The Wizard of Oz

If you have any knowledge or appreciation for cinema, you would have to be aware of The Wizard of Oz. Being one of the most important, ground-breaking, and recognizable movies in film history, the 1939 film based on the 1900 L. Frank Baum’s children’s fantasy novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was a strong critical success upon release, was nominated for six Academy Awards (winning Best Original Song for “Over the Rainbow” and Best Original Score for Herbert Stothart), and while technically under-performing for MGM at the time due to its budget of 2.7 million being expensive production at the time, it was able to make a profit after its 1949 re-release.  Though times have changed and cinemas has continued to grow and included many more infamous projects that have and will stand the test of time for their presentation, this amazing picture is one that will always be in the record books. Set in 1940s, Kansas, the film follows a teenage farm girl named Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) who wishes for a more interesting world than what she has living with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry (played by Clara Blandick Charley Grapewin). Out of nowhere, a tornado comes and, after failing to reach the safety bunker in time, she is knocked unconscious and is whisked away (along with her house) to the magical and colorful land of Oz, where she finds that her house has squashed a wicked witch. After being approached by a good witch named Glinda (played by Billie Burke), she tells her that she must follow the yellow-brick road in order to reach the Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz (played by Frank Morgan), who should have the power to send her and her dog, Toto, back home. Along the way, she comes across a The Scarecrow (played by Ray Bolger) who is looking for a brain, The Tin Man (played by Jack Haley) who is looking for a heart and a Cowardly Lion (played by Bert Lahr) who is looking for some courage, and she agrees to accompany them to the Wizard so that all their wishes to be granted. Coming across strange creature and bizarre situations, the group have to make their way to the illustrious city all while having to outrun the Wicked Witch of the West (played by Margaret Hamilton), who is after Dorothy to retrieve the ruby slippers that Dorothy obtained after crushing her sister. This film has coined so many famous lines, so many pleasing visuals, so many catchy songs, and all the while being drenched in pure emotion, delightfully passionate acting, and is the definitive definition of being completely timeless.

Despite how enchanting and magical the film is on the surface, the production behind the film was anything but, with countless horrific stories surrounding the constant re-writes and changes of director behind the scenes, the abuse the actors faced during filming whether for the film or otherwise, and the struggle of jumping through four different directors, that being Richard Thorpe, George Cukor, King Vidor and Victor Fleming (the primary director before he left to work on Gone With the Wind), with additional assistance from Mervyn LeRoy and Norman Taurog, which resulted in wildly different shooting experiences. With this in mind, its nice that the film was able to turn out as stable as it did, with construction of the script and story handled by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allen Woolf (along with several others who went uncredited) being very tight, effectively captures the spirit of the original story while still working as a film, and keeps the tone of the story light and family-friendly with just enough doses of cold reality to balance the tone out. It is an extremely simplistic narrative and keeps the information to it barest form, not containing many twists or turns or grand morals to be learned (even back then, ”there’s no place like home wasn’t a daring new lesson”). The film however, doesn’t rely on the details, rather puts the emotions front and centre and allows the audience to become engrossed in the world, atmosphere and characters rather than on the intricacies of the plot. Every step taken and every avenue explored  is purely emotional driven and its limited logical reasoning means it relies on the characters feelings to keep the audience invested. The initial story is so innocent and charming, its impossible not to appreciate its simplicity. At a time when fantasy stories weren’t successful and producers feared that audiences at the time wouldn’t connect with a story of this kind, its nice to see that it managed to win people over without losing that element of itself. Its traditional, but its done in such an honest and non-pandering way for the time period that it really comes together.

All these characters are simple, but unmanageable likeable. People remember them not for their complexities or their inner emotional struggles, but rather their easy to grasp desires and what they do to accomplish them. They have an almost childlike way of thinking and talking that makes them come across as naïve, but optimistic and friendly. The characters energy not only comes from the genuine friendship that is felt between the main four, but also the great actors portraying them. Dorothy herself works well as the blank slate coming into this world or wonder, and Judy Garland, though obviously being the wrong age, does a surprisingly good job portraying a young innocence lost in a bizarre new world (which mainly came from the consultation from Cukor after the initial idea for Dorothy was to make Garland wear a blonde wig and heavy “baby-doll” makeup, and play her in an exaggerated fashion). All the characters from Oz also do well clearly show the difference between Dorothy’s way of viewing the world as opposed to how their lives work. The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion are all wonderfully performed, have a lot of likeable scenes and memorable moments, and despite the torture that they went through underneath the costuming and make-up, they look really impressive. Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch is a great antagonist for the movie, acting like a brutal simpleton with a thuggish means of getting what she wants, but with a delightfully cackle in every scene, making her decently creepy for a young child (which is ironic given she was a kindergarten teacher). Even most of the other supporting roles whether in the real world or in Oz, are handled with enough care and passion that everybody comes out with a sense of personality, which helps in bringing a lot to the world. Small roles like Bill Burke as Glinda , Frank Morgan as the wizard, and even all the actors playing the Munchkins are still very iconic not only for their purposes in the story, but through her they look and say their lines, its a solid cast all around.

This film is truly a revolutionary film regarding everything surrounding the production design and particularly the colorful environments. At the time this was made, seeing this brand-new world not only works so much better when its literally a different color, but also as visual representation of how this world is different from ours, being the first movie in Technicolor, and you can feel the effort put into not only making this world look as vibrant as possible, but also very magical. Seeing the sepia-toned browns of Kansas suddenly swap to the incredibly bright colors makes the contrast even better and does mask the effects that are nowadays noticeable. The production design by Malcolm Brown, William A. Horning and Jack Martin Smith is very impressive and makes even rudimentary elements look whimsical and fun, and even the early special effects handled by Arnold Gillespie, are still very impressive to marvel considering how they had to work around their limitations (how they created the tornado is pretty cool). Even when they look fake, it not only works considering the time period, but it also adds to the bizarre atmosphere this film has. The sets by are so big and grand, allowing for some great shots by cinematographer Harold Rosson showing off the locations and giving this world such an open feeling that both feels mysterious but also slightly intimidating. All the great make-up supervised by Jack Dawn and costumes handled by Adrian Adolph Greenburg have such a welcoming authenticity to them that isn’t seen in recent times; the effort and time went into getting every scene right, every song number perfect, every dance number correct, taking into account how many people got hurt during the filming of this movie only adds to the dedication this film had and deserves to be praised for. The songs composed by Harold Allen and written by Yip Harburg are also incredibly memorable and catchy, though some do start to sound a little redundant of themselves and even though some within the Emerald city (mainly one involving the Cowardly Lion) feel pretty pointless, the performers and the choreography behind all of them, along with the great sets and backing score, makes it feel like a play in all the best ways. Somewhere Over the Rainbow is still a great song with a great singer performing it (even though it was originally going to be cut for not being interesting enough).

The Wizard of Oz is considered one of the greatest movie ever made for a reason, and its because whether or not people love it or hate it (as some undoubtedly do), no one is ever going to forget it or what it accomplished. With its ground-breaking technology, endearing characters, simple storytelling, likeable atmosphere, and great music, this film ticks all the right boxes to work as a movie of the time as well as a movie that can be appreciated anytime. It is the truest definition of the word timeless; never feeling too dated or out of place in its dialogue, characters or production despite the obvious showcase of the time period through the manner of speaking and overall production, and it can be viewed by anyone at anytime and they will more than likely get something out of it. Even though there have been other outings in the wonderful world of oz through follow-ups created years down the line like the insanely popular musical, Wicked, or the dark and twisted yet still incredibly enjoyable, Return to Oz, they’ve never been able to perfectly recapture the original magic and arguably never will, and that is alright. For young and old, pessimist or optimist, no matter who you show it too, there’s a lot to love in every viewing. Definitely check it out, tap your heels together, and journey off to see this particularity special wizard.