The Wizard of Oz (1939) - film review

Orphaned schoolgirl Dorothy Gale lives a simple life in Kansas with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and her beloved dog Toto.  One of Dorothy’s neighbours, Miss Gulch, has taken a dislike to Toto and when the dog bites her she threatens to take it away to be destroyed.  Unable to face the prospect of losing her one true friend,  Dorothy decides to run away with Toto.  On the road, she meets a quack fortune teller, Professor Marvel, who persuades her to return home.  On her way back, Dorothy sees a tornado heading towards her.  She manages to reach the farmhouse but is knocked unconscious in the storm.   When Dorothy awakes, she realises that the house is being carried away by the tornado.   Some time later, the house lands and Dorothy finds herself in a brightly coloured world inhabited by friendly dwarves called Munchkins.  Glinda, the Good Witch of the North appears and tells Dorothy that as a reward for killing the Wicked Witch of the East (by landing her house on her) she will inherit her magic red slippers.  This doesn’t please the Wicked Witch of the West, who swears to have her revenge.   Dorothy is anxious to return home but, according to Glinda, there is only one man who has the power to bring this about - the Wizard of Oz, a great magician who lives in the Emerald City.  To get there, Dorothy must undertake a long and hazardous journey, by following the Yellow Brick Road.   On the way, she meets a scarecrow without a brain, a tin man without a heart and a lion without courage.  Convinced that the Wizard may be able to help them as well, they join Dorothy and the four friends soon arrive at the Wizard’s castle in the Emerald City.  Eventually, they manage to see the Wizard (an imposing apparition in the shape of a head) and he agrees to give them what they want, but on one condition.  They must bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch....

Is there any other film that evokes a greater sense of nostalgia and well-being than this lavishly kitsch musical fantasy featuring the exploits of a gingham-wearing serial witch killer and her three freaky hobo companions?  Offering the kind of sensory experience you would usually only expect to gain through the use of powerful psychedelic drugs, The Wizard of Oz is the ultimate Hollywood family-friendly fantasy fest, a timeless classic that manages to satisfy no matter how often you watch it.  There is no film quite like this, and there probably never will be again.   And yet this is a film that was a nightmare to make and took over a decade to turn a decent profit.  

L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the source for this great film (MGM only just beat Disney to purchasing the rights).  Norman Taurog was originally intended to direct the film but (for reasons that are still not known), he was replaced by Richard Thorpe before filming began.  A few weeks later, Buddy Ebsen, who played the Tin Man, developed a near-fatal allergic reaction to the aluminium power makeup he had to wear and ended up in hospital. Whilst the part of the Tin Man was being recast, producer Mervyn LeRoy took time to review Thorpe’s work and was unimpressed, so he sacked Thorpe and put George Cukor in charge until he found a replacement.  

Once Jack Haley had been cast as the Tin Man (that is, cast as in given the role, not cast as in poured as molten metal into a mould), shooting resumed, with Victor Fleming now assigned as the director.  If you think that was an end to LeRoy’s direction problems, think again.   Near the end of the shoot, Fleming was pulled off the project to direct Gone With the Wind (again replacing George Cukor) and the film was completed by King Vidor.  The latter shot the sepia-tinted sequences at the start and end of the film, including the film’s most famous musical number, Over the Rainbow (which was very nearly cut by MGM executives who felt it was too high brow for the kiddies).

And this wasn’t the end of the problems.   Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Man but insisted that he should play the part of the Scarecrow, so he had to swap roles with Buddy Ebsen (a wise move at it turned out).  Judy Garland was exceedingly nervous about playing the lead role, and her insecurities about her appearance were not helped  by MGM boss Louis B. Mayer referring to her as "his little hunchback".  The primitive Technicolor cameras required so much lighting that the cast came close to being frazzled.  Frank Morgan, who played Professor Marvel and the pseudo-Wizard, had a serious drink problem and would frequently appear on set in a somewhat more well-oiled state than the Tin Man.  Margaret Hamilton (playing the Wicked Witch) was badly burned in the scene where she was to had to disappear in a puff of smoke; when she came back from hospital, she refused to do another scene with the smoke, and so a stand-in had to be employed.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  How the film was ever completed remains a mystery.     
 
A propos, the part of Dorothy was originally slated for Shirley Temple, then the most famous child actor in the world, but producer Mervyn LeRoy resisted pressure from his bosses and instead cast the lesser known Judy Garland, who had just turned 16.   Garland was 14 when MGM signed her up and prior to her trip to Oz she had appeared in a handful of films, including appearances alongside child star, Mickey Rooney.  This was to be the high point of Judy Garland’s career, although she appeared in another two dozen films, notably George Cukor’s A Star in Born (1954).  After Oz, the actress would continue to be tormented by her lack of self-esteem, something that would prove a handicap in her career and disastrous in her private life.  Excessive consumption of weight controlling drugs led to her premature death, at the age of 47.

It is remarkable to think that a film which is now one of the most-seen movies of all time barely made a profit on its first release.  The Wizard of Oz cost in the region of 3 million dollars to make and it didn’t turn a substantial profit until its re-release in 1949.  Bizarrely, the film’s sepia sequences were replaced with black-and-white for the 1949 release and not reinstated until the 50th anniversary release in 1990.  The main reason for using sepia was to ease the transition to colour when the story moves from Kansas to Munchkinland.

The film may not have been the great commercial success that MGM had hoped for, but it was critically very well received and won two Oscars - for Best Score and Best Song (Over the Rainbow).  It was also nominated for Oscars in four other categories: Best Picture, Best Color Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Effects.  The film would probably have fared better if 1939 had not been such a vintage year for Hollywood, with the release of many other quality films, including Goodbye Mr Chips, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Gunga Din and, of course, Gone with the Wind.

With its legendary musical numbers, exuberant use of colour and highly imaginative set design, The Wizard of Oz has everything that a film needs to appeal to a family audience.  Yet it has something else.  Beneath the whimsical fairytale there are some serious adult themes which we completely miss when we watch the film as children.  This is a film about the loss of innocence, how we make the transition to adulthood and start to see the world through an adult’s eyes.  Judy Garland’s performance captures perfectly the essence of the film, which is the need we all have to belong somewhere and to find out who we are.  The film has an emotional force, a sincerity and poetry that cuts right into the heart of the spectator and provokes an indescribable sense of yearning and comprehension.

The Wizard of Oz was first released in August 1939, just under three weeks before the start of WWII.  Viewed at the time, it must have felt like a heartfelt appeal for national unity at a time of immense political and economic uncertainty.  In today’s troubled times, the film has a similar impact and its subtext is just as apparent.  Utopia is not some wonderful realm that lies beyond the rainbow.  It is that little patch of land that we know so well and which we call home.  Follow the Yellow Brick Road if you must, but it will only lead you back to where you are now standing.

© James Travers 2009

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?