If anyone asks me if I have a favourite film I always reply The Wizard of Oz, from 1939, directed by Victor Fleming (and King Vidor, uncredited) and starring the amazing Judy Garland. It’s so obvious. This is the best film ever made, right? Right? I think I came to this conclusion sometime around 1992. I’d watched the film a number of times by that point and had always been beguiled by it. But I think it was having the chance to see it in a special showing at a cinema that year that really cemented my belief in the film’s classic status.
There is so much to say about it, so many superlatives to make. The fact that the film uses both colour and black and white to tell its story – that is amazing. How many films do you know that do that, that play with film format to tell its story? The transition scene where Dorothy opens the door of her house and we move from the drab black and white world of Kansas to the vibrant colour-filled world of Oz is, well, magical. Then there’s my favourite scene, the one where the dog Toto escapes from the Wicked Witch’s castle. The shot where he prepares to jump off the drawbridge always has my heart in my mouth. Such a brave, plucky little fella! I hope after he did his jump the dog actor, Terry (actually it was a she), was given an extra nice doggy treat for their amazing performance. Best Animal Acting Ever. And then Dorothy, who sees it all in the Witch’s spyglass, cries with relief and sadness (because she’s not with him), ‘He got away, he got away!’
Another important thing about the film (and the books) is how it’s become such a meme drop. A lot of them are so ingrained in pop culture that you don’t even need to have seen the film to know them (but it definitely helps!). We’re not in Kansas anymore…yellow brick road…we’re off to see the wizard…somewhere over the rainbow…who’s the man behind that curtain?…cowardly lions and tigers and bears (oh my!)…munchkins. The list goes on and on. Then there’s the many spinoffs, like the present Wicked phenomenon and a raft of other books and films and other pop culture that references it. My favourite of these is a novel called Was by Geoff Ryman, which I read back in 1992. It presents alternative stories about the book and the film, including one about the ‘real’ Dorothy that is vivid and heartbreaking.
The many themes and interpretations of the original novel are interesting too. These include religion (the Emerald City is Heaven), psychology (it’s a journey of self-discovery) and the Populist Movement of the early 1900s. This last example equates the yellow brick road with the Gold Standard, the Scarecrow to farmers, the Tinman to industrial workers, and the Cowardly Lion (allegedly) to the Democratic politician William Jennings Bryan whom Baum, a Republican, opposed.
I first came to the film in the early Seventies when it was given a showing on TV. It was presented as something special and I was intrigued. I remember my Grandmother talking about it, how it had been such a big deal back in the day, how everyone used to sing ‘We’re Off To See the Wizard’. Then she sang a few bars of the song. From my first viewing I was blown away and understood why it was so famous.
Around the time I saw it in the cinema I bought a copy of the Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History book about the film, which was a treasure trove of information and anecdotes about pretty much every aspect of the film. I devoured it. It referenced the original Frank L Baum novels, the many plays and other productions that had been made before the film, and especially the long, fascinating process of how the film was conceived and made. The complex script rewrites, the withdrawal of original director Richard Thorpe over ‘artistic differences’ (his Dorothy wears a blonde wig and she acts like a fantasy world ingenue!), the casting changes (Buddy Ebsen out as the Tinman – due to an almost fatal allergic reaction to the makeup!), and Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch badly burned during a dangerous stunt. And then there’s the actors, the ‘little people’, playing the Munchkins, what they got up to! Poor Victor Fleming had to deal with all that, then without a break, go over to direct Gone With the Wind. Along the way a number of scenes were cut or shortened, including the ‘jitterbug’ number and Ray Bolger’s extended dance sequence as the Scarecrow (both made available as extras on later dvd versions). At one point a Producer wanted the Over the Rainbow scene cut because he felt it slowed the film down, believe it or not!
Then there’s my favourite anecdote about the film. During filming of the Professor Marvel scene that appears in the early black and white section, just before the tornado, actor Frank Morgan turned the coat pocket of his costume out and noticed a label that had the name Frank L Baum written on it. He had apparently donated it to MGM many years before, and here was the actor who would play the Wizard wearing it!
In that nineties period when I acquired a video copy of the film I religously watched it at least once every year. Then dvd’s came along and I was able to watch it with better fidelity. But I stopped doing it at some point and haven’t watched it for a while now. I guess I realised I didn’t need to watch it anymore, it’s so internalised within me that I carry it with me, like so many other pop culture artifacts I admire. But if I want to give myself a treat, the ultimate comfort movie, I’ll put on WOO and thrill yet again to Toto’s heroic struggle on that drawbridge.
WOO Image by Neotenist from Pixabay