The Wizard Of Oz (DVD)

~~ The Wizard of Oz ~~

Still going through my collection of musicals and I have quite a few more yet to review; I came across one of my all time favourites The Wizard of Oz. So here goes as I share my thoughts, trivia and description of a timeless classic which is nearly 70 yrs old and still enjoyed by young and old today.

~~ The Film ~~

The film opens in Sepia and we see Dorothy and Toto running down ...
...gets shooed off out of the way as they are busy. As Dorothy reflects she slips easily into song with Somewhere Over the Rainbow, we move on and get introduced to the three farmhands Hunk, Zeke and Hickory, you also get to see in them the characters that we later grow to love throughout the film.

Miss Gulch arrives at the farm and takes Toto off to be destroyed for nearly biting her; well can you blame him the evil woman, Dorothy runs ... more

~~ The Wizard of Oz ~~

Still going through my collection of musicals and I have quite a few more yet to review; I came across one of my all time favourites The Wizard of Oz. So here goes as I share my thoughts, trivia and description of a timeless classic which is nearly 70 yrs old and still enjoyed by young and old today.

~~ The Film ~~

The film opens in Sepia and we see Dorothy and Toto running down the dirt track under starry skies to her Aunty Em and Uncle Henry's farm. Dorothy tries hard to gain her Aunt and Uncles attention, but gets shooed off out of the way as they are busy. As Dorothy reflects she slips easily into song with Somewhere Over the Rainbow, we move on and get introduced to the three farmhands Hunk, Zeke and Hickory, you also get to see in them the characters that we later grow to love throughout the film.

Miss Gulch arrives at the farm and takes Toto off to be destroyed for nearly biting her; well can you blame him the evil woman, Dorothy runs off to her room devastated at the thought of loosing her beloved dog. Miss Gulch rides off along the lane with Toto safely in a basket on the back of her bike, she definitely under-estimated that little dog, as the loveable mischievous cute bundle of fluff manages to make the great escape and runs home to Dorothy without the evil Mrs Gulch even noticing that he has gone.

Dorothy is ecstatic to have Toto back with her, but she is also very frightened in case the nasty evil witch Mrs Gulch will come back for him, so what can a girl do but runaway. So off they go and not far into her journey she meets up with Professor Marvel a travelling magician who cleverly persuades Dorothy that her Aunty Em is suffering because she has run off and is really worried about where she might be, he manages to convince Dorothy to make her way back home.

On the way home the storm clouds turn into a tornado, Dorothy and Toto get caught up in it, she manages to make it back to the house, but everyone have already taken cover and gone underground. Dorothy and Toto take shelter in her bedroom, but Dorothy gets knocked out cold by the window as it explodes with the force of the Tornado. With this we are launched into wonderful Technicolor and a big fantasy adventure where we see a good witch and a really bad witch (will you recognise her).

We get to meet the delightful munchkins and follow Dorothy and Toto's big adventure as they follow the Yellow Brick Road, meeting Scarecrow, The Lion and The Tin Man along the way. They all head off to see the wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Watch there adventures along the yellow brick road to Oz and also after they arrive at the Emerald City, when they learn to face their fears and dreams as well as the terrible wicked witch. Will there wishes be granted? Will Scarecrow get a Brain, the Tin Man get his heart, the Lion his courage and will Dorothy get home? Watch and sing a long, live the fantasy for a short while, sit aback and enjoy.

~~ Songs ~~

Overture- runs through the starting credits taking us through to the beginning of the movie.

Over the Rainbow - The Oscar winning song, which hit the hearts of everyone sung by Judy Garland; even though it has been covered by many over the years I feel it will always be remembered as her song.

Munchkinland Medley - After Dorothy was swallowed up by the tornado, she ended up house and all landing in Munchkinland and killing one of the bad witches. This medley consists of five songs which were spliced into one; they used singers with a normal vocal range to do the songs and then altered the pitch and speeded up. I actually thought that they had used helium, but after my research found that I was wrong.

We're off to see the Wizard - Dorothy starts this song as the Good Witch has directed her to the yellow brick road. We start with Dorothy and the Munchkins singing, and then it goes to Dorothy and the Scarecrow, joined shortly after by the Tin Man and The Lion as she follows the yellow brick road. This is a fun song and you will find yourself singing it long after the film has finished.

If I Only Had A Brain - This is the scarecrows song and again this is a catchy number that gets you smiling and tapping your feet to as scarecrow tells us what he would love to have a brain. This also included The Tin Man asking for a heart and The Lion asking for some courage.

Optimistic Voices - This is a chorus of heavenly voices that greet the four travellers as they arrive at the Emerald City and leads us straight into the next song.

The Merry Old Land of Oz - This is sung by the whole entourage as they get Dorothy and her companions cleaned up to address the wizard.

All the folk are dressed in green, and there is a horse drawn carriage, where the horse changes colour with each camera cut. It is a laughing song that lightens the mood before the dramatic visit to the wizard.

If I Were King of the Forest - The last song of the show and our four friends have all been cleaned up and are waiting to see the wizard, Lion wraps himself up with a green rug, they crown him with a broken flower pot and he sings about what he would do with some courage.

~~ The Cast ~~

Judy Garland - Plays the little girl Dorothy Gale who travels with us throughout this fantastic journey. Out of all the films Judy Garland has acted in, this has to be the one she is mainly remembered for.

Frank Morgan - Played a few characters in the movie, these being the Wizard of Oz, Professor Marvel, The gate keeper at the Emerald City and another couple of parts whilst in the Emerald City.

Ray Bolger - Was originally picked to play the Tin Man, but he finally managed to convince MGM that his famous 'rubber-limbed' style of dancing would be better suited for the part of the Scarecrow. In the 70's he played Grandpa in Partridge Family (remember the series with David Cassidy). Sadly he passed away in 1987 at the age of 57 yrs.

Bert Lahr - Played the Cowardly Lion, when you see him in the extras on the DVD you can see why he was picked and how well suited he was to the part.

Jack Haley - Was bought in to play the Tin Man after their first choice Buddy Ebsen was rushed to hospital after the Aluminium Dust they used got into his lungs. They replaced the powder with a paste and also replaced the actor. They had also originally asked Jack to play the scarecrow, but swapped him over with Ray.

Billie Burke - Played Glinda, the good witch of the north Margaret Hamilton as the wicked witch of the west and Mrs Gulch, she also had an industrial accident where the paint on her face caught fire in one of the scenes.

Charley Grapewin was Uncle Henry and Clara Blandrick was Aunty Em, and not to forget our very cleaver dog Toto.

Director - The film went through a few directors starting off with Richard Thorpe; his footage was viewed by Mervyn LeRoy (Producer) who hated what he saw and fired him. George Cukor was bought in and changed Judy's appearance by making her look more natural, he was only bought in as a stop gap and was soon replaced by Victor Fleming. Although Victor ended up doing the majority of the film he was pulled off towards the end to work on Gone with the Wind and King Vidor was bought in to finish it off. He can take credit for the Kansas sequences where he bought sensitivity and realism to the scenes.

Music by Harold Arlen and Lyrics by E.Y.Harburg.

~~ Trivia ~~

Over the Rainbow very nearly got cut, because the studio worried that the opening Kansas scene was too long, and thankfully they didn't.

In 2004 Over the Rainbow was ranked No 1 in the American Film Institutes list of the top 100 greatest songs in American Movies.

Although the credit for the screenwriting goes to Florence Ryerson, Noel Langley and Edgar Allan Woolfe there was at least a dozen other writers that contributed to the script.

It was announced in the Daily Variety on 24th Feb 1938 that MGM had purchased the rights to L. Franks Baurn's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for $75,000, an exorbitant amount for the time; well I think it an awful lot even today.

They originally thought of using Shirley Temple to play Dorothy, but then went for Judy Garland instead.

The Wizard of Oz opened on 17th August 1939 in New York with 10, 000 people lining the streets to watch it.

It is estimated that The Wizard of Oz has been watched by more people than any other movie ever made.

~~ Focus On Judy Garland ~~

Judy was born to ex-vaudeville performers on 10th June 1922 in Minnesota. They named her Francis Ethel Gumm and by the time she was 3 yrs old she was known as Baby Gumm and performing on stage with her two sisters.

Judy did her first screen debut in a film called Starlet Revue at the age of seven. At the Chicago World fair in 1934 the girls name caused some hilarity and comedian George Jessel came up with the name Garland, shortly after Francis also changed her name to Judy.

At the age of 13 Judy auditioned for Louis B Mayer of MGM and got signed for a seven year contract, she went on to make 31 movies with MGM between 1935 and 1950. For her part in the Wizard of Oz she won a Special Juvenile Oscar at the 1940 awards, which she later dubbed as her 'Munchkin Award'.

It was gruelling times and hard work for actors of the day as the studio's owned you and to get the most out of you making money for them, they had there young stars taking pills to keep them going and then pills to bring them down and sleep. It is not surprising that like many young actor/actresses of this era, that she became reliant on the pills, which eventually affected her ability to work, and in 1950 she was fired off the set of Annie Get Your Gun and left MGM. This was not the end of her career she went on to make A Star is Born, plus an international singing career.

She had a rocky road within her relationships marrying 4 times and having 3 children, Lisa Minnelli, Lorna and Joey Luft. Sadly Judy's life and dependency on drugs got the better of her when she was found dead in London from an overdose of barbiturates. On 22nd June 1969 the day Judy died, strangely enough Kansas had a tornado, let's hope she reached over that Rainbow.

~~ DVD Extras ~~

Go Home To Kansas - 1-55 Scene Selections

Languages - soundtracks in English, French and Italian

Subtitles - 12 in various languages

Follow the Yellow Brick Road - Special Features Menu - this is like a Russian Doll, going from title to title until you get to the final one The Making of the Movie - this is narrated by Angela Lansbury and lasts around 50 minutes but you do get an enormous amount of facts from this footage as well as getting to see interviews with various people involved in the making of the movie. You get to see footage of the 50th Anniversary celebrations across America; you even get to see the tap dancing record in the Guinness Book of Records and the most expensive pair of Real Ruby Slippers that was made for the Golden Anniversary celebrations. Interviews with her children and you get to see some rare deleted scenes.

You also get to see some of the old tricks of the trade when they reveal how they managed some of those special effects and did you know that the Lions outfit weighed 90lbs; I bet that was hard work acting in that all day.

Out-takes and Deleted Scenes - this is split into five as detailed below

1. If I only had a Brain - this is the deleted scarecrow dance and you get text to read explaining why and then you get to see the scene.
2. If I only had a Heart - this is the original scene done with the original actor Buddy Ebsen.
3. Triumphant Return to Emerald City - this is a written explanation followed by a series of scenes from the film.
4. Over the Rainbow - Judy singing to Piano only accompanied by stills when she is captured by the witch and crying.
5. The Jitterbug - this took 5 weeks to rehearse and was cut after the first preview of it, after seeing it I can see why.

Oz History - Excerpt from the 1914 silent version of Oz film. And His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz - lasts about 50 seconds.

Excerpt from 1925 Silent Oz feature - The Wizard of Oz 1925 - only a minute of short clips including a very young Oliver Hardy.

Excerpt from Ted Eshbaugh's 1933 Oz cartoon - First Oz Book - this lasts a couple of mins there abouts.

~~ Oz Afterlife ~~

1979 Interviews with Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger and Jack Haley - this is slightly unusual as you presented with a screen with all three of them in their own little boxes all with their mouths working like they are talking, but it is only the name that you have picked that you can here. What was even stranger, if you chose say Jack Haley who only talks for just over a minute, when he has finished talking you watch the screen in silence with the others still talking (without sound) until the last one has finished.

Stills - this is split into 5 sub categories all showing stills to the related topics which are original publicity, New York Premiere, Hollywood Premiere, 1939/40 Oscar ceremonies and Oz Abroad.

Off to see the Wizard - this again is split into sub categories but they all show snippets of the cartoon series.

Excerpt from 1939 Cavalcade of Academy Awards - this is just a short 2 minute film that shows Judy Garland receiving her award.

~~ Finally My Thoughts ~~

Well if you haven't guessed by now from what you have read, then I will tell you that I loved every minute of it. As a child I would watch it and be fascinated by the colour, the witches, the munchkins and the characters like the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. As an adult I notice the similarities right from the beginning of the movie, to the characters that they became later on in the film. Judy Garland has a powerful and glorious voice as she sings Over the Rainbow, bringing true emotion into it, making the song her own. The film gives children a message to look within themselves and there is no place like home. It is a film that gives you everything to feed your imagination and touch your heart.

I really truly highly recommend seeing it, if only once.

Run time 101 mins
Cert u

Thank you for reading

Lyn x

 

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