The Wizard of Oz

 

Join Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Toto as they follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Merry Old Land of Oz in search of courage, a heart, a brain, and a way home. We’re not in Kansas anymore!

PLOT:

Orphan Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) a 14-year-old girl, lives a simple life in rural Kansas with Aunt Em (Clara Blandick), Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin) and three colorful farm hands, simple-minded Hunk (Ray Bolger), blustery-but-timid Zeke (Bert Lahr), and would-be engineer Hickory (Jack Haley). One day, stern neighbor Miss Elvira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton) is bitten by Dorothy’s dog, Toto. Dorothy senses that Miss Gulch will try to do something dreadful, but her aunt and uncle, as well as the farmhands, are too busy with their work to listen. Dorothy yearns for a better place in the song “Over the Rainbow”. Miss Gulch shows up with a court order and takes Toto away to be destroyed. Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who is momentarily elated, but then realizes that Miss Gulch will soon return to retrieve Toto. Fearing for his life, Dorothy decides to take Toto and run away. On their journey, Dorothy encounters Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan), a fake but kind and lovable fortune teller who, out of concern for Dorothy, tricks her into believing Aunt Em is ill so Dorothy will return home, as a storm is approaching. Dorothy rushes back to the farm just ahead of a sudden tornado. She tries to get into the storm cellar under the house, but it is locked and nobody inside can hear her pleas for help over the noise. She takes shelter inside the house and is knocked unconscious by a loose window frame.

A confused Dorothy awakens what seems like a few minutes later to discover the house has been caught up in the twister. Through the bedroom window, she sees several people fly by, including Miss Gulch, who seemingly transforms into a frightening witch. Moments later, the twister drops the house, Dorothy and Toto back onto solid ground. Opening the door and stepping into full three-strip Technicolor, Dorothy finds herself in a village and parkland of unearthly beauty. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke), arrives magically. She informs Dorothy that she is in Munchkinland and that she has killed the ruby-slippered Wicked Witch of the East by “dropping a house” on her.

Encouraged by Glinda, the timid Munchkins come out of hiding to celebrate the demise of the witch, while singing “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” and proclaiming Dorothy as their national heroine. The witch’s sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (also played by Margaret Hamilton), makes a startling appearance in a blaze of fire and smoke to claim the powerful ruby slippers. Glinda magically transfers the slippers from the dead witch onto Dorothy’s feet and reminds the witch of the west that her power is ineffectual in Munchkinland. The witch vows revenge on Dorothy before leaving the same way she arrived. Glinda advises Dorothy, who is anxious to return home, to seek the help of the mysterious Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City in her quest to return home to Kansas; Glinda explains that she can find Emerald City by following the yellow brick road. She also advises Dorothy that she must never remove the slippers or she will be at the mercy of the Wicked Witch of the West. After a farewell kiss, Glinda too disappears, leaving Dorothy and Toto to find their own way to Emerald City.

On her way Dorothy befriends a Scarecrow with no brain (also played by Ray Bolger), a Tin Man with no heart (also played by Jack Haley), and a Cowardly Lion (also played by Bert Lahr). The three decide to accompany Dorothy to the Wizard in hopes of obtaining their desires. Along the way, they behave in various ways which demonstrate that they already have the qualities they think they lack: the Scarecrow has several good ideas, the Tin Man is kind and sympathetic, and the Lion is ready to face danger even though he is terrified. The group confronts a forest of angry apple trees, a poisonous field of poppies, and a warning from the witch to the others that they are not to help Dorothy. Undaunted, the group reaches Emerald City. They are greeted kindly, but the Wicked Witch appears on a broomstick over the city, while skywriting the message “Surrender Dorothy.” The group talks to the Wizard of Oz – a disembodied and imposing head with a booming voice – who says that he will consider granting their wishes if they can bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch.

On their way to the witch’s castle, they are attacked by flying monkeys, who carry Dorothy and Toto away and deliver her to the witch, who then demands that Dorothy hand over the ruby slippers. After the witch threatens to kill Toto, Dorothy agrees to give her the shoes; but their removal is prevented by a shower of sparks. The witch says that the shoes cannot be removed unless Dorothy first dies. While the witch is distracted, Toto takes the opportunity to escape. The witch then locks Dorothy in the chamber and leaves to consider how to kill Dorothy without damaging the shoes’ magic. Toto finds Dorothy’s friends and leads them to the castle. Once inside they free Dorothy and attempt an escape. The witch and her Winkie soldiers corner the group on a parapet, where the witch sets the Scarecrow on fire. To douse the flames, Dorothy throws water on them, while accidentally splashing water on the horrified witch, causing her to melt. To the group’s surprise, the soldiers are delighted. Their captain (played by silent film actor Mitchell Lewis, who played the Sheik in the silent Ben-Hur) gives Dorothy the broomstick in gratitude. Upon their return to Emerald City, Toto inadvertently exposes the great and powerful wizard as a fraud; they find an ordinary man hiding behind a curtain operating a bunch of buttons and levers. They are outraged at the deception, but the wizard solves their problems through common sense and a little double talk, rather than magic, by explaining that they already had what they had been searching for all along and only need things such as medals and diplomas to confirm that someone else recognizes it. The wizard explains that he too was born in Kansas and his presence in Oz was the result of an escaped hot air balloon. He promises to take Dorothy home in the same balloon, leaving the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Lion in charge of Emerald City. Just before takeoff, Toto jumps out of the balloon’s basket; Dorothy jumps out to catch him and the wizard, unable to control the balloon, leaves without her. She is resigned to spend the rest of her life in Oz until Glinda appears and tells her that she has always had the power to return home. Glinda explains that she did not tell Dorothy at first because she needed to find something out for herself. When asked what she has learned, Dorothy replies: “The next time I go looking for my heart’s desire, I won’t look any further than my own backyard; if it’s not there, then I never really lost it to begin with.” Dorothy says a tearful goodbye to the friends she has met in Oz, and then follows Glinda’s instructions to “tap your heels together while repeating the words, ‘There’s no place like home’.” Back in sepia tone she awakens in her bedroom in Kansas surrounded by family and friends and tells them of her journey. Everyone laughs and tells her it was all a dream, except Uncle Henry, who says sympathetically “Of course we believe you, Dorothy”. Toto appears and jumps onto the bed. A happy Dorothy, still convinced the journey was real, hugs Toto and says, “There’s no place like home.” No mention is made in the film of the ultimate fate of Miss Gulch who, it is implied, does not return to get Toto.

REVIEW:

This is one of cinema’s all time classics. It had been awhile since I watched the entire film all the way, though, and today I remembered  that I loved it!

Of course, there the whole technicolor aspect, which I love, but the sepia tones at the beginning and end make colored part of the movie stand out that much more!

Nobody gives a bad performance, but back in those days, you had to actually have talent to be in the movies and not just a pretty face, so it’s no surprise.

From what I hear, the movie differs greatly from the book, but in a manner similar to Disney films, the lighter tone doesn’t hurt it at all, it may even have helped it!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars