Wizard of Oz

A young girl, with beautiful, warm and vibrant dreams. Believing in the wonderful world around her; a world filled with sharp and soft colors, fragrances and sounds. Rainbows. The rainbow is dreams. The Wizard of Oz, an American dream, inspired by L. Frank Baum's classic collection of Oz tales, spawned those dreams. And, I... I was that girl.

If this sounds like deja vu to you, don't let it throw you. You are not "seeing" things. And, no, this is not a duplicate review. This is merely the "flip-side" to another.

Just a week ago in celebration of my 100th review, I reviewed the successor to this film [The Wiz at http://l-image.epinions.com/content_39191023236]. However, many years before I viewed and was impressed by the story as retold from a more urbanized angle, I was spellbound by the original. It might well have been the seed of all my dreams from that point on. Quite possibly, the kernel from which my writing abilities of today have burst forth, to shape and form, morph and re-shape, the gleam, first ignited by the rainbow. But, then--those many years ago, my first glimpse at that techni-colored world of which such dreams are invariably made went something like this...

Sitting there, my family surrounding me, I was mesmerized, enchanted, and enthralled. Right before my eyes a wonderful world of beauty, a fairytale of vibrancy. However, this was no comically-drawn feature. This was a live, normal-peopled production, and the main character, the star, was a real live girl! From that magical moment, my dreams became fueled by the story told in this musical wonder, and would not be eclipsed nor equaled for many years to come.

For a child--whether boy or girl--The Wizard of Oz is the very stuff of dreams. No, this blockbuster of a film is not filled with the special effects that litter the landscape of film-doom in this technological-aged day of mammoth-budgeted Hollywood creations. But, then again, it doesn't need to be. Its creativity, its sheer greatness, its imagination-stoking worth is, without question, able to stand on its own.

Its simple technique of employing the contrast of sepia in the first several frames of the movie, then, without warning, dazzling the young mind with a rainbow of colors that burst into life (and against the optic nerves). A burst of color to suggest (without Hollywood smoke and mirrors of the latter part of the 20th century) a tremendously stark wonder, so big as to cause the young viewer's heart to escalate in its simplistic suddenness.

A film as glitter-filled as The Wizard of Oz does not need the hi-tech contrivances, nor the violence or sexually-implied scenes to stimulate the mind with awe-inspiring wonder. Not when it has the silver-toned, clarity of its young star's voice, nor the talent and vision of a writing team that could spin magnificent images from mere words. The director whose ability to pace a cast to exact, precise time and place; a cinematographer with an "eye" so skilled no angle appears contrived, but, literally makes the viewer part of the scene. Their ticket, first class, to the wonderful world of The Wizard of Oz.


A young girl runs along a country, dirt road. At her heels, a small dog. Periodically, she turns, throwing covert glances back the way they've come. At a gate, the girl drops to her knees, picks up the little dog, and asks, "Did she hurt you, Toto?" hugging the dog to her. Then, rising, she rushes through the gate and into the barnyard where she approaches a man and woman, who the girl addresses as Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin) and Auntie Em (Clara Blandick), attentively examining what we find out are incubating chicks.

Judy Garland portrayed our story's young heroine, Dorothy Gale of Kansas. At 15-years-old, her closest contender for the part was 9-year-old Shirley Temple. However, Temple's voice did not possess the range needed to carry the tunes written for the film, in particular, the theme song Somewhere Over the Rainbow as did Garland's, thus winning Judy the part.

Dorothy attempts to explain her distress. On her way home from school, Toto had chased a neighbor's cat, for which the neighbor, Almira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton), was not pleased (to put it mildly). The anxiety in Dorothy's speech and behavior alerts us that there just might be more to what happened than a case of cat and dog being "cat and dog". Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, too busy taking care of the unborn chicks, tell the girl to go do something else, but to keep out of trouble.

Nearby, where she'll have to pass before getting to the house, the three Gale farm hands tend the other farm animals and equipment. Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke are never too busy for Dorothy. They listen to her tale, commenting and giving her advise that shows Hunk's ingenuity in avoiding the indomitable Miss Gulch (therefore, her daily wrath at Toto); Zeke's bluster, that turns out to be a front hiding false courage (rescuing Dorothy from her fall into the pig sty, upsets Zeke as much as the girl); and finally Hickory's gruff facade crumbles to expose his true warmth. However, once again, her aunt admonishes her to stay out from under foot and out of trouble, so the three can get their assigned chores done.

The ill-tempered Miss Gulch shows up, complaining of Dorothy and the bite she'd gotten from Toto. Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are forced to allow the mean old woman to take the little dog, by order of the warrant she's gotten from the sheriff, and which she waves under their noses. Dorothy is crushed. To the feeling that she's always a bother is added the desolation of Almira Gulch in possession of her beloved Toto. When the little dog escapes the horrid old woman and returns to Dorothy, rather than have the puppy removed again, Dorothy decides the two of them will have to run away from home.

Not far from the Gale farm a wandering carnival con man, Professor Marvel, turns the run away around with a believable tale of her aunt's distress over the girl's leaving home. On her way back, she is buffeted by strong winds. In the distance, black cloud descends toward the land, and the Gale farm prepares for what one of the farm hands identifies as "a twister", as everyone runs for the underground shelter. Auntie Em screaming for Dorothy, is forcibly ushered into the shelter, and Dorothy, arriving back home even as the tornado does, tries the door of the shelter, which will not open and takes refuge inside the house. A window, blown inward, knocks her unconscious onto her bed, then the house seems to lift, swept upward into the center of the tornado, girl and dog still inside.

The spinning, twirling house hits down with a sound thud, (thump!), Dorothy gathers up Toto and her basket, walks across the room to the door, opens it, to step out into the vibrant, colorful, world far from the drab toned one of the Kansas plains. We now enter the place where dreams are born, the eyes of a child. This is the point where young viewers become riveted, anticipating the impending and intuited wonder. Though she's unaware for the moment, Dorothy--accompanied by her audiences--has entered the world over the rainbow, ...where blue birds fly, the wonderful world of The Wizard of Oz.

The imagination of a child. Oz takes that fertile garden, plants the seeds of dreams, hopes, beliefs, and makes it blossom, over-growing its bounds, expanding it beyond limits. Allowed to thrive and create along with the movie, the child with vivid imaginings (my three brothers: Charles, Bobby, and Victor. The three stoogies. Became Dorothy's friends: Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion. Each and every time we watched it; at least once each and every year!) creates their own world(s).


A land that I heard of...

Welcomed to Munchkin Land in the World of Oz, Dorothy, is presented lollipops by the Lollypop Guild and a bouquet of flowers by the Lullaby League. She is officially proclaimed their hero[ine] by the Mayor of Munchkin Land in the magical World of Oz and honored in parade by the citizens, regaled in song and dance.

Glinda, Good Witch of the North, played by 53-year-old (no, that's no typo) Billie Burke, guardian and protector to the Munchkins whose land Dorothy, Toto and house so rudely set down into. She learns that Dorothy "fell from a star named Kansas" and wanted to get back home. Along with the ruby slippers of the now departed Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda gives Dorothy instructions on getting home. The Wizard of Oz would be the only one to help her get home; because she'd brought no broom to fly, she'd have to walk; the way to the Wizard? "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!" What else?

Dorothy's traveling companions to Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz: Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow, only needs a brain-- or so he says; Jack Haley, Tin Man, thinks he only needs a heart; and Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion, would be just dandy if he had a little courage (each bearing a striking resemblance to the Gales' farm hands Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke, respectively).

Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West, sister to the victim of Dorothy's house, means to avenge the 'untimely' death ["I'll get you, my pretty"] of her sister... and, of course, get back the magical ruby slippers. All before the quintet reaches the Emerald City and the protection of the versatile Frank Morgan ably handling the duties of, not only the Wizard, but the Emerald City's doorman, the cabbie, guardian of the Gates, and Professor Marvel, as well.



My Conclusions

More people (over a billion by 1978) have seen it, than any other movie in the history of film. It is more than likely the most beloved movie made in any language. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios Production, produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy (who'd wanted to make The Wizard of Oz ever since he was a little boy), this spectacular film has become an international treasure and an American heritage.

Ultimately requiring the combined talents of fourteen writers and five directors, The Wizard of Oz was finally made. Victor Fleming is given final credits as director, although having been re-assigned by MGM to Gone With the Wind before this one was finished. Scriptwriter, Noel Langley (one of three, and the youngest at 26, scriptwriters on the project) changed Dorothy's slippers from silver (they would be changed back to silver nearly forty years later in its successor, The Wiz) to ruby. He also makes the three fantasy characters (Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion) the three farm characters from back home in Kansas, as well as giving Dorothy her most important phrase, there's no place like home.

From Broadway, two young songwriters--Harold Arlan (music) and E.Y. Harburg (lyrics)--were hired for the songs for the production. When all the songs were written, only one remained elusive, just out of grasp: the song Dorothy would sing in Kansas. It just would not come to the songwriting team, until on their way to dinner one evening, they pass a drug store with a flashing neon sign. Arlan had Harburg pull over, as he sat there writing the music to the song to which Harburg would later write the words, and would become known as Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

More than 100 munchkins (the Singer Midgets), with individualized costumes and make-up, a lion, a scarecrow, and a tin man. A wicked witch, five different personalities of Morgan (the wizard, professor, guard, doorman, and cabbie) demanding five different looks created by Adrian (costumes) and Jack Dawn (character make-up)

A twister, a twirling house, a horse of a different color, a flying witch, a floating witch, a vanishing witch, flying monkeys all requires an innovative genius of special effects. In 1938, these were extremely limited. MGM Studios was fortunate enough to have found all they needed in Arnold Gillespie (special effects)

Re-issued three different times for theatrical release, the 101-minute final release in 1998 digitally restored and remastered in digital stereo sound. Add to that its decades of annually televised showings, it's a tradition that's endured and stands to remain a family staple for years to come.

I recommend The Wizard of Oz for young and old, alike. It has long been an American tradition, over 65 years old and viewed annually for more than 35. It will remain so, for time out of mind. Easily, it is a well-affirmed children's favorite.


As always, thanks to all for reading.


The Wizard of Oz is my entry in the "My Kids Favorite" Media Write-Off hosted by MaryTara. Thanks, MT! Please visit the other fine writers below who participated in this write-off to see what other books and/or movies are also kids' favorites:


adjensen * ali78 * bearysweet * blackcat2 * bops_mom * clpurser * cripper * dearladyb* deaser26 *debbie26* destinys-child * *dgturtle2* donnie013 * eplovejoy * fallyn96 * jo.com * kcfemme * khahn86351 *kimzstuffz* KMINER * kurt_g * lisaw1215 * lorinsilver *marytara * melissasrn * mellkinwa * micheich * mkmama42 * mommykim * mtbat * Photogirl814 * quasar * shantel575 * sloving * social14 * staceys1 * Tammyinmiami *
westerbear * willeftk * 77chelle

More about the write-off and its participants at:

http://marytara.iSPARKL.com