The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film, written by
Noel Langley and directed by Victor Fleming, among
several other uncredited directors, based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.[1] The film features
Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West,
Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Bert
Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Billie Burke as
Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and Frank Morgan as the
Wizard. Morgan also plays Professor Marvel, a
carnival sharkster, the doorman to Emerald City, the cabby driving "the horse of a
different color," and the guard at the gate to the Wizard's sanctuary, for a total of five different roles in the film.
One of the most beloved of all American films, The Wizard of Oz is often ranked among the top ten best movies of
all-time in various critics' and popular polls, and has provided as many indelible quotes, entered upon the American cultural
consciousness, as any other film in history. Its signature song, Over the Rainbow, sung by the young Judy Garland, has been voted the greatest movie song of all
time by the American Film Institute.[2]
Theatrical release history
In 1938, Metro Goldwyn Mayer purchased the rights from Samuel Goldwyn to the hugely successful novel, and Richard Thorpe
signed on to direct the film on a $2,777,000 budget. He was quickly fired after the first few weeks of shooting proved
unsatisfactory, and it was finally Victor Fleming who directed the majority of the film.
When Fleming was transferred over to Gone with the Wind,
King Vidor, who was 1938 in the final release print,
shot the remaining scenes, which took place in Kansas. The film was released in 1939, and became only a moderate success at the box office, considering its
then inconceivably large budget.
It was first re-released to movie theatres in 1949 by MGM (when it earned yet more money and
became a bigger success than before), and again in 1955 by MGM (in a pseudo-widescreen version). It was sold to TV the following year, and was not given a major theatrical re-release
again until 1998, when it was released by Warner Bros. (who currently own the rights to the
film). It was re-released again in 2006, but only in the United Kingdom.
Only when the film was screened on television in 1956 did it become the cultural phenomenon it
is known as today.
Plot
Summary
The film centers on Dorothy, a young girl from Kansas who is transported , along with her dog
Toto, to the fantasy world of Oz by a
violent cyclone that sweeps her farmhouse home away. The storm carries the house
with Dorothy and Toto to Munchkinland, a magical place far way from anything that
Dorothy has ever seen or dreamed of. She is proclaimed a national heroine by the tiny inhabitants because the luck of the house's
landing has caused the house to fall on and kill the Wicked Witch of the East,
who holds power over the Munchkins. Suddenly, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North appears and
explains all that has happened to Dorothy. Dorothy naturally wishes to return home. However the sister of the now dead Wicked
Witch of the East (the Wicked Witch of the West) makes a startling appearance.
Dorothy receives protection from the Wicked Witch of the West by Glinda when magically the Ruby Slippers that were worn by the dead Witch of the East are now on the feet of Dorothy: as long as
she wears the slippers, says Glinda, Dorothy will be safe. The Witch of the West leaves, and thus Dorothy is sent along the
Yellow Brick Road by Glinda, the Good Witch
of the North to find The Wizard of Oz and get his help to return to Kansas and home. Along the way, Dorothy overcomes
various obstacles and meets a talking Scarecrow (played by Ray
Bolger), a Tin Man (played by Jack Haley) and a Cowardly Lion (played by Bert Lahr), who also are unsatisfied and need
to find the Emerald City, of which The Wizard is
master, believing that he will give them each what they desire. Instead, the Wizard sends the fellowship on a quest to kill the
Wicked Witch of the West.
Extended
Orphan Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) lives a simple life in Kansas with Aunt Em (Clara Blandick), Uncle
Henry (Charley Grapewin) and three colorful farm hands, Hunk (Ray Bolger), Zeke (Bert Lahr) and Hickory (Jack Haley). One day the stern neighbor Miss 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 and takes Toto away to be destroyed, by order of the
sheriff, over the impassioned protests of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who is momentarily elated
but soon realizes Miss Gulch will return. She decides to take Toto and run away.
On their journey Dorothy encounters Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan), a lovable but fake fortune teller who, out of
concern for Dorothy, tricks her into believing Aunt Em is ill. Dorothy rushes back to the farm but is knocked unconscious, inside the house, by a sudden Kansas twister that has
already forced her family into the storm cellar behind the house.
A confused Dorothy awakens to discover the house has been caught up in the twister. Through the bedroom window she sees a
parade of people fly by. Then she sees Miss Gulch, also caught in the tornado, and pedaling her
bicycle in midair, transform into a witch. Moments later the twister drops the house, Dorothy
and Toto over the rainbow and into Oz. Glinda, the
Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke),
arrives and informs Dorothy they are in Munchkinland. She tells Dorothy 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 and celebrate the demise of the
witch singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" among other cheerful songs
until her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (also played by Margaret
Hamilton), appears to claim the powerful ruby slippers. Glinda magically transports the slippers onto Dorothy's feet and reminds
the witch her power is ineffectual in Munchkinland. The witch vows revenge on Dorothy and leaves the same way she arrived, in a
blaze of fire and smoke. Glinda tells Dorothy, who is anxious to return home, that the only way to get back to Kansas is to ask
the mysterious Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City for help. Glinda advises Dorothy to never
take off the slippers and "follow the yellow brick road" to reach the Emerald
City.
Dorothy comforts the Cowardly Lion (Although this still has been printed here in black-and-white, this scene, like all the other
Oz scenes, is actually in color)
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 (a brain, a heart and courage respectively). Along the way they are plagued by a forest of angry apple trees and several failed
attempts by the witch to stop them, notably the Deadly Poppy Fields. While they arrive at the
Emerald City, they are interrupted by the Wicked Witch, who flies across the sky writing
"surrender Dorothy". The group talks to the Wizard of Oz, who says that he will
consider granting their wishes if they can bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch. The group then departs for the witch's
castle.
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 demands the ruby slippers. When Dorothy refuses the witch tries to remove
them but is prevented by a shower of sparks. She realizes the shoes cannot be removed as long as Dorothy is alive and plots on
how to destroy her without damaging the shoes' spell.
This image is a candidate for speedy deletion. It will be deleted after Thursday, 25
October 2007.
Toto escapes and finds the scarecrow, tin man and lion 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, and
accidentally splashes water on the horrified witch, causing her to melt. To the group's surprise, the soldiers are delighted.
Their captain (played by MGM contract player Mitchell Lewis, who
played the Sheik in the silent Ben-Hur) gives Dorothy the broomstick to thank
her for their liberation from the witch. Upon their return the wizard tells Dorothy and her companions, "Go away and come back
tomorrow." Thanks to Toto they discover the wizard is not really a wizard at all, just a man behind a curtain. They are outraged
at the deception, but the wizard solves their wishes through common sense and a little double talk rather than magic.
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 after leaving the scarecrow, tin
man and lion in charge of Emerald City. Just before take off, Toto jumps out of the balloon's basket after a cat. Dorothy jumps
out to catch Toto and the wizard, unable to control the balloon, leaves without her. She is sadly resigned to spend the rest of
her life in Oz until Glinda appears and tells her she can use the ruby slippers to return home with Toto. Glinda explains she
didn't tell Dorothy at first because she needed to learn "if you can't find your heart's desire in your own backyard, then you
never really lost it to begin with." Dorothy and Toto say goodbye to their friends, and Dorothy follows Glinda's instructions to
"tap your heels together and repeat the words, 'There's no place like home'." 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 bad dream. A happy Dorothy, still
convinced the journey was real, hugs Toto and says "There's no place like home."
When Dorothy wakes up from her trip to Oz, the issue with Toto and Miss Gulch appears unresolved and left to the audience to
interpret; Miss Gulch may be intended to have died in the cyclone, possibly in conjunction with the deaths of the Wicked Witches
of Oz.
Differences from original novel
Publicity still showing main characters from 1939 version of
The Wizard of Oz.
The film expands the Kansas section, creating several characters (the farmhands, Miss Gulch, and Professor Marvel) who do not
appear in the book. It also interprets the Oz experience as a dream, in which many of the characters that Dorothy meets represent
the people from her home life. By contrast, in the book, her adventures in Oz are unambiguously meant to be real.
Nearly all of the Kansas characters have matching counterparts in Oz, and therefore most of the cast playing characters in
Kansas play matching characters in Oz. One convenient opportunity that this presents for some of the actors is that we do not
have to wait for Dorothy to get to the Land of Oz in order for Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Margaret
Hamilton to make an appearance in the film. Frank Morgan plays Professor Marvel, the Wizard, and several other people in the land
of Oz. Margaret Hamilton plays both Miss Gulch and The Witch of The West. Ray Bolger plays Hunk and The Scarecrow. Jack Haley
plays Hickory and The Tinman while Bert Lahr plays Zeke and The Lion.
Though the final film was far more faithful to Baum's original book than many earlier scripts (see below), the movie still had
several notable differences. Due to time restraints a number of sub-plots from the book were cut. In the original, Dorothy and
friends encounter a "Dainty China Country" where everyone is made of china, fight a gang of odd-looking "Hammer-heads," vicious
half-tiger half-bear "Kalidahs" (who are made passing reference to in the film by the
Scarecrow), and liberate an animal village from the rule of an evil spider king. None of these episodes appear in the movie,
though the china country was invoked in the design of the Emerald City.
Posed cast shot of Wizard of Oz.
Likewise, some characters were merged or simplified for the purposes of the movie's plot. The film's character of Glinda is
actually a composite of two book characters, the (nameless) Good Witch of the North and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, who
does not appear in the novel until the very end, and Burke's performance is a combination of the grandmotherly, less powerful
Witch of the North and the young-seeming, wise, powerful, and dignified Glinda. In the novel, the Wizard likewise takes on
various forms to fool Dorothy and friends--giant head, winged lady, terrible beast, ball of fire--but in the film he only takes
the form of the giant head combined with the fire aspect. In contrast, Dorothy's family is given a much larger role in the film
than in the novel.
A notable visual change made to the film was the changing of Dorothy's Silver Shoes to Ruby Slippers [1], to make them visually dazzling against the yellow brick road on the
Technicolor screens. Baum's original world was made dramatically more colorful overall; in
his original story the different areas of Oz only had one color each, with the Munchkin country being entirely blue and the City
of Emeralds being entirely green. This was originally done to save costs on printing illustrations. [citation needed]
The Wicked Witch of the West was much more cowardly in the novel, afraid of the dark, never left her castle, and carried an
umbrella rather than a broom, for obvious reasons. The witch's skin was pale from lack of blood, but not green. She was also
missing an eye, covered with a patch, with the other described "as powerful as a telescope".
Her presumably blond hair (based on the original illustrations) was tied in three pigtails.
Perhaps the most severe change is that of Dorothy becoming a damsel in distress
figure needing to be rescued by her male friends. In the novel, Dorothy administers the rescue of her friends after she has
dispatched the witch. Her behavior toward the witch in the novel is much more aggressive; in the novel, the Silver Shoes can be
taken off with no harm, and the witch trips Dorothy in order to be able to do this. Outraged, Dorothy deliberately douses her
with the bucket of water, though still unaware that this will cause the Witch to melt.
Production
In January 1938, MGM bought the rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The final draft of the script
was completed on October 8, 1938 (following numerous
rewrites).[3]
The film's script was adapted by Noel Langley, Florence
Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf. Several people assisted with the adaptation without
official credit: Irving Brecher, William H. Cannon,
Herbert Fields, Arthur Freed, Jack Haley,
E.Y. Harburg, Samuel Hoffenstein, Bert Lahr,
John Lee Mahin, Herman J. Mankiewicz,
Jack Mintz, Ogden Nash, and Sid
Silvers. Victor Fleming signed on to direct, and Richard Thorpe (uncredited), George Cukor and King Vidor also have uncredited writing credits. Costume design was
by Adrian Greenburg.
The script went through a number of revisions before the final shooting. The original producers thought that a 1939 audience
was too sophisticated to accept Oz as a straight-ahead fantasy; that was why it was reconceived as a lengthy, elaborate dream.
Because of a perceived need to attract a youthful audience through appealing to modern fads and styles, the script originally
featured a scene with a series of musical contests. A spoiled, selfish princess in Oz had outlawed all forms of music except
classical and operetta, and went up against Dorothy in a singing contest in which Dorothy's
swing style enchanted listeners and won the grand prize. This part was initially written for Betty
Jaynes.[4] In addition, the song The Jitterbug, written in a swing style, was not intended for
this sequence, but for the one in which the four are journeying to the Castle of the Wicked Witch. It was supposed to have taken
place just before the group was attacked by the Flying Monkeys. The Jitterbug was cut for the final theatrical version, and the
video footage for the song has been lost (except in some silent home movie footage of rehearsals for it). But the
soundtrack for the song has survived, and it is included in the 2-CD Rhino Record Deluxe
Edition of the film soundtrack, as well as on the VHS and DVD editions
of the film. An attempt has been made on both the videocassette and the DVD to
synchronize the silent home movie footage with the soundtrack.
Casting The Wizard of Oz was problematic, with actors shifting roles repeatedly at the beginning of filming. One of the
primary changes was in the role of the Tin Woodman. The Tin Man was originally slated for Ray
Bolger, and Buddy Ebsen was to play the Scarecrow.[3] Bolger was unhappy with being assigned the role of the Tin Man. Bolger
convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him in that role. Ebsen didn't object to the
change at first; he recorded all his songs, went through all the rehearsals, and started filming with the rest of the
cast.[5] But nine days after filming began, he suffered a
reaction to the aluminum powder makeup, as it had coated his lungs as he breathed it in while it was applied daily. Consequently,
Ebsen (at that point in critical condition) had to be hospitalized and leave the
project. MGM did not publicize the reasons for Ebsen's departure and not even his replacement, Jack
Haley, initially knew the reason.
The makeup used on Jack Haley was quietly changed to an aluminum paste makeup: although it didn't have the same dire effect on
Haley, he did at one point suffer from an unpleasant reaction to it. Despite his near-death experience with the makeup, Ebsen
outlived all the principal players, although his film career was damaged by the incident and he didn't fully recover until the
1950s when he began a string of popular film and TV series appearances that would continue into
the 1980s. Although his lungs had presumably recovered from the effects of the powder makeup, he
eventually died from complications from pneumonia on July 6,
2003 at the age of 95, some 65 years after his near-fatal reaction to the makeup.[6]
The book The World of Entertainment (1975) by Hugh Fordin, created with the full
co-operation of uncredited associate producer Arthur Freed before his death, is said to
suggest that the actor was fired by Victor Fleming when he took over as director. In a later interview (included on the 2005 DVD
release of Wizard of Oz), Ebsen recalled that the studio heads initially did not believe he was ill. No footage of Ebsen
as the Tin Man has ever been released — only photographs taken during filming, test photos of different make–up styles
remain.
Gale Sondergaard was originally cast as the Witch villain. She became unhappy with the role when the Witch's persona shifted from a sly
glamorous witch (thought to emulate the Wicked Queen in Disney's
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) into the familiar
"ugly hag". She turned down the role, and was replaced on October 10, 1938 with Margaret Hamilton. Margaret Hamilton was severely burned, in
the Munchkinland scene, when she was to disappear in a puff of fiery smoke. When she returned from the hospital, Hamilton refused
to do the scene where she flies a broomstick billowing smoke, so the directors chose to have a stand-in perform the scene instead. Perhaps not surprisingly, the stand-in was herself severely injured doing
the scene, after a malfunction occurred during filming that one as well. On July 25,
1938, Bert Lahr was signed and cast as the Cowardly Lion.
Frank Morgan was cast as the Wizard on September 22,
1938. On August 12, 1938,
Charley Grapewin was cast as Uncle Henry.
Publicity still showing
The Wizard of Oz in production, 1938
Filming commenced on October 13, 1938, with Richard Thorpe directing. After an unknown number of days, and after some scenes were shot, Thorpe was
fired and George Cukor who was on his way to direct Gone with the Wind, took over, until he had to leave to shoot the famous Civil War epic. Initially, the studio made Garland wear a blond wig and heavy, "baby-doll"
makeup, and she played Dorothy in an exaggerated fashion. Cukor changed Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton's makeup and costumes,
and told Garland to simply "be herself". This meant that all of Garland and Hamilton's scenes had to be discarded and re-filmed.
Cukor, who never actually shot any scenes for The Wizard of Oz, had a prior commitment to direct Gone with the
Wind, so he left on November 3, 1938, and Victor Fleming took over the direction of Oz.
Coincidentally, on February 12, 1939, Victor Fleming
replaced George Cukor in directing Gone with the Wind. The next day
King Vidor would be assigned as director to finish the filming of The Wizard of Oz
(mainly the sepia Kansas sequences, including Judy Garland's singing of
Over the Rainbow). In later years, when the film became firmly established as a
classic, King Vidor chose not to take public credit for his contribution until after the death of his friend Fleming.
Filming concluded on March 16, 1939; with subsequent test
screenings on June 5, 1939.[7]
Premiere and reissues
The Wizard of Oz premiered at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc,
Wisconsin on August 12, 1939
and Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on August 15 1939. The New York City premiere at Loew's Capitol Theater on
August 17 1939 was followed by a live performance with Judy
Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney. They would continue to perform there
after each screening for a week. The movie opened nationally on August 25 1939.
The film grossed approximately $3 million against production/distribution costs of $3.8 million in its initial release. It did
not show a profit until a 1949 re-release earned an additional $1.5 million.
The film was again re-released in 1955 in a pseudo "widescreen" 1.85:1 aspect ratio version. Portions of the top and the bottom of the film were removed to produce the effect .
The re-release trailer claimed "every scene" from Baum's novel was in the film, including "the rescue of Dorothy", though there
is no such incident in the novel. The 1998 re-release again used the pseudo widescreen. The
original theatrical release was 1.37:1 aspect ratio, which is projected in 1.33:1, with the
additional width accommodating the soundtrack. All of the film's VHS and DVD releases have been in the original format, and not
in the pseudo widescreen one.
The film was first shown on television November 3, 1956 on
CBS, as the last installment of the Ford Star
Jubilee. It was shown in color (posters still exist advertising the broadcast, and they specifically say in color
and black-and-white), but because most television sets then were not color sets, few members of the TV audience saw it that
way. An estimated 45 million people watched the broadcast. On December 13, 1959 the film was shown (again on CBS) as a two-hour Christmas season
special, and at an earlier time, to an even larger audience. It became an annual CBS television tradition every December
from 1959 through 1962. The film was not shown in 1963, perhaps due to the proximity of the John F. Kennedy assassination November 22, 1963.
Others say that there was no room on the schedule, due to the fact that by then there were many other Christmas specials. Still
the film was shown very early in 1964 so the showings still were only roughly a year apart. That January 1964 broadcast marked
the end of the Christmas season showings, but it was nevertheless still televised only once a year for more than two decades. In
the late 1960s, the film was bought for TV showings by NBC, but by 1976, it had reverted back to
CBS. It is now shown several times a year, on the Turner Classic Movies cable
channel, Turner Network Television, and the TBS Superstation (see the article The Wizard of Oz on
television).
The Wizard of Oz became the first videocassette released by MGM/CBS Home
Video in 1980; all current home video releases are by Warner Home Video (via
current rights holder Turner Entertainment). The first laserdisc release of The Wizard of Oz was in 1989, and again in 1993, and finally on September 11, 1996. The long-awaited first DVD
release of the film was on March 26, 1997, and contained no
special features or supplements. It was re-released for its 60th Anniversary, on October 19,
1999, and contained an extensive behind-the-scenes documentary: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The
Making of a Movie Classic, hosted by Angela Lansbury. Outtakes, the deleted music
number known as the "Jitterbug sequence", clips from the 1925 Wizard of
Oz and the 1933 animated short based on the book, trailers, newsreels and a portrait gallery were also included, as well as two radio programs of the era publicizing the
film - all on one disc. In 2005, two exclusive collectable DVD editions were released. The film was completely restored with
superior quality and new audio sound in a 5.1 audio, perhaps the biggest re-release of the film yet. One of the two DVD releases
was a 2-disc "deluxe edition", featuring a large portion of rare special features: documentaries, trailers, various
outtakes, newsreels, an in-depth look on the restoration of the new DVD release, a behind the
scenes look at the set design of the film, radio shows, and still galleries. The 3-disc edition featured even more supplements,
including the complete 1925 film and 1933 short and re-prints of the 1939 tickets for the opening night screening.
In 1999, the film had a theatrical re-release in Australia, in honor of the 60th
Anniversary. The film was also scheduled for theatrical re-release in the United Kingdom
on December 15, 2006.
Worldwide release dates
Lobby card for the 1955 re-release of
The Wizard of Oz.
| Country |
Date |
| Brazil |
September 18, 1939 |
| Argentina |
November 15, 1939 |
| Sweden |
January 2, 1940 |
| Denmark |
March 26, 1940 |
| Australia |
April 18, 1940 |
| Finland |
November 21, 1943 |
| Spain |
March 19, 1945 |
| France |
June 26, 1946 |
| Belgium, Netherlands |
August 8, 1946 |
| Hong Kong |
February 6, 1947 |
| Italy |
December 5, 1947 |
| Austria |
October 6, 1950 |
| West Germany |
April 19, 1951 |
| Philippines |
January 15, 1953 |
| Japan |
December 22, 1954 |
Musical selections
-
The Wizard of Oz is widely noted for its musical selections and soundtracks. Music and lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won the Academy Awards for Best Music, Song for
"Over the Rainbow".
The songs were recorded in a studio prior to filming. Several of the recordings were completed while Buddy Ebsen was still
with the cast. So, while Ebsen had to be dropped from the cast due to illness from the aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice
remained in the soundtrack. In the group vocals of "We're off to See the Wizard," his voice is easy to detect. Ray Bolger spoke with a distinct
Boston accent and thus did not pronounce the r in wizard. By contrast, Ebsen
was a Midwesterner, like Judy Garland, and thus pronounced the r.
Academy Awards
The film was nominated for several Academy Awards upon its release, including
Best Picture and Academy Award for Visual Effects. It lost the award in the Best Picture category to
Gone with the Wind (another MGM release), but won in the category of
Best Song (Over The Rainbow) and Academy Award for Best Original Score, which went to, not the songwriters, but
Herbert Stothart, who composed the background score. Judy Garland was given a special honorary
Oscar that year, for "Best Performances by a Juvenile" (this meant that the award was also
for her role in the film version of Babes in Arms). But rather incredibly, The
Wizard of Oz did not receive an Oscar for its Special Effects - that award went to the film version of
The Rains Came, for its monsoon sequence.
Winner of 2 Oscars
- Music (Original Score) -- Herbert Stothart
- Music (Song) -- " Somewhere Over The Rainbow," Music By Harold Arlen; Lyrics By E. Y. Harburg
4 additional nominations
Special Award
- Judy Garland received a miniature Oscar statuette for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile performer. This was
not an award solely for "The Wizard Of Oz" but for her performances over all during the past year.
Awards and honors
The Wizard of Oz is widely considered to be one of the most well known, beloved films of all time, and was one of the
earliest films to be deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of
Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In
June 2007, the film was listed on UNESCO's Memory
of the World Register.
The film has gained many listings from the American Film Institute (AFI). In
1997, the AFI ranked The Wizard of Oz sixth on its "100 Greatest
Movies" list; in its Tenth Anniversary Edition, it was rated tenth. Two songs from the film are on AFI's 100 years, 100
songs list ("Over the Rainbow" at #1 and "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead" #82). In 2006, this film ranked #3 on their
list of best musicals. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly released a guide celebrating the greatest films ever made, with The
Wizard of Oz listed in the top 10. It is also in the top 100 on the IMDB Top 250
Films List. In addition, a 2005 poll by the AFI ranked Dorothy's line "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas
anymore" as the fourth most memorable line in cinema history.[8][9] It was also placed
at number 86 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[10]
In 1977, Aljean Harmetz wrote The
Making of The Wizard of Oz, a detailed description of the creation of the film based on interviews and research; it
was updated in 1989. ISBN 0-7868-8352-9
All of the film's stars except Frank Morgan lived long enough to see and enjoy at least some of the film's acclaim. The last
of the major players to pass on was Ray Bolger. The day after his death, a prominent
editorial cartoonist referenced the cultural impact of this film, portraying the scarecrow running along the yellow brick road to
catch up with the other characters, as they all danced off into the sunset. Neither director Victor Fleming, nor music arranger
Herbert Stothart, nor co-screenwriter Edgar Allan Woolf, nor actor Charley Grapewin
(who played Dorothy's Uncle Henry) lived to see the film become an icon of cinema and a television tradition. By a curious
coincidence, Fleming, Stothart, and Morgan all died in the same year - 1949.
According to The Observer, the film has the greatest soundtrack of all
time.[11]
Sequels, pre-quels, and related works
Ruby slippers. Original costume made of silk, leather, sequins, and rhinestones.
- The Wizard of Oz was recorded live on Christmas day, 1950, and starred Judy Garland in this radio version of the
classic film. Her daughter Liza Minnelli was in the audience (see link to audio in
external links below)
