Film Review: The Wizard of Oz (1939)

When someone asks which year was the best in history of cinema, the answers vary a lot depending on people’s different tastes, ages or cinema industries. If the question is limited to Classic Hollywood, it is much easier to reach consensus. Overwhelming majority of cinephiles, critics and film historians point to 1939 as the brightest moment in that particular chapter of film history. In a span of that annus mirabilis big Hollywood studios delivered a large number of films that would later justifiably be considered classics and set the standards for what countless future generations of film makers should strive for. The year was even more impressive because it brought at least two films that withstood the test of time and maintained their popularity even until today, becoming parts of popular culture unlike many great films in periods before and afterwards. One of them is Gone with the Wind and the other was The Wizard of Oz, fantasy musical directed by Victor Fleming.

The film is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, popular children’s book by L. Frank Baum. The plot begins on a prairie farm in Kanas where the protagonist, young girl named Dorothy Gale (played by Judy Garland) lives with Uncle Henry (played by Charley Grapewin) and Auntie Em (played by Clara Blandick). One day a tornado hits the farm and Dorothy, together with her beloved dog Toto, is caught in the house, taken in a vortex and transported to magical land of Oz. The House lands in Munchkinland, killing its evil ruler, Wicked Witch of the East. While the Munckhinks are happy, her sister, Wicked Witch of the West (played by Margaret Hamilton) is not, and she swears revenge on Dorothy who, however, gets protected by good witch Glinda (played by Billie Burke). Dorothy wants to go home and is told that the great wizard who lives in Emerald City might help her. Along the way Dorothy meets three strange characters – Scarecrow (played by Ray Bolger) who wants to have a brain; Tin Man (played by Jack Haley) who wants to have a heart; and Cowardly Lion (played by Bert Lahr) who wants to have courage. Upon arrival to Emerald City, the Wizard tells them that he would grant them wishes if they take the broom from the Wicked Witch of the West.

One of the most interesting features of the Wonderful Year of 1939 is that two of its grandest films actually had plenty of things in common. Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz were had the same name credited as director – Victor Fleming. In both cases Fleming was just one of the many uncredited directors involved in the project, with some of them, like George Cukor, working on both films. Both films were based on best-selling books and both were made in colour, which was something quite rare in Hollywood these days, with expensive and complicated Technicolor technology used only for the most prestigious and ambitious studio projects.

The Wizard of Oz was, however, also a very different film from Gone with the Wind. The most visible difference is in genre and length. The Wizard of Oz functions as musical, which is exactly the kind of films Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer became famous for in Classic Hollywood. It is also more than half times shorter than Gone with the Wind and this made the film suitable to be watched by children and adults alike. And this is exactly the reason why The Wizard of Oz maintained its magic over the decades – it is the film that can create sense of wonder and amazement among the children that watch it for the first time and, later, nostalgia and deep appreciation among those same children when they watch it as adults.

The Wizard of Oz succeeds in reaching that ideal spot of family entertainment by employing much of the most valuable creative and technological resources of its time. Script, written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Wolf (with various uncredited contributors, including famed screenwriter Herman L. Mankiewicz, directors and members of the cast) strips Baum’s original story to its essence, removes some of the elements of the novel that might have been too gruesome for the youngest audience, while at the same time remaining true to the spirit of the original. Entire film is, like it was a custom at the time, shot in the studio; yet, the audience doesn’t notice it. Kansas seems real just as Oz seems fantastical, despite primitive special effects that create very simple illusions. At the same time, script allows opportunity for couple of impressive song and dance numbers, with Harold Arlen and Herbert Stothart providing effective music score and legendary librettist Yip Harburg providing lyrics for some of the most memorable songs in the history of Hollywood, like “Over the Rainbow”. That song, just like “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead”, “If I Only Had a Brain” or “We’re Off to See the Wizard” became one of the greatest hits in popular music and, unsurprisingly, Stothart won Oscar for Best Music and “Over the Rainbow” won Oscar for the Best Original Song.

What made this film even more attractive to the audience in 1939 was what is now taken for granted – use of colour. The Wizard of Oz uses colour in very ingenious way, not only to attract the audience into escapist fantasy, but also to, in a certain “meta” way, remind them that the magical world of Oz is a fantasy. Unlike the original novel, the script portrays the Dorothy’s adventures as a dream and, in order to ephasis that, the scenes in Kansas are made in black-and-white, later processed to get sepia look. Kansas portrayed in the film looks very much like the Kansas as it looked in late 1930s when the film was made and many of the viewers, still affected by ongoing Great Depression, sympathised with the protagonist when she dreamed of something better, a distant land “over the rainbow”. Yet, those fantasies are only a reflection of reality and The Wizard of Oz shows that through imaginative casting. Major characters in Oz are reflections of characters in Kansas and are played by the same actors. Margaret Hamilton, before appearing as Wicked Witch, is introduced as Almira Gulch, wealthy and evil woman who wants to put down protagonist’s dog; Frank Morgan, who plays Wizard of Oz, is introduced as traveling entertainer Professor Marvel; trio of Dorothy’s helpers in Oz appear first as trio of farm hands. This narrative technique of mixing fantasy and reality would later be copied by numerous films and television shows. While there were attempts to interpret The Wizard of Oz through the lens of socio-political commentary, those attempts (unlike with original novel) don’t hold water. The film functions as a simple escapist fairy tale, underling the virtues of courage, friendship and perseverance while praising family values.

The success of The Wizard of Oz looks even more impressive considering how difficult the months-long production was. While audience gets a lot of fun watching the film, it was anything but for people making it. Buddy Ebsen, actor originally cast as Tin Man, nearly died and had to be replaced after developing allergic reaction to the heavy makeup necessary to portray character. Margaret Hamilton suffered serious burns after the incident involving special effect that went wrong. 16-year old Judy Garland on the set was fed by amphetamines in order to have her perform extra hours and later given “downers” when her behaviour became too erratic as a result.

All those difficulties, however, proved worthy in the end. Judy Garland established herself as one of the big stars of 1940s and later became one of the icons of American popular culture. MGM, on the other hand, due to extraordinary high costs of production and marketing, and even despite good reviews and more than decent box office, had to wait almost a decade before actually turning profit from this film (with WW2 having to do much with that). It was in the media of television where The Wizard of Oz found its new life and path to immortality. From 1956, when it was shown on CBS for the first time and received great ratings, it gradually established tradition being a special event film to be shown of holidays every year. As such, The Wizard of Oz became, by some estimates, the most watched feature film ever. Viewers, even those born in 21st Century and exposed to countless films and television shows that tried to surpass its magic, are likely to find such achievement well-deserved.

RATING: 9/10 (++++)

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