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IMDbPro

The Wizard of Oz

  • 19391939
  • GG
  • 1h 42m
IMDb RATING
8.1/10
405K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
633
22
Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Trailer 2 for The Wizard of Oz
Play trailer2:20
30 Videos
99+ Photos
AdventureFamilyFantasy
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 retu... 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.
IMDb RATING
8.1/10
405K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
633
22
  • Directors
    • Victor Fleming
    • George Cukor(uncredited)
    • Mervyn LeRoy(uncredited)
  • Writers
    • Noel Langley(screenplay)
    • Florence Ryerson(screenplay)
    • Edgar Allan Woolf(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Judy Garland
    • Frank Morgan
    • Ray Bolger
  • Directors
    • Victor Fleming
    • George Cukor(uncredited)
    • Mervyn LeRoy(uncredited)
  • Writers
    • Noel Langley(screenplay)
    • Florence Ryerson(screenplay)
    • Edgar Allan Woolf(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Judy Garland
    • Frank Morgan
    • Ray Bolger
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 802User reviews
    • 168Critic reviews
    • 92Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Top rated movie #222
    • Won 2 Oscars

    Videos30

    The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary
    Trailer 2:20
    Watch The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary
    The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary
    Trailer 2:32
    Watch The Wizard of Oz: 75th Anniversary
    The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition
    Trailer 2:11
    Watch The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition
    Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman Find Hope in Powerful, Eclectic Films
    Clip 8:43
    Watch Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman Find Hope in Powerful, Eclectic Films
    Uggie, Toto, & Award-Winning Movie Dogs
    Clip 3:31
    Watch Uggie, Toto, & Award-Winning Movie Dogs
    Our Favorite On-Screen Witches
    Clip 3:43
    Watch Our Favorite On-Screen Witches
    'The Wizard of Oz' | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:29
    Watch 'The Wizard of Oz' | Anniversary Mashup
    Nothing But A Coward
    Clip 2:12
    Watch Nothing But A Coward
    Munchkinland
    Clip 1:57
    Watch Munchkinland
    Meeting the Wizard
    Clip 2:35
    Watch Meeting the Wizard
    I'm Melting
    Clip 1:18
    Watch I'm Melting
    No Place Like Home
    Clip 0:53
    Watch No Place Like Home

    Photos275

    Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Judy Garland, Harry Earles, Jackie Gerlich, and Jerry Maren in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Margaret Hamilton, Sid Dawson, and Pat Walshe in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Margaret Hamilton and Pat Walshe in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Terry in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Clara Blandick, Charley Grapewin, and Terry in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Jack Haley in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
    Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Judy Garland
    Judy Garland
    • Dorothy Gale
    Frank Morgan
    Frank Morgan
    • Professor Marvel…
    Ray Bolger
    Ray Bolger
    • 'Hunk'…
    Bert Lahr
    Bert Lahr
    • 'Zeke'…
    Jack Haley
    Jack Haley
    • 'Hickory'…
    Billie Burke
    Billie Burke
    • Glinda
    Margaret Hamilton
    Margaret Hamilton
    • Miss Gulch…
    Charley Grapewin
    Charley Grapewin
    • Uncle Henry
    Pat Walshe
    • Nikko
    Clara Blandick
    Clara Blandick
    • Auntie Em
    Terry
    Terry
    • Toto
    • (as Toto)
    The Singer Midgets
    The Singer Midgets
    • The Munchkins
    • (as The Munchkins)
    Franz Balluck
    • Munchkin
    • (uncredited)
    Josefine Balluck
    • Munchkin
    • (uncredited)
    Dorothy Barrett
    Dorothy Barrett
    • Emerald City Manicurist
    • (uncredited)
    Amelia Batchelor
    • Ozmite
    • (uncredited)
    Charles Becker
    • Munchkin Mayor
    • (uncredited)
    Freda Betsky
    • 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
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Judy Garland found it difficult to be afraid of Margaret Hamilton, because she was such a nice lady off-camera.
    • Goofs
      After Scarecrow is given an honorary 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 credits
      Toto is listed in the end credits as being played by Toto, when he was actually played by a female dog named Terry.
    • Alternate versions
      From 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.
    • Connections
      Edited into Chain Lightning (1950)
    • Soundtracks
      Over the Rainbow
      (uncredited)

      Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

      Music by Harold Arlen

      Sung by Judy Garland

    User reviews802

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    A Wiz of a film, if ever a Wiz there was
    The NBC Peacock began unfolding its wings. "The following program is brought to you in living color--with portions in black & white--on NBC." That exclusive intro began my exposure to color television at Grandma's in 1968. When Dorothy stepped out into Technicolor, I'll bet my eyes just popped.

    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.
    helpful•141
    22
    • DonFL
    • Aug 11, 2003

    FAQ14

    • How many munchkins appeared in the film?
    • In the credits, Judy Garland had two "Dance" stand-ins. What are they and in what scenes were they used for? Why would she need them? She was a decent dancer. I have seen her dance in many movies!
    • Is Oz real or did Dorothy dream the whole thing?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 25, 1939 (United States)
      • United States
      • Warner Bros.
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Stage 28, Sony Pictures Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 42 minutes
      • Color

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