The Wizard of Oz

Nearly 1/5 of the population has seen this film and with good reason.

I’ve seen this film over twenty times but never have I REALLY watched it. I felt like I was watching it for the first time; with my new eyes I watched The Wizard of OZ. The film the Wizard of Oz was released in 1939 and was directed by Victor Fleming. The three other directors that were not credited were Richard Thorpe, George Cukor and King Vidor. The film was based off the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum but there are a lot of differences between the two.

Dorothy is a young girl from Kansas who arrives in Munchklinland with her dog Toto after a tornado carries her house away and crashes it there. She quickly becomes the Munchkin’s hero when her house lands on their owner The Wicked Witch of the East. Since Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch of the East she is threatened by her sister The Wicked Witch of the West. In order to help, Dorothy gains protection from Glenda the Good Witch. Glenda tells Dorothy for her to be able to go home she must follow the yellow brick road that takes her to the Wizard of Oz, the only man who can help her. Along the way she meets the Tin Man who needs a heart, the Scarecrow who needs a brain and the Lion who needs courage; they must each overcome obstacles set in front of them to reach the Emerald City and obtain what they wish.

The film uses many different camera shots and angles to vary what you see. Many high angle shots are used to show the viewer what the setting looks like and to show where the characters are headed. Some special effects used in this movie are when Glenda the Good Witch appears in her traveling bubble, when the monkeys are flying after Dorothy and Toto, the glass ball the Wicked Witch of the West looks into and when the Wizard of Oz appears as something else. The films editing ranged from quick cuts to dissolves which varied the different transitions. The nondiegetic music coincides with what is going on in the scene. The songs sung by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion all have the same melody but use different words. And the films signature song, Over the Rainbow, is sung by Dorothy herself.

The acting in this film is outstanding. Judy Garland, at age sixteen, played the character of Dorothy. She had had minor roles in other films before but the staring role in the Wizard of Oz began her career. Garland received an Academy Award for her role in the movie. The characters of the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion; played respectively by Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr, are all done excellently. It took me years to figure out that they are the three men that Dorothy meets in the beginning, because their costumes are so good. The costumes were done by Adrian Greenburg and when combined with the makeup the characters looked very realistic. And who can forget those infamous ruby red slippers. The sets also look real, but with a closer look you can figure out what is real and not. They are however very colorful and capture your attention and imagination. With its revolutionary cross over from black and white to color makes this film unique. I have personally never seen any other movie that has done that and when it was released no film had done that before. The difference is remarkable and purposely placed at the moment Dorothy leaves Kansas and enters Oz. When we seen Oz with all that color we can tell that it is a happy vibrant place, one that anyone would LOVE to dream about.