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The Wizard of Oz

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The Wizard of Oz
File:TheWizardofOzDVDcover.jpg
Directed byVictor Fleming
Written byNoel Langley
Florence Ryerson
and Edgar Allan Woolf
(screenplay)
Based on L. Frank Baum's novel
Produced byMervyn LeRoy
StarringJudy Garland
Frank Morgan
Ray Bolger
Jack Haley
Bert Lahr
Billie Burke
and Margaret Hamilton
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1939-1997),
Warner Bros. (1998-present)
Release dates
August 25, 1939 (USA)
Running time
101 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,777,000 USD (estimated)
For the novel, see The Wonderful Wizard of Oz;
For other senses of this title, see The Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is based on L. Frank Baum's turn-of-the-century children's story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a resourceful American girl is snatched up by a Kansas tornado and deposited in a fantastic land of witches, a talking scarecrow, a cowardly lion, and more. It made stars out of its cast members: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. It also featured a cast of small actors in the roles of the Munchkins, including Jerry Maren in the Lollipop Guild and Meinhardt Raabe as the Munchkin Coroner. While not the first feature film produced in Technicolor (as commonly believed), The Wizard of Oz makes conspicuous use of the technique; its Kansas bookend sequences are in sepia-toned black-and-white, while the Oz scenes are in full three-strip Technicolor. It was the first color film seen by some children in 1939, which gave the transition from Kansas to Oz even greater impact than modern viewers (for whom color is commonplace) experience.

History

L. Frank Baum (born Lyman Frank Baum on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York) published his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900. Over the following years it sold millions of copies, and Baum wrote thirteen more Oz books before his death on May 15, 1919.

The Adaptation

In January 1938, MGM bought the rights to the book. The script was completed on October 8, 1938 (following numerous rewrites). Filming started on October 13, 1938 and was completed on March 16, 1939. The film premiered on August 12, 1939, and went into general release on August 25.

The movie'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, and Sid Silvers. It was directed by Victor Fleming, Richard Thorpe (uncredited), George Cukor (uncredited), and King Vidor (uncredited). Costume design was by Adrian.

Music and Lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score and Best Music, Song for "Over the Rainbow".

Casting

Buddy Ebsen originally cast as the Tin Man

Casting the film was problematic, with actors shifting roles repeatedly at the beginning of filming. One of the primary changes was in the role of the Tin Woodsman. The Tin Man was originally slated for Ray Bolger, and Buddy Ebsen was to play the Scarecrow. Bolger was unhappy with the part, and convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him as the Scarecrow. Ebsen didn't object to the change at first; He recorded all his songs, went through all the rehearsals, and started filming with the rest of the cast. But nine days after filming began, he suffered a reaction to the aluminum powder makeup, as it had coated his lungs as he breathed it in while it was applied daily. Consequently, Ebsen (now in critical condition) had to be hospitalized and leave the project. MGM did not publicize the reasons for Ebsen's departure and not even his replacement, Jack Haley, initially knew the reason. A 1975 book on the film's uncredited associate producer Arthur Freed (The World of Entertainment by Hugh Fordin), created with the full co-operation of Freed before his death, actually suggests that the actor was fired by Victor Fleming 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, test photos of different make-up styles, and his soundtrack recordings remain. Ironically, Ebsen's voice does appear in the final film. The studio chose not to re-record parts of the song We're off to See the Wizard, so the scenes where the group including the tin woodsman are singing together have Buddy Ebson's voice, not Jack Haley's.

The makeup used on Jack Haley was quietly changed to an aluminum paste makeup: although it didn't 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 well-outlived all the principal players, although his film career was damaged by the incident and wouldn't fully recover until the 1950s when he began a string of popular film and TV series appearances that would continue into the 1980s (he eventually died from complications from pneumonia on July 6, 2003, at the age of 95).

The role of Dorothy was given to Judy Garland on February 24, 1938. After the casting of her role, a few executives at MGM contemplated replacing her with Shirley Temple, but were not able to get Fox to comply with the "loan" of the young actress. Other MGM officials vetoed the idea of using Temple.

Gale Sondergaard was originally cast as the Witch villain. She became unhappy with the role when the Witch's persona shifted from a sly glamorous witch (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 with Margaret Hamilton.

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.

Bloopers

Throughout the movie, Judy Garland's braided hair changes length from scene to scene. This is one of the more prominent continuity issues with the film, made more evident by the many times the film has been viewed. The book series Film Flubs discusses this one along with others that are embedded in the main part of this article. The most obvious is probably the witch's reference to "a little insect", the "jitterbug", whose followup scene was either never filmed or was cut from the film.

Words & Music

The songs were recorded in a studio prior to filming. Several of the recordings were completed while Buddy Ebsen was still with the cast. So, while he had to be dropped from the cast, his singing voice remains on the soundtrack, in the group vocals of "We're off to See the Wizard". His voice is easy to detect. Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr (and also Jack Haley, who had a solo but was not in the group vocal) were speakers of Mid-Atlantic English and did not pronounce the r in wizard. Buddy Ebsen was a Midwesterner, like Judy Garland, and pronounced the r.

For more information, see the Songs section, farther down the page.

Lights, Camera, Action

Filming began on October 13, 1938, with Richard Thorpe directing. Thorpe was fired an unknown number of days after some scenes were shot, and George Cukor took over. He changed Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton's makeup and costumes, which meant that all of their scenes had to be discarded and re-filmed. Cukor had a prior commitment to direct the film Gone with the Wind, so he left on November 3, 1938, and Victor Fleming took over for him.

Coincidentally, on February 12, 1939, Victor Fleming again replaced George Cukor in directing Gone with the Wind. The next day King Vidor would be assigned as director to finish the filming of the movie (mainly the sepia shots of the Kansas farm). Filming was completed on March 16, 1939 and the first test screenings ran on June 5, 1939. General consensus was that the movie was too long, and the witch's scenes too scary for children. It is now generally accepted among "Oz" aficionados that the following extended sequences wound up on the cutting-room floor: The Scarecrow's extensive dance after the vocal "If I Only Had A Brain" (including Bolger's signature "split" trick; this footage has been released as part of "That's Dancing" (1985)); the "Jitterbug" song and dance; a reprise of Over the Rainbow sung by Garland while locked in the Witch's castle; and Dorothy's triumphant return to Emerald City, a small portion of which was used as part of the extant theatrical trailer.

Premiere

On August 7, 1939, The Wizard Of Oz was officially and legally copyrighted. It premiered at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939, and in Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater on August 15.

File:Wizard-of-oz-mgm-title.jpg
The main title card from the opening credits of MGM's The Wizard of Oz.

On August 17, 1939, the movie opened nationally. Judy Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney performed after the screening at Loews Capitol Theater in New York City, and would continue to do this after each screening for a week.

In 1980, it became the first VHS release from MGM/CBS Home Video.

In spite of the publicity, and generally favorable reviews, the movie was only moderately successful in its initial run, earning about 3 million dollars vs. production and distribution costs of around 3.8 million (as per the 50th Anniversary History book published in 1989). It finally went into the black when it was re-released in the summer of 1949 and garnered another 1.5 million dollars in box office receipts. It was re-released yet again in 1955, in what was a simulated "widescreen" format similar to the one used for the 1969 re-release of Gone With the Wind (i.e., to make the picture fit on a wide screen, the very top and the very bottom had to be chopped off. This was also tried for the film's 1998 theatrical re-release). Its eventual iconic status was achieved after decades of television airings, beginning on November 3, 1956, and on TV, it has always been shown in its original normal-screen size. (It is also seen in its normal ratio on VHS and DVD.) It was first shown on television as the last installment of Ford Star Jubilee, a short-lived television anthology. The viewing audience for this broadcast was estimated at 45 million people. However, it was shown at a rather late hour for children to be able to watch. Three years later, on December 13, 1959, the film was shown at an earlier hour as a Christmas special in its own right, and gained a much larger audience. It was decided to make it an annual television tradition, and from 1959 through 1962, it always aired on the second Sunday of December. However, possibly because of the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963, it was decided not to show it that year, and the date was subsequently moved to January of 1964. After that, the film never had a fixed date for its telecast again, though it usually surfaced during the Easter season. In recent years, Turner Entertainment has begun showing it several times a year rather than annually, but always on or before a holiday.

Plot including deleted scenes

Template:Spoiler The film begins with MGM's famous Leo the Lion (especially appropriate in this film) growling over the start of the opening credits theme, which begins with a full-orchestral version of Glinda's 6-note lietmotif. Immediately after the credits, the first scene is Dorothy pausing as she runs toward her home. Underscoring that moment and others later is Robert Schumann's melody, "The Happy Farmer".

Dorothy Gale is an orphan in Kansas, being raised by her aunt Em and uncle Henry. In the beginning, Dorothy tells their three farm hands she is in trouble: her dog Toto bit the stern, humorless Almira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton, who also plays the Witch of the West). Each hand advises her in his characteristic way, foreshadowing their appearance in Oz. Hunk (Ray Bolger, who also portrays the Scarecrow), suggests that it's not smart to walk with her dog Toto near Gulch's property. Hickory (Jack Haley, the Tin Man) starts making a passionate speech, straight from the heart, but is stopped in mid-speech by Aunt Em with his right arm upraised (foreshadowing the Tin Man's first appearance, rusted with his right arm upraised, holding an axe). Zeke (Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion) recommends a more aggressive approach...then is found to be afraid of hogs.

Miss Gulch comes to the Gale farm with an order from the sheriff authorizing her to take the dog to be destroyed. Dorothy's aunt and uncle try unsuccessfully to dissuade her. Toto is taken away, as the upset Dorothy calls her "a wicked old witch" (foreshadowing Hamilton's role in Oz). Toto escapes by jumping unnoticed out of Miss Gulch's basket (echoing a scene in the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West). When the dog returns home, Dorothy decides that they have to run away, because Miss Gulch will undoubtedly come back for him.

Dorothy and Toto soon encounter Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan, who will reappear as the Wizard of Oz, the doorman, the cabbie, and the guard; each of his characters is essentially a "humbug", i.e. a fraud). He leads Dorothy into his circus wagon. After sneaking a peek in her basket and finding a family photo, he looks into his crystal ball and pretends to see her aunt Em crying and eventually suffering a health trauma (most likely meant to sound like a heart attack). Dorothy is convinced, and she and Toto hurry home.

A cyclone begins to form ("a 'whopper', speaking in the vernacular of the peasantry"). When she gets home, everyone is already down in the storm cellar and cannot hear her stomping on its door because of the noise of the approaching tornado (a very convincing special effect, made from a large muslin stocking spinning on a sliding track, accompanied by powerful off-screen fans that nearly knocked the actress off her feet at one point). Dorothy rushes inside to her bedroom, but the wind blows the window out of its frame, hitting her in the head and knocking her unconscious.

Various objects caught up by the cyclone whirl by outside her bedroom window, some visible to the audience even as Dorothy lies unconscious. Dorothy awakes and sits up suddenly, to find that her house is being carried away inside the cyclone. She sees some familiar and friendly faces out of the window, then Miss Gulch appears. In a dramatic, terrifying moment, Miss Gulch transforms into a witch (which witch is a matter of some debate) and her bicycle into a broomstick. She cackles Aaaaah-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh! (which has since become an icon of fictional witches) and flies away. Moments later, girl, dog and house all land in Munchkinland, a county in the land of Oz. (The dramatic footage of the house falling toward the viewer was actually an inverted and time-reversed shot, made by dropping a model house toward a floor painted to resemble sky and clouds.) The movie transitions from sepia-tone to vibrant Technicolor when Dorothy opens the door.

Shortly thereafter, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke), arrives in an iridescent bubble. She asks Dorothy whether she is a good witch or a bad witch. Despite Dorothy's repeated denials, Glinda appears not to understand who Dorothy is, nor where she came from. She does inform the child of where she is, and that she killed the Wicked Witch of the East (who, contrary to popular belief, is the one transformed from Miss Gulch in the Tornado sequence, not the Witch of the West) by "dropping her house" on the ruby-slippered victim. She introduces her to the Munchkins, a community of little people who sing and dance their thanks for freeing them from the Witch's tyrannical reign.

File:MargaretHamiltoninTheWizardOfOz.jpg
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch

As the impromptu festivities reach their climax, there is a burst of flame and the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) appears. She is there to find out who killed her sister and to claim her powerful ruby slippers. To her dismay, Glinda magically transports the slippers onto Dorothy's feet. The Wicked Witch threatens Dorothy, but Glinda reminds her that her magic is ineffectual in Munchkinland: "Oh rubbish! You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you!" The Wicked Witch vows revenge on Dorothy and Toto, with her famous "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" followed by her trademark cackle, and disappears the same way she arrived.

Glinda tells Dorothy that the only way to get back to Kansas is to go to the Emerald City and ask the mysterious Wizard of Oz for help. Before Glinda leaves in her bubble, she advises Dorothy to never take off the slippers and "follow the yellow brick road".

File:WOO3.jpg
from left to right, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Judy Garland, and Bert Lahr

On her journey, Dorothy befriends a supposedly brainless (though very resourceful) talking scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a supposedly heartless (but very kind) tin woodsman (Jack Haley), and a definitely cowardly (but game if persuaded) lion (Bert Lahr). All three of them sing songs about their perceived handicaps. They decide that they too will visit the Wizard to obtain what they desire, despite the Witch's threats to stop them.

Two scenes from this part of the film were cut in previews. The first was a dance to the song "If I Only Had A Brain". The second was a scene where the witch follows up on her threat to turn the Tin Man into a beehive, with dozens of animated bees flying around him, with music reminiscent of (though not identical to) Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee.

Just before the group reaches the Art Deco-style Emerald City, the Wicked Witch casts a spell to stop them. She produces a giant field of poppies that put Dorothy, Toto and the Lion to sleep. The Scarecrow and the Tinman (who are not organic creatures and therefore immune to the spell) cry for help, and Glinda produces a counterspell in the form of a snow shower to wake everyone up. Shortly afterwards, they arrive at the Emerald City to the sound of "Optimistic Voices". They are only allowed in after Dorothy proves by her footwear that Glinda sent her.

File:WOO2.jpg
Dorothy and friends arrive at the Emerald City

Inside the Emerald City, everything is green except for the Horse of a Different Color, which changes colors several times (a special effect reportedly accomplished by coating the horse with different colors of Jell-o) while taking the group to a salon, where they are pampered. Just before they go to see the Wizard, the Wicked Witch flies overhead, skywriting with her smoldering broomstick "SURRENDER DOROTHY".

(Originally it was "SURRENDER DOROTHY OR DIE SIGNED WWW"; the last few words were cut after the first preview. Many of the witch's scenes were cut, or script ideas never filmed, because MGM executives felt it made the witch too scary for children. Given the full text of that message, arguably the executives also felt some of the ideas were just too silly.)

The emerald citizenry are quite frightened by this development, and even though they have just welcomed five strangers, they don't suspect that one of them is "the witch's Dorothy". The Wizard's guard shoos away the worried locals as well as our heroes and heroine, but when the Scarecrow tells him "She's Dorothy!", he lets them in.

When the party at last stand before the Wizard of Oz, they find him to be a terrifying floating head surrounded by fire and smoke. He bellows that he will only help them if they can obtain the broomstick of the Witch of the West. On their way to her castle, flying monkeys, sent by the Wicked Witch, carry Dorothy and Toto to the castle.

There was another deleted scene that the witch hints at when she says "They'll give you no trouble; I promise you that. I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them." She sends "the jitterbug" that bites or stings them, causing Dorothy and her friends to dance helplessly until the flying monkeys arrive to take Dorothy and Toto away. The only archival evidence remaining of this scene is the pre-recorded song and a backstage home movie filmed during rehearsals. Any original footage appears to have been lost. Some critics have pointed out that the bouncy song was inappropriate to the mood of the scene, as well as "dating" the movie, so that cutting it was a wise decision. In any case, dropping the "beehive" and "jitterbug" sequences leaves the only "humbug" in the movie as the figurative one: the Wizard himself. It also leaves the second half of the movie almost completely without any musical numbers, except for the continual underscore track.

Once Dorothy is delivered to the castle, its evil resident demands the ruby slippers. Dorothy refuses, but then the Witch orders one of her monkey slaves to kill Toto. Dorothy immediately relents, but when the Witch tries to remove the shoes, a shower of sparks stops her. The Witch realizes the shoes cannot be removed as long as Dorothy is alive. (This relates back to the earlier dialogue in which Glinda asks the Witch of the West if she has forgotten the Witch of the East's slippers; they could only be removed after the Witch of the East had died, but Glinda got to them first.) While the Witch is musing on how to kill Dorothy, Toto escapes, finds their friends, and leads them to the castle.

Dorothy, meanwhile, is locked inside a chamber with an hourglass and a crystal ball. She is told that when the hourglass runs out, she will die. As she waits and cries, she sees her aunt Em in the crystal ball, wondering where her niece is. Dorothy cries out to her, but the image transforms into the Wicked Witch, cackling and mocking Dorothy, before turning and looking into the camera, continuing her devilish laughter before fading out. (Originally, there was a reprise of Dorothy, in despair, singing a faltering "Over the Rainbow" resprise with slightly altered lyrics. It was cut because it was thought too disturbing.)

The Scarecrow, the Tinman, the Lion and Toto arrive at the Wicked Witch's castle where they are surprised by three of her guards. They get into a scuffle, hidden from the audience's view behind some rocks and a quick fadeout; the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion soon emerge dressed in the guards' uniforms and sneak into the castle by bringing up the rear of the guard contingent marching across the drawbridge. Once inside, they free Dorothy and try to escape (to the tune of Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain). The Witch and her soldiers corner them on a parapet and the Witch sets the Scarecrow on fire. Dorothy grabs a convenient bucket of water and douses her friend. She also accidentally splashes the horrified Witch, causing her to melt down to nothing (presumably dropping through that infamous trap door again), leaving behind just her dress, her pointed hat, her broomstick, and a few feeble wisps of steam (special effect produced by dry ice). To the travelers' surprise, her soldiers are delighted at their liberation. They give Dorothy the broomstick she came for and send them on their way, chanting "Hail to Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is dead."

In the preview release, the travelers return to the Emerald City to a "hero's welcome", with a grand reprise of "The Wicked Witch is Dead". This was cut and footage of this scene no longer exists, except for a few frames seen in a later re-issue trailer.

Once again in the Wizard's chamber, the broom is proffered to a shocked Wizard, who it seems did not expect them to return. He tells them, "Go away and come back tomorrow." Having just defeated the evil Witch, the four now feel empowered and bold; even the Lion growls in real, not feigned, anger. The previously "small and meek" Dorothy scolds the Wizard for breaking his promise. Then, thanks to Toto, they discover that the Wizard is just a "man behind a curtain", not really a wizard at all, just a "humbug" as he himself admits.

The four friends are outraged at the deception, but the Wizard (as with his alter ego, Professor Marvel) solves their problems through psychology rather than magic. He gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Tinman a heart-shaped clock (a "testimonial", a "token of our esteem") and the Lion a badge of courage.

He explains to them that his presence in Oz was an accident, that he was lost in (ironically enough) a "hot air" balloon, and that he was born in Kansas as well. He promises to take Dorothy home in the same balloon. He announces to his people that he will leave the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion in charge of the Emerald City. Just before takeoff though, Toto jumps out of the balloon's basket to chase a cat. Dorothy goes after him, and the Wizard inadvertently lifts off without her and once again proves to be a humbug: "I can't come back! I don't know how it works!"

Just as Dorothy is resigning herself to spending the rest of her life in Oz, Glinda reappears. She tells Dorothy that she can use the ruby slippers to return home... her and "Toto too!" She didn't tell her at first, though, because Dorothy needed to learn a lesson. When her three friends asked what she has learned, a tearful Dorothy replies that if she can't find what she's looking for in her own backyard, then she never really lost it to begin with.

Dorothy and Toto say goodbye to their friends, and Glinda instructs her to click her heels together and repeat the words, "There's no place like home." There is a montage of her face, her shoes' clicking heels, and the house again falling toward the camera, all transitioning from Technicolor back into the same sepia tones that had begun the film. She awakens in her Kansas home surrounded by her family and friends. She tells them about her journey, and they tell her it was all a bad dream, although Dorothy protests that it was real. The movie ends with Dorothy hugging Toto and exclaiming to her auntie Em that there really is no place like home.

Although nearly all of the visual footage cut before the final release has been lost, all of the musical soundtrack (including the deleted reprises and the extended versions of the songs) has survived, and in 1995, Rhino Records issued it in the Deluxe 2-CD set of the film's songs and music.

Differences from the book

The film's basic plot is not very different from the original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but quite a bit less detailed. Baum originally provided complex back stories for all the characters and locations, which are largely omitted in the film. The book featured several sub-plots (including a confrontation with the belligerent Hammer-Heads and a visit to a town with inhabitants and structures constructed of china) that, though of interest, weren't integral to the main plot. Numerous other abridgments occur: for example, the mice have no involvement with the band's escape from the poppies in the movie; a blizzard is used instead. It is also worth noting that in the original book, the enchanted slippers Dorothy wore, which originally belonged to the Wicked Witch Of The East, were silver, not ruby. This was changed to show off the film's sophisticated color technology.

In the movie, Glinda is the name of the Good Witch Of The North who returns to show Dorothy how to use the Ruby Slippers to go home. In the book, however, the Witch Of The North's name is not given; and Dorothy must journey to visit Glinda, the Good Witch Of The South, to learn how to use the silver slippers. Also the Tin Woodsman's name is changed to simply the Tin Man, although he is obviously a woodsman.

Some fans believe that the book tends to be a lot darker and in some places even gruesome, greatly diverging from the movie. For instance, in the book there is a scene in which the Tin Woodsman chops the head off a tiger, and the head then bleeds all over. He also uses his axe to chop off all the limbs of anthropomorphized trees, which are not capable of speaking as in the movie. The trees then shake in pain and terror. In the movie, the only time he wields his axe is to chop through the door of the room where the witch is holding Dorothy captive. The fans who have this opinion generally tend to agree that Return to Oz, the 1985 semisequel to The Wizard of Oz, is much closer to the feel of the original books. They blame The Wizard of Oz for spreading misconceptions, the unpopularity of Oz in Return to Oz, and the unlikelihood of producing another movie closer in spirit to the books. It is well to keep in mind that it is only in recent generations that fairy tales have been "sanitized". Baum's seemingly gruesome imagery and violence was on a par with that of standard fairy tales such as the famous and often fittingly-named Grimm stories.

The main point of contention with Baum's fans is the ending, which they feel strongly goes against the nature of the original. In Baum's novel, there is no hint that Oz is anything but a real place, to which Dorothy returns repeatedly (she eventually moved to Oz permanently and was joined by her aunt and uncle) in the numerous sequels. A counterargument to that complaint is that according to one legend, never confirmed, in the original cut of the movie, the film concludes by panning under Dorothy's bed, revealing the ruby slippers. Another counterargument would be that in the film, this was not necessarily an ordinary dream — her uncle comments that "for awhile there we thought you were going to leave us" — and that her experience might have been "real", but in another dimension. The movie is just vague enough on that point to leave the door open to such an explanation. It should be noted however, that the film ends with Dorothy and Toto's problem with Miss Gulch unresolved. Many suggest that Gulch was killed in the cyclone, as she was seen flying through the air as Dorothy traveled to Oz.

Another important difference between the novel and the film is the portrayal of Dorothy Gale, whose character was not only aged but severely weakened: at no point in the novel, for example, is Dorothy a damsel in distress to be rescued by her companions; in fact it is Dorothy who must take charge of the rescue operation of her friends after the witch is dispatched. Sally Roesch Wagner, director of The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation describes the film's Dorothy as "a very watered-down version of the character"[1] and presenting Baum's Dorothy as a youthful version of his abolitionist feminist mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, something hardly apparent in the film. Also, Baum portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West as a coward, in keeping with his other villains whose evil derives from weakness of character, rather than the icon of evil she appears in the film.

In the book, when The Wizard gives The Scarecrow a brain, he detaches the Scarecrow's head and empties the straw out, replacing it with a mixture of bran, pins and needles and straw to hold it in place. Having re-attached the head, he then announces with a pun: "Hereafter you will be a great man, for I have given you a lot of bran-new brains." Also, in the book, when The Wizard gives The Tin Man a heart, he cuts a hole in The Tin Man's breast with tinsmith's shears, puts a red satin heart stuffed with sawdust into the breast and then patches it with a soldering iron. Lastly, in the book, when The Wizard gives The Cowardly Lion courage, he gives The Lion a magic potion that makes the Lion feel courage inside himself. However in the movie, The Wizard notes that the trio had the qualities they desired all along, but didn't recognize them. To reinforce that idea, The Wizard gives them tokens to symbolize those attributes, such as he gives The Scarecrow a diploma called "The Honorary Degree Of Th.D (Doctor Of Thinkology)", a clock that looks like a red heart for The Tin Man, and The Lion receives a medal with the word "Courage" on it. That message of self-reliance and resourcefulness presumably would have resonated for an audience that was weary from ten years of economic depression.

Additionally, the book did not have a wicked schoolteacher named Miss Gulch, three farmhands named respectively Hunk, Hickory and Zeke or an all-knowing fortuneteller called Professor Marvel.

Fame

The popularity of the film is primarily due to the large number of times it has been shown on television. (During the 1960s and '70s, the film was broadcast yearly on network television, and in the years prior to the invention of VCRs, became a much anticipated event.) Before it was ever telecast, the movie was simply a well-remembered film that people loved, but not one of the icons of cinema, nor did it really occur to anyone that it would become so. It was not considered a huge hit when first released in 1939; the 1949 re-release did a little better. The vast majority of people who have seen the film have seen it on television rather than watching it on the big screen. The film It's a Wonderful Life has a similar history of relative neglect and then becoming popular because of frequent showings on television.

The Wizard of Oz has generated many rumors and stories, some of which have reached the level of urban legends. The most common of these, which had refused to die for some years, claimed that one of the actors who played a munchkin hanged himself on the set, and could be seen in the Enchanted Forest scene. This, of course, was not true. It was in fact a large emu-like bird flapping its wings, a bird that had been seen in the foreground a little earlier in the scene. The re-release of the movie to theaters for a time in the late 1990s, along with higher-definition DVD's, settled this issue, as the picture was large enough to reveal the truth that the traditional small TV screen had made to seem ambiguous.

Additionally, the large group of "little people" cast to play the Munchkins were rumored to have held wild drunken orgies, but these appear to have been significantly exaggerated. The rumors were enhanced significantly by Judy Garland herself, as shown in the specials on the 2005 DVD version. In an appearance on Jack Paar's late-night talk show in the 1960s, Paar started to ask her about the little people, and Judy, seemingly a little "medicated" herself, blurted out, "They were drunks!" The audience roared, and that episode along with later comments by Judy fed fuel to the story. In an interview shown on the DVD along with the Paar segment, Judy's daughter Liza Minnelli pointed out that her mother was a great "storyteller" and that her comments about the Munchkins were largely untrue.

According to another story, which appears to be true, the coat Frank Morgan wore as Professor Marvel, which was handpicked from a second-hand clothing rack, once belonged to L. Frank Baum (the author of the Oz series of books). The inside pocket had his name on it. After completion of the film, the coat was presented to Baum's widow who confirmed it was indeed his. Ironically, Morgan died in 1949, the one major player in the film who did not live to see the great esteem in which the initially under-attended film would ultimately be regarded.

There was occasional talk of a sequel with the original characters, but it never materialized. One story holds that Margaret Hamilton's witch was to be resuscitated somehow. Hamilton, who in real life was a kind and gentle woman, refused to revive that role, saying it would frighten children too much to see the seemingly really-dead, most-sincerely-dead, evil witch come back to life. Bizarrely enough, she ended up playing the voice of Aunt Em in a cartoon sequel called "Journey Back to Oz".

The movie continues to generate a cult following, despite its age and original creative intent as a musical cinematic fable for children. Director John Boorman utilized aspects of the film in his 1974 science fiction classic Zardoz. Two characters are seen watching the film at Radio City Music Hall in Kerry Conran's 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Wizard of Oz collectibles, such as autographs and props from the film, are among the most sought-after of all movie memorabilia. On May 24, 2000, a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the film (with red sequins; seven pairs are believed to exist) sold at auction for $666,000.

In another measure of the ways in which the movie has rippled into popular culture, some classic rock fans enjoy playing the movie as a sort of music video to the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon. There are numerous websites devoted to exploring the many ways in which the music and the film appear to be synchronized with each other, a phenomenon sometimes called "Dark Side of the Rainbow." See Wizard of Oz-Dark Side of the Moon Synchronicity.

Several film scholars have written interesting interpretations of the film, including several attempts by structuralist semiologists suggesting that the film was intended to prepare America for entry into war, although this ignores the fact that the Second World War had not yet started. Such obscure and esoteric interpretations usually posit Dorothy as representing a depressed, monochrome America, turning to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal (the flimflam magician) for hope. She enters a more colorful Europe (Munchkinland), threatened by the Wicked Witches of the East (Stalinism) and West (Fascism). She defeats Stalinism when her house falls upon the Eastern Witch early on, which suggests the overwhelming power of commercial capitalism and its precedence in Western Europe. To defeat Fascism, she receives the aid of Britain (Glinda), the naive peasantry (the Scarecrow), the dehumanized Proletariat (the heartless Tin Man), and the emasculated nobility (Cowardly Lion). The Wizard who encourages and profits from the defeat of the Western Witch turns out to be another version of the same flimflam man she met at home, a cynical politician who realizes that none of Dorothy's allies truly require anything that they didn't already have. He is both a supreme humanitarian and a misanthrope, in that he excels at detecting the weaknesses of others, because he knows his own so well. He is, in fact, the spirit of democracy. And the seemingly "muddled" good witch, Glinda, appears to represent God: all-knowing, all-powerful... and, of course, on the side of the Allies. There is also a similar theory that portrays the elements of the story together as a Populist allegory:

L. Frank Baum "was an interesting kind of maverick guy who at one point of his life was an editor of a paper in South Dakota. And this was a time of the Populist revolutions or revolts or whatever you want to call it in the Midwest, because the railroads and the Eastern city banks literally dominated the life of the farmers and they couldn’t get away from the debts that were accumulated from these. And uh, Baum set out consciously to create an American fable so that the American kids didn’t have to read those German grim Fairy stories where they chopped off hands and things like that. You know he didn’t like that, he wanted an American fable. But it had this under layer of political symbolism to it that the farmer, the scarecrow was the farmer, he thought he was dumb but he really wasn’t, he had a brain. And the Tin Woodman was a result - was the laborer in the factories who with one accident after another he was totally reduced to a tin man with no heart, alright, on an assembly line. And uh, the Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan who kept trying, was a big politician at that time promising to make the world over with the gold standard, you know. And the Wizard was a humbug type, was the Wall Street finances - and the Wicked Witch? - Probably the railroads, but I’m not sure." - Ernie Harburg, biographer of Yip Harburg, Wizard of Oz lyricist[1]

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it #6 on its "100 Greatest Movies" list, and two songs from the film are on the 100 years, 100 songs list ("Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead" was #82 and "Over the Rainbow" was #1). It is also consistently in the top 100 on the IMDB Top 250 Films List.

A 2005 poll by the AFI ranked Dorothy's line "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" as the fourth most memorable line in cinema history [2].

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 acclaim. The last of the major players to pass on 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.

Today, the film has become one of the most popular cultural icons to be used as references in television and movies alike. For example, in the pilot of Veronica Mars (aired September 22, 2004), the film's references were used to frame the pilot, including quoting the line, "I'll get you...and your little dog too."

Music

Vocals

Summary of the vocals composed for the film:

Instrumentals

In addition to the well-known vocals by Harburg and Arlen, nearly the entire film was underscored by arranger Herbert Stothart, using a mixture of instrumental-only leitmotifs composed for some of the characters; instrumental references to some of the vocals; and traditional and classical pieces. Much of the following information (which is by no means an exhaustive list) is taken from the Deluxe CD liner notes.

Composed for the film:

  • Opening credits medley: Glinda's theme, dynamic full-orchestra version, played over MGM's Leo the Lion; followed by segments of "Over the Rainbow", "It Really Was No Miracle", "Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are" and "It Really Was No Miracle" again, all joined by original linking material
  • Miss Gulch's / Witch's theme - repeated every time Miss Gulch or the witch appears
  • Orientale theme - for Professor Marvel and for The Wizard
  • Glinda's theme - 6-note pattern repeated several times rapidly each time Glinda arrives or leaves in her bubble
  • Closing credits medley: Glinda's theme (full orchestra) / Over the Rainbow

Traditional music:

Cast

Trivia

  • If one plays Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd (starting on the third roar from the MGM Lion), events from the album and the movie will seem strangely synchronized; this was a known phenomenon in the 1990s (nicknamed "Dark Side of the Rainbow", "Dark Side of Oz" and the more apt "The Wizard of Floyd"). When the phenomenon became mainstream Pink Floyd commented that it was "absolute nonsense and has nothing to do with The Wizard Of Oz."
  • In the scene where the scarecrow is given "his brain" (i.e. the diploma) by the Wizard of Oz, he tries to make an enlightened statement: "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side." This is a mis-statement of the Pythagorean theorem.
  • The songs "I'm That Type of Guy" by LL Cool J, "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" by Metallica and "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" by Prince interpolate a looping chant from the castle guards.
  • During the 1960s and '70s network airings of the film, one of the sponsors was often Maxwell House coffee, whose ads featured Margaret Hamilton as their spokesperson.
  • At the end of the "If I Only Had a Heart" sequence, as Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man head down the Yellow Brick Road, movement can be seen in the distance. There is a longstanding urban legend that the movement was that of a man (the story varies between it being a stagehand pining for Judy Garland to it being one of the Munchkins) hanging himself on the set. In reality, however — and close examination of the digitally restored 2005 DVD confirms this — it is simply a large bird spreading its wings.
  • The many-colored horses in Emerald City palace were colored using Jell-o crystals. Their scenes had to be shot quickly before the horses could lick the substance off.
  • Actor Frank Morgan plays Professor Marvel, the gatekeeper of the Emerald City, the cab driver of the horse of a different color, the Wizard’s guard, and the Wizard. His face was also reportedly used as the projected image of the Wizard.
  • Marvel's wagon is parked near a small bridge, a set piece that was also used in Gone With the Wind
  • Actor Shirley Temple was originally slated for the role of Dorothy, but Judy Garland was chosen after Temple’s studio, Fox, refused to let Temple work for MGM. However, the studio did make Garland wear a blond wig and heavy, "baby-doll" makeup, and she played Dorothy in an exaggerated fashion. When intermediate director George Cukor was hired to replace the film’s first director Richard Thorpe, he got rid of the wig and most of the makeup and told her to just be herself.
  • Buddy Ebsen's voice (the original Tin Man) can still be heard in the soundtrack, when the quartet of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion sing We're Off To See the Wizard.
  • The Breaking Benjamin song "Home" from the album Saturate heavily references the movie.
  • During the scene in the haunted forest, the characters are now armed. The Scarecrow is carrying a revolver and a walking stick. The Tin Man is carrying a large pipe wrench as well as his axe. The Cowardly Lion is carrying a butterfly net and an oversized pesticide bug sprayer. Dorothy is still carrying her (now empty) basket (and continues to carry it til the end of the film, despite the ever-increasing scenes of peril.)
  • While this movie is often referred to as a metaphor for growing up, it is interesting to note that the last half of the movie contains no songs. Once Dorothy and her cohorts are handed the task of "killing" the Wicked Witch, the mood of the film takes on a decidedly adult mood - and no more songs are present. This was not the intended effect - it just happened that the three closing songs in the film, "The Jitterbug" "Over The Rainbow" and "The Triumphant Return" were all excised from the film.
  • Is Chelsea Daniels favorite movie according to That's So Raven
  • The Wizard of Oz has an official sequel, the animated production Journey Back To Oz (made by Filmation Studios in 1964 but not released until eight years later), featuring the voice of Liza Minnelli, Garland's daughter, as Dorothy and Margaret Hamilton as the voice of Aunt Em. A section of the music at the start of the film is probably more familiar to viewers in the United Kingdom as the theme music for ITN's "News at Ten".
  • The 1974 musical and 1978 film The Wiz were adapted from the same story.
  • The considerably darker Return to Oz, was made by Walt Disney Studios in 1985 starring Fairuza Balk as Dorothy.
  • An animated series set after the original movie was created for the ABC Network's Saturday morning lineup in the fall of 1990. According to the opening, Dorothy discovers the ruby slippers outside her front door one day and uses them to return to Oz and reunite with her three friends. However, the Wicked Witch of the West, resurrected by a handful or remaining loyalists, returns to blow the Wizard's balloon off-course and steal the awards that "gave" the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion their desired character traits. The series covers the heroes' journey through Oz to rescue the Wizard, reclaim their treasures, and utterly defeat the Witch. The cartoon lasted only one season.
  • In 1995, Gregory Maguire released the critically acclaimed novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, an other-side-of-the-story look at the witches of The Wizard of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West). Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman turned it into a musical entitled Wicked in 2003 with Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba. Despite mostly negative reviews from critics, the show was a box office smash. In 2004, it was nominated for 9 Tony Awards, winning 3 (including one for Idina Menzel). There are currently three productions running concurrently on Broadway, a U.S. national tour, and in Chicago.
  • In 2005, Illusive Arts Entertainment launched Dorothy a fumetti-style comic book series that is an updating of Baum's original story, though it also references numerous elements of the 1939 film, including starting out in a "colorless" Kansas and referencing dialogue from the film. Absent from the first issue at least is any reference to Toto. Like Return to Oz, this is a much darker take on the story, with Dorothy (portrayed in the photographs by Catie Fisher) depicted as a rebellious, disfranchised teenager who steals her uncle's truck as she runs away.

Several versions were produced prior to the 1939 film:

See also

References and notes

Template:Fnb Included as a bonus feature on the 3-disc DVD set release of 2005.
Template:Fnb Not actually an Oz-related film; the Oz title was added later to capitalize on the popularity of the books.

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Wizard of Oz.
  1. ^ videotaped interview with Scott Andrew Hutchins, 20 November 2004
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