The Wizard of Oz (1939)

When I was a child I had a very short attention span. Finishing an entire movie rarely happened. Later I would see a scene from a movie that was near the end and be completely alienated by it. I remember being in love with Batman starring Michael Keaton. I would watch it whenever I got the chance. I, however, never actually finished it. I came into the room when my parents were watching it and was bewildered by the museum scene. The same goes for the castle riot in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the witches lair in The Wizard of Oz. Of course it is easy to be puzzled by that scene because why does the witch have servants that want Oreos really badly? But I digress. Now that I am older I have finished The Wizard of Oz and it makes me wonder: Is there a person on this planet that hasn't seen it? I've never met such a strange individual. Maybe somewhere in the Congo there is a tribe of natives that haven't seen it. But then again, maybe not.

In case you haven't seen it, I'll break it down for you. Dorothy is a farm girl from Kansas who wishes to have more excitement in her life. When a twister touches down in the farm all hell breaks loose. The house, containing Dorothy and her dog Toto, is ripped from it's foundation and taken to the magical world of Oz. Residing in Oz is a whole gang of little people (called Munchkins), a whole gang of witches (good and bad), a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion. Dorothy, having a case of the grass is always greener syndrome, now wants nothing more than to be home. Along with her brain seeking scarecrow, her heart envious tin man, and her cowardly lion, she heads to the wizard to get help.

The special effects in this movie, considering when it was made, are incredible. Not to mention all the beautiful colors and fun songs. Speaking of beautiful colors let me debunk a rumor right now. The movie begins and ends in black and white. I have heard it claimed that it is because they started the movie, and then color was invented so they began using it. WRONG! As the book says, Kansas is such a dreary place that everything is gray. Even the faces of the people are gray. That is why the creators chose to make the beginning of the movie black and white. Clever, no?

As long as I'm on the subject of enlightening the readers of this blog, ever wonder why the lion only gets a short song in the forest, and then has another song later in the Emerald City? Obviously it is because the song writers couldn't think of many words to rhyme with "courage" so they postponed his big number til they could bring up a different key word (i.e. "King of the Forest"). All of the characters, besides the Scarecrow, got a bad wrap out of this movie. Dorothy's goodbyes to her entourage is a perfect example of this. See the video below to see what I'm talking about.


I apologize if this entry seemed like I was just ranting and raving. I just figured I would have a little fun with a common household movie. I enjoyed this movie, and hope that future generations will too.

The bottom line:
Rating: 4.6
Would I own it? How could I live with myself if I didn't own it?
Would I recommend it? How could I not?