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The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The film is known for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters.
- 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.)
Britannica Quiz
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
- It was based on a book. Many people think The Wizard of Oz film was an original screenplay, but it was actually adapted from Frank Baum's 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
- It was also a play. Following the book's roaring success, Baum adapted the story into a stage play, and introduced several new characters — including a chorus line of poppies.
- The set got very, very hot. Because the film was among the earliest to be shot in Technicolor, it required large sets with cameras hidden in different corners and elaborate lighting that rendered the set suffocatingly hot.
- The Scarecrow had it bad. Actor Buddy Ebsen (who later starred in The Beverly Hillbillies) was originally cast as the Scarecrow, but popular Broadway actor Ray Bolger reportedly didn't want to play the Tin Woodman, so was given the part — but he may have regretted it, in particular because of the face mask he had to wear.
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.
Overview. Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives.
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.
It was made into a film in 1978, which was directed by Sidney Lumet and starred Diana Ross. In 1981, Orion Pictures produced Under the Rainbow, a fictionalized account of rumored antics of the actors playing "Munchkins" in The Wizard of Oz; that film was directed by Steve
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