. In the 1970s, Peter Marshall once read the answer on Hollywood Squares as to the program seen more times by more people than anything else ever shown on television. It was "Oz." Likewise, no movie has the hold on popular culture that this one does. What lion character ever since (i.e., Snagglepuss) hasn't been an impersonation of Bert Lahr going, "Put 'em up, put 'em uuuuup!"
Few musicals offer an equal combination of lovable music and engaging story. Perhaps "The Sound of Music." Hard to think of many Hollywood musicals where the story gets as serious as it does here when the Witch informs Dorothy that, "The last to go will see the first three go before her...and her mangy little dog too!" Yikes! In contrast, even the best of other Hollywood musicals seem to serve up fluffy, forgettable story lines that are mere backdrop to the song numbers that typically put the plot on hold.
I can't say that "Oz" doesn't have technical flaws or story element inconsistencies. It's just that the astonishing production values all around so overwhelm the shortcomings. The tornado sequence is a 1939 special effects tour de force--incredible. And the Nutcracker-quality musical score offers songs tastefully interwoven with the action. Certain numbers like "Merry Old Land of Oz," I never get tired off, though I like each of the songs.
Oz should be viewed in the lightness of spirit that it deserves. I mean look, we have Frank Morgan as the Emerald City gatekeeper, then seconds later as the cabbie with the Horse of a Different Color, then the Wizard's palace guard, and then the voice of fire-and-smoke Wizard of Oz who bellows, "Step forward, Tin Man!" What other film could put an actor go through 4 quick-changes within 10 minutes to such an endearing result? "Oz" is as magic as those sparkling ruby shoes.
The early Technicolor process utilized triple nitrate negative strips--separately recording each primary color in light. This was done due to the lack of a suitable "color film" in 1939. That would quickly change--but films from years following suffered from hues that faded with the years, even original negatives. Because "Oz" was actually filmed on a black-and-white base film, the negatives never faded. So now we have home videos/DVDs of breathtaking color quality. Now, the tinted filters in the cameras that separated the colors onto the negative strips meant that intense illumination was required, rendering the filming experience miserably hot for the actors involved, especially Lahr. But they all hold up amazingly well.
"Oz" has a valuable message. As the pop group America once said, "No, Oz never did give nothin' to the Tin Man....that he didn't, didn't already have." If we have truly search, we can find within us--or create through trial, like the Lion's courage--what we think we most lack. The Wizard (like the Lord) helps those who find help within themselves.
I feel sorry for the Almira Gulches who can't treasure this film experience. They need to visit the Emerald City to get their own ticking Testimonials and find their hearts.
Didn't bring your broomsticks with you? Well, I'm afraid you'll have to walk.
Today at age 55, when it shows up on Turner Classic Movies, even though I have in my possession the deluxe "Wizard of Oz DVD Set and Museum in a Box", I'll still stop and watch it from whatever point I catch it to the end. Having the advantage of having seen it at all ages I can truly say that it has enough fantasy and whimsy and spectacle to keep the interest of children without being inane so that adults cannot appreciate it too. I think in all of filmdom only Walt Disney in Walt's time with his animated features and Pixar in modern times have been able to strike that balance. Even "Star Wars" has lost a step or two in the 36 years since its release.
Wizard of Oz has the universal themes of the value of friendship and family, of how many of us have strengths and virtues inside of us we'll never believe we have until tested, and how many powerful people are literally all hot air. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" is practically a slogan of American politics as I am writing this in the year 2013. Then there is beautiful Judy Garland when her exterior still matched her voice, before the studio system chewed her up and literally spit her out. She was never more lovely than she is right here. You'd never believe Billie Burke as the good witch Glenda is 55 years old. You'd never believe that Margaret Hamilton as The Bad Witch is only 37. I remember seeing her on a daytime commercial in the 1960's as a child and thinking "Isn't she dead yet?" There is maybe one aspect of this film that is uniquely pre-WWII. The theme of the film - "Never look for anything if you can't find it in your own backyard" is a motto for the isolationist years between the wars that would be left behind in only a couple of years when it became apparent that the U.S. would have to confront the evil expansionist powers growing on both sides of the globe. It is perhaps a unique snapshot in time in that regard only. It also shows the best the studio system could produce in that fabled year of 1939 when it was at the height of its power.
Forgive me for yammering on about a film that has been reviewed hundreds of times, but this one will always have a special place in my heart and my memory.
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.
For once, MGM's habit of over-producing what's on screen really paid off with an appropriately lavish scale. The effects are simply breathtaking, but I can also detect the nightmarish visuals that go beyond the demonic Witch of the West. So I can see why kids would be both mesmerized and unsettled by the fantastic adventures.
I also have to say that Garland was wonderful as Dorothy, though I've never been a particular fan. Plus, her captivating rendition of Rainbow deserves to top the all-time movie charts. All in all, I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up. It's really hard to believe that so many cooks (writers & directors) didn't spoil the outcome. Somehow, the sumptuous production with its sturdy moral all came together, and remains aptly a movie for the ages.
There's no doubt that part of the appeal of the story and the characters comes from them being such old friends to so many cinema fans, but there are also good reasons why they have endured for so long, and have been able to hold up even after becoming so familiar. Although Dorothy is not a particularly complex character, she represents an innocent but deep yearning that is easy to identify with. Likewise, the 'Oz' characters are bizarre enough to remain interesting, but there is a core of substance that again is easy to believe in. Who does not feel that he or she could use at least one of the things that Dorothy's friends want?
The adaptation from the original story is done quite well, making fine choices for the characters and episodes that would work on film. The settings and visual effects may not impress the devotees of today's computer imagery, but in their time they certainly demonstrated a great deal of skill and planning, and even now, in their own way they are more believable than are most of the computer tricks that have become so overused.
The popular story has also been used for a number of more recent adaptations, and some of them have had some good points of their own. But this Wizard remains by far the most wonderful of the versions of the classic tale.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJudy Garland found it difficult to be afraid of Margaret Hamilton, because she was such a nice lady off-camera.
- GoofsAfter the Wizard gives the Scarecrow his diploma, he says, "The sum of the square roots of any 2 sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side." This is a misstatement of the Pythagorean Theorem, which is, in fact, about right triangles and not isosceles ones. However, this statement is not true about any triangle, and so it is completely wrong.
- 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 female 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)
- How long is The Wizard of Oz?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- El mago de Oz
- Filming locations
- Stage 28, Sony Pictures Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA(Witch's castle drawbridge; Wash and Brush Up Company; Witch's entrance hall; Witch's tower room; Yellow Brick Road montage song)
- 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
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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