Sep 22, 2002 04:45 AM
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(Updated Sep 22, 2002 04:45 AM)
The Wizard of Oz from 1939 is perhaps everybody's favorite musical-fantasy film. The popular film was adapted from L. Frank Baum's book for children, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1900. Baum got the name “Oz” from looking at his file cabinets one day; one cabinet was A-N and the other was O-Z. The classic film is often quoted, with such well-remembered lines as “There’s no place like home.” The movie stars Judy Garland as 16-year-old Dorothy Gale, a sweet farm girl from Kansas with her little dog Toto. Because Judy Garland was actually not still a teenager, her breasts had to be flattened down and tapes so she would appear younger on screen. The film beautifully intertwines the plot with the musical numbers. The scenes in the wheat-colored state of Kansas are shot in sepia tone. Later, when Dorothy and her pup arrive in the land of Oz, the film converts to lively Technicolor.
Dorothy rushes through the gate in the farm and tries to tell her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry how a neighbor, Miss Gulch (played wonderfully by Margaret Hamilton, who doubles as the Wicked Witch) hit Toto with a rake because the dog was chasing her cat. Miss Gulch is saying that the dog bit her and she’s gone to call the sheriff to take her dog away and put him to sleep. Unfortunately her aunt and uncle are preoccupied with problems on the farm and aren’t really giving Dorothy’s problem enough concern. Dorothy decides to run away from home with Toto, to a place free from worries, a place “Over the Rainbow”. She begins to sing ….Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly….Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why, can't I?
Dorothy and Toto come across a fortune-teller named Professor Marvel who has a crystal ball, played by Frank Morgan. Professor says he sees that her Auntie Em is in trouble, that she’s fallen ill. He thus persuades her to return home. But when she gets back to the farm, a tornado is fast approaching, and everybody’s already gone down to the storm cellar. Running into the house, she is struck on the head by a flying window frame and is knocked unconscious onto the bed. The house is swept up into a swirling tornado and finally drops down with a loud thud. Dorothy and Toto awaken to find they have been transported to another land, a colorful world over the rainbow filled with little houses with little people alongside a yellow brick road. Dorothy speaks one of the film’s most famous lines “Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore!”
Along comes the beautiful fairy-princess-looking Good Witch of the North who reveals to Dorothy that her house has just landed on the Wicked Witch of the East. Dozens of little people called Munchkins emerge from their little houses and start singing, “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!” The Munchkins have been under the tyrannical rule of this witch, so they are thrilled by Dorothy’s killing her.
All of the songs are very good, with very clever https://lyrics. Interrupting the festivities is the Wicked Witch of the West, sister of the dead witch (played by Margaret Hamilton, who was seriously burned during the special-effect burst of fire where she disappears). She vows revenge on Dorothy on Toto. “I'll get you, my pretty - and your little dog, too,” she cackles. Because Dorothy has accidentally killed a wicked witch, the powerful ruby slippers are transferred from the witch’s feet to Dorothy’s feet by the Good Witch. Dorothy doesn’t know, but the ruby slippers hold the power for her to return home to Kansas. Dorothy does not know the way back to Kansas, so she is told by the Munchkins to follow the yellow brick road to the Wizard of Oz, who will help her get home.
Dorothy meets three travel companions along the way: She meets the scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the tin man, and the cowardly lion (Burt Lahr). Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett in TV show The Beverly Hillbillies) had to step down from the role as the Tin Man because he suffered a near deadly allergic reaction to the silver-colored aluminum make-up he had to wear. An actor named Jack Haley replaced him. Each of her traveling companions is also inclined to seek something from the Wizard of Oz, so they join Dorothy. The scarecrow wants a brain, the tin man a heart, and the lion courage. There are lots of funny and tender moments along the way, as the four all become friends. When they finally reach the Wizard of Oz, they are given a job to do by the Wizard. If they bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West, that will prove to the Wizard that she is dead, and he will then give them all the things for which they have come seeking.
The film then becomes more action-oriented, tense and scary. Will the four road companions be able to find the wicked witch and kill her? Will they be able to make it back to Oz? Will Dorothy ever make it back to her farm in Kansas? The journey along the yellow brick road is a wonderful trip worth taking! The movie won two prestigious Academy Awards for Best Music and Best Song “Over the Rainbow“.
