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The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). An adaptation of L. Frank Baum 's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind.
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
- Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)
The Wizard of Oz, American musical film, released in 1939, that was based on the book of the same name by L. Frank Baum. Though not an immediate financial or critical success, it became one of the most enduring family films of all time. Deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” to America’s film heritage, it was among the first films selected in 1989 for inclusion in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.
(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)
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Hollywood Films in the 1930s Quiz
Dorothy Gale (played by Judy Garland), a young girl from Kansas, decides to run away from her aunt and uncle’s farmhouse with her dog, Toto, who is in danger of being put down for biting a neighbour. After an encounter on the road with fortune-teller Professor Marvel, a well-meaning charlatan, Dorothy is persuaded to return home to her family. Before they can be reunited, however, she is knocked unconscious during a tornado. When she awakens, she and her farmhouse, along with Toto, are being transported to the Land of Oz, a magical place inhabited by strange characters, including munchkins, talking trees, and witches. Dorothy’s house lands in the midst of Oz’s Munchkinland, and she soon realizes it has fallen on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East, whose powerful ruby slippers are magically transported onto Dorothy’s own feet. Though the munchkins celebrate Dorothy for her inadvertent act, the evil witch’s sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), vows to kill Dorothy in order to avenge her sister and retrieve the powerful ruby slippers. Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke) instructs Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road that runs to the Emerald City, where it is said that a powerful wizard will be able to grant her wish to return home.
On her way Dorothy befriends a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) in search of a brain, a Tin Man (Jack Haley) looking for a heart, and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) in need of some courage. They are tormented by the witch on their journey but manage to reach the Emerald City. Before the Wizard of Oz will grant their wishes, however, he demands that they bring him the Wicked Witch of the West’s broomstick. After battling flying monkeys, they infiltrate her castle, where Dorothy drenches the witch with a bucket of water, causing her to melt into a harmless puddle. Dorothy and her friends return to the Emerald City with the witch’s broomstick only to discover that the Wizard is a fraud, possessing no real powers. With the help of her magical ruby slippers and Glinda, however, Dorothy is able to return to Kansas, where she is reminded that “there’s no place like home.” In a departure from Baum’s book, her trip to Oz is portrayed as an elaborate dream sequence.
•Studio: MGM
•Directors: Victor Fleming and King Vidor
•Writers: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf
•Music: Harold Arlen
•Judy Garland (Dorothy Gale)
•Frank Morgan (Professor Marvel/Wizard of Oz)
•Ray Bolger (Hunk/Scarecrow)
•Bert Lahr (Zeke/Cowardly Lion)
•Jack Haley (Hickory/Tin Man)
•Billie Burke (Glinda)
•Picture
•Cinematography (colour)
•Special effects
•Art direction
•Score*
•Song* (“Over the Rainbow”)
- Lee Pfeiffer
- The original slippers were silver, not ruby. It may come as a surprise to classic film fans that the original enchanted slippers were silver, not red.
- The Kansas alter-egos of the Oz gang were an invention of the movie. “Remember me? Your old pal Hunk?” Baum didn’t. The film’s elaborate framing structure, which transforms the crabby Miss Gulch, the humbug Professor Marvel, and the three farmhands into the Wicked Witch of the West, the Wizard of Oz, and Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion, wasn’t part of the book.
- The Tin Man used to be a real man. Does anyone else find it odd that nobody in the movie questions the existence of a “Tin Man”? Where does a man made of tin come from in the first place?
- The Wicked Witch of the West did not send the poppies. In the book, the poppy episode has nothing to do with the Wicked Witch. In fact, these bewitching flowers need no magical help at all.
With Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr. 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.
- (433K)
- Adventure, Family, Fantasy
- Victor Fleming, King Vidor
- 1939-08-25
May 27, 2024 · Released in 1939, The Wizard of Oz quickly became a beloved staple in American cinema. Based on L. Frank Baum’s novel, the film tells the story of Dorothy Gale, a young girl swept away from her Kansas home to the fantastical land of Oz.
A tornado rips through Dorothy's home in Kansas and transports her to the land of Oz where she meets a scarecrow in need of a brain, a tin man in need of a heart and a lion in need of courage. So they venture to the Emerald City in search of the eponymous wizard. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) is eminently entertaining for both kids and adults.
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.
