A frustrated circus magician from Kansas is transported to a magical land called Oz, where he will have to fulfill a prophecy to become the king, and release the land from the Wicked Witches using his great (but fake) powers. Baum's Oz is divided into regions where people dress in the same color. It did win in two other categories: Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart. Admitting to being a humbug, he insists he is "a good man, but a bad wizard." When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. Extensive edits in the film's final cut removed vocals from the last portion of the film. The film changes to Technicolor as Dorothy's house lands in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz. As Dorothy pursues Toto, the balloon departs with the Wizard. [18] Mervyn LeRoy's assistant, William H. Cannon, had submitted a brief four-page outline. The Wicked Witch is dead!" It also had a one-week theatrical engagement in Dolby Cinema on October 25, 2019 to commemorate the anniversary.[82]. They were asked to ensure that the story stayed true to Baum's book. We are not told the Tin Woodman's rather gruesome backstory in the film. [92] In Step Across This Line, he wrote: "When I first saw The Wizard of Oz, it made a writer of me. The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939. Instead, another contract player, Frank Morgan, was cast on September 22. The illustrations show her wearing light-colored clothing and an eye patch. The Witch Is Dead", and a number of smaller dialogue sequences. By moving the gantry and rod, he was able to create the illusion of a tornado moving across the stage. [65] This restored version also features a lossless 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track. [12] It was among the top ten in the 2005 BFI (British Film Institute) list of "50 films to be seen by the age of 14", and is on the BFI's updated list of "50 films to be seen by the age of 15" released in May 2020.[13]. It had been featured in the 1993 "Ultimate Oz" LaserDisc release. She's gone! Sondergaard said in an interview for a bonus feature on the DVD that she had no regrets about turning down the part. There was also some recognizable classical and popular music, including: (This list is excerpted from the liner notes of the Rhino Records collection.). As the Munchkin celebrate the end of their slavery, the Wicked Witch of the West arrives to claim her sister's ruby slippers but Glinda transfers them onto Dorothy's feet. The entire audio track was preserved and is included on the two-CD Rhino Record "deluxe" soundtrack edition. "[95] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film received the maximum score of 100 out of 100, based on 4 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim",[96] which, as of March 2020, is matched only by eight other films. As director, Fleming chose not to shift the film from Cukor's creative realignment, as producer LeRoy had already expressed his satisfaction with the film's new course. [31] Ten days into the shoot, Ebsen suffered a reaction to the aluminum powder makeup he wore, though he did recall taking a breath one night without suffering any immediate effects. The footage of Blandick's Aunt Em, as shot by Vidor, had already been set aside for rear-projection work, and was reused. Characterized by its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, the film has become an American pop culture icon. Obviously this did not lend itself to the brilliant palette that was the hallmark of Technicolor films at the time. Along with these already mentioned, others who contributed to the adaptation without credit include Irving Brecher, Herbert Fields, Arthur Freed, Yip Harburg, Samuel Hoffenstein, Jack Mintz, Sid Silvers, Richard Thorpe, George Cukor and King Vidor.[17]. In February 2021, New Line Cinema announced that a remake is in the works with Watchmen's Nicole Kassell slated to direct the reimagining. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. He agrees to grant their requests if they bring him the Witch's broomstick. Title: The original soundtrack recording still exists, and was included as an extra in all home media releases from 1993 onward.[49]. According to MPAA rules, a film that has been altered in any way from its original version must be submitted for re-classification, and the 3-D conversion fell within that guideline. It was the second film based on Baum's Oz series to be produced by Disney, after Return to Oz. But it was a nightmare to make! The film's first LaserDisc release was in 1983. LeRoy also hired Noel Langley and poet Ogden Nash to write separate versions of the story. According to legend, Morgan later discovered a label in the coat indicating it had once belonged to Baum, that Baum's widow confirmed this, and that the coat was eventually presented to her. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice produced a stage musical of the same name, which opened in 2011 at the West End's London Palladium. Ebsen, a Midwesterner like Garland, pronounced it clearly. Goldwyn had toyed with the idea of making the film as a vehicle for Eddie Cantor, who was under contract to Samuel Goldwyn Productions and whom Goldwyn wanted to cast as the Scarecrow.[17]. The quivery-voiced, solemn-faced Judy Garland will always be Dorothy, the little lost farm girl on the road to Oz, clutching her beloved Toto (impressively portrayed himself by the female canine performer Terry, the terrier). The guards rejoice and give Dorothy her broomstick. Principal photography concluded with the Kansas sequences on March 16, 1939. For other films with this title, see, 1939 movie based on the book by L. Frank Baum, For a list of all the munchkin actors/actresses in the film, see. In some cases—including the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Munchkins (in style if not color), Dorothy's long pigtails and the unusual Oz noses—the film's designers were clearly inspired by the book's illustrations by William Wallace Denslow. At this point, the film began a long, arduous post-production. He was cast as 'Nikko' (the head Winged Monkey) on September 28, travelling to MGM studios on October 3. Studios love to remake classic movies because they come with built-in audience awareness. Often seen as one of the greatest films of all time,[5] it is the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. "[23], Much attention was given to the use of color in the production, with the MGM production crew favoring some hues over others. One of the two DVD releases was a "Two-Disc Special Edition", featuring production documentaries, trailers, outtakes, newsreels, radio shows and still galleries. The musical score is by Ross Wilson (frontman for Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock). What most people do know about The Wizard of Oz is a children's movie that was made in 1939 before World War 2 and it was a movie that most of our grandparents and our parents have seen when they were kids and they have shown us this movie when we were young, to this day I have been watching the movie non-stop to this day as The Wizard of Oz was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Wallace Beery lobbied for the role, but the studio refused to spare him during the long shooting schedule. Nash delivered a four-page outline; Langley turned in a 43-page treatment and a full film script. [68], In 2013, the film was re-released on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and UltraViolet for the 90th anniversary of Warner Bros. and the 75th anniversary of the film. MGM's elaborate adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 fantasy classic THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ not only became an institution among itself (and practically defined the concept of modern popular culture), but is reported to be the most viewed film ever made. During reorganization on the production, George Cukor temporarily took over under LeRoy's guidance. The film begins in black and white as we are introduced to the story's heroine Dorothy Gale, who lives with her dog Toto on a Kansas farm belonging to her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. After Hamilton's torturous experience with the Munchkinland elevator, she refused to do the pick-ups for the scene where she flies on a broomstick that billows smoke, so LeRoy had stunt double Betty Danko perform instead. When the "Over the Rainbow" reprise was revived after subsequent test screenings in early June, Garland had to be brought back to reshoot the "Auntie Em, I'm frightened!" On October 25, 1980, the film was released on videocassette (in both VHS and Betamax format) by MGM/CBS Home Video. Writing for The New York Times, Frank Nugent considered the film a "delightful piece of wonder-working which had the youngsters' eyes shining and brought a quietly amused gleam to the wiser ones of the oldsters. They completed the final draft of the script on October 8, 1938, following numerous rewrites. When Dorothy does, she wakes up in her bedroom, surrounded by her family and friends. And he – there was eleven screenwriters on that – and he pulled the whole thing together, wrote his own lines and gave the thing a coherence and unity which made it a work of art. The film had its own scene at The Great Movie Ride at Disney Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, and is also represented in miniature at Disneyland and at Disneyland Paris as part of the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction in Fantasyland. Munchkins, for example, all wear blue. They follow the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, and en route they meet a Scarecrow that needs a brain, a Tin Man missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage. An Emerald Edition four-disc DVD arrived the following week. [31] Developing the tornado scene was especially costly. The definitive videocassette release. The restoration job was given to Prime Focus World. The studio also thought that it was degrading for Garland to sing in a barnyard. In the cast list at the end, they are billed as The Singer Midgets. Now unhappy with his role as the Tin Man (reportedly claiming, "I'm not a tin performer; I'm fluid"), Bolger convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him in the part he so desired. [6][9] In 1989, it was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". But he doesn't get credit for that. [57] The New York City premiere, held at Loew's Capitol Theatre on August 17, 1939, was followed by a live performance with Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney. None of these three knew about the others, and this was not an uncommon procedure. Miss Gulch takes Toto away, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy; she decides to run away to save her dog. "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Jwelch5742. Enraged, the Wicked Witch swears revenge on Dorothy and vanishes. The first take ran well, but on the second take, the burst of fire came too soon. Although he had to be dropped from the cast because of a dangerous reaction to his aluminum powder makeup, his singing voice remained on the soundtrack (as mentioned in the notes for the CD Deluxe Edition). Perhaps most notable is former schoolteacher Margaret Hamilton's transformation into the wickedest of wicked witches, which certainly remains among the vilest and most terrifying portrayals of full-throttle evil ever to be seen. Georgie Stoll was associate conductor, and screen credit was given to George Bassman, Murray Cutter, Ken Darby and Paul Marquardt for orchestral and vocal arrangements. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind, also directed by Fleming. When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. It took the studio's art department almost a week to settle on the shade of yellow used for the Yellow Brick Road.[24]. It was the first co-production between DC Comics and Marvel Comics. The Great Movie Ride was a dark ride located at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida.The attraction employed the use of Audio-Animatronic figures, practical sets, live actors, special effects, and projections to recreate iconic scenes from twelve classic films throughout motion picture history. The original version was considered lost until a copy was discovered in 2009.[46]. The film had been enormously successful as a book, and it had also been a major stage hit, but previous attempts to bring it to the screen had been dismal failures." A remake The Wizard of Oz is happening. The script went through several writers and revisions before the final shooting. In 2005, two DVD editions were released, both featuring a newly restored version of the film with an audio commentary and an isolated music and effects track. Christopher Finch, author of the Judy Garland biography Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland, wrote: "Fantasy is always a risk at the box office. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," the book on which the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" is based, is getting a new adaptation to be helmed by "Watchman" director Nicole Kassell. [86], Not all reviews were positive. Who are the surviving members of "The Wizard of Oz" cast? "[88] Still, the film placed seventh on Film Daily's year-end nationwide poll of 542 critics naming the best films of 1939. Veteran vaudeville performer, Pat Walshe was best known for his performance as various monkeys in many theatre productions and circus shows. Synopsis: The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical comedy-drama fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the most well-known and commercially successful adaptation based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was first released in theatres on August 25, 1939, then re-released nationwide in 1949 and again in 1955.It was first broadcast on television on Saturday, November 3, 1956. He also wrote that after the film's success, Garland signed a new contract with MGM giving her a substantial increase in salary, making her one of the top ten box office stars in the United States.[90]. 4, "There's no place like home." It is her sadness that transfixes viewers to the screen, the exact same quality that made the film's most memorable Harold Arlen/E. [38][39] It took an hour each day to slowly peel Bolger's glued-on mask from his face, a process that eventually left permanent lines around his mouth and chin. "The Jitterbug" – Although this song was removed from the final film, it is still available on some extended edition CDs. Danko was severely injured when the smoke mechanism malfunctioned.[50]. The film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. Dawn was one of the first to use this technique. Everyone dismisses her adventure as a dream, but Dorothy insists it was real. Toto bites neighbor Miss Almira Gulch on the leg, leading her to obtain a sheriff's order to have him euthanized. Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful. Marvel planned a series of sequels based on the subsequent novels. Oz (a.k.a. The 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, was optioned as a movie in the '30s. To keep down on production costs, Haley only rerecorded "If I Only Had a Heart" and solo lines during "If I Only Had the Nerve" and the scrapped song "The Jitterbug"; as such, Ebsen's voice can still be heard in the remaining songs featuring the Tin Man in group vocals. Meinhardt Raabe, who played the coroner, revealed in the 1990 documentary The Making of the Wizard of Oz that the MGM costume and wardrobe department, under the direction of designer Adrian, had to design over 100 costumes for the Munchkin sequences. He can be heard in the group vocals of "We're Off to See the Wizard". Some moviegoers felt that the 16-year-old Garland was slightly too old to play the little girl who Baum intended his Dorothy to be. Not since Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has anything quite so fantastic succeeded half so well. In 2002, the film had a very limited re-release in U.S. theaters, earning only $139,905. [citation needed], Arnold Gillespie, the film's special effects director, employed several visual-effect techniques. In a scene during the opening credits, Shirley MacLaine comes into Emma's bedroom and there is a soundtrack album for the film "The Wizard of Oz" spread out on the bed while Emma is sleeping. Several actresses were reportedly considered for the part of Dorothy, including Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox, at the time, the most prominent child star; Deanna Durbin, a relative newcomer, with a recognised operatic voice; and Judy Garland, the most experienced of the three. Being involved in the production however was a stressful – and even dangerous – business. Reshoots and pick-up shots were done through April and May and into June, under the direction of producer LeRoy. Dorothy rushes home as a tornado approaches. Laserdiscs came out in 1991 and 1993, and the final LaserDisc was released September 11, 1996.[63]. The Witch Is Dead" (Reprise) – The Munchkins, "We Welcome You to Munchkinland" – The Munchkins, "Follow the Yellow Brick Road/You're Off to See the Wizard" – Judy Garland as Dorothy, and the Munchkins, "We're Off to See the Wizard" (Reprise 1) – Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, and Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man, "If I Only Had the Nerve" – Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, and Judy Garland as Dorothy, "We're Off to See the Wizard" (Reprise 2) – Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man, and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. MGM composer Herbert Stothart, a well-known Hollywood composer and songwriter, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. ), pub. While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939, it failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget, not including promotional costs, which made it MGM's most expensive production at that time. [75] It was for this release that the film received a G rating from the MPAA. (Dorothy Gale) – No. This meant that all the scenes Garland and Hamilton had already completed had to be reshot. [40], Hamilton received severe burns to her hands and face in an accident with the flame effect during her exit from Munchkinland. This torture softened him into somebody gentler and kinder. Bolger's original recording of "If I Only Had a Brain" was far more sedate than the version in the film. After Dorothy bids the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion goodbye, Glinda instructs her to tap her heels together three times and say, "There's no place like home." They continued to perform there after each screening for a week. On October 19, 1999, Oz was re-released by Warner Bros to celebrate the picture's 60th anniversary, with its soundtrack presented in a new 5.1 surround sound mix. Fuller's earth was sprayed from both the top and bottom using compressed air hoses to complete the effect. And the rest, as they, is history. The original producers thought that a 1939 audience was too sophisticated to accept Oz as a straight-ahead fantasy; therefore, it was reconceived as a lengthy, elaborate dream sequence. The MGM art department created matte paintings for many scene backgrounds. On her journey, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain; the Tin Woodman, who seeks a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, who desires courage. But nevertheless, he put his influence on the thing.[21]. Afterward, LeRoy hired screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who soon delivered a 17-page draft of the Kansas scenes. It seems inconceivable that MGM had originally wished to cast Shirley Temple in the role, as Temple's doe-eyed, cutesy-voiced shtick would have been a catastrophic ill-fit for the tone of this picture.
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