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Summary: Best American Film Ever Made
Review: This film showcases the american studio system of the past at it's best. They had the greatest craftsman, musicians, actors, singers, designers, costumers etc etc etc all working together to create magic and in this case it was a complete success.All the elements work to make this a joyous spectacle that never fails to touch your heart. It still succeeds because it is not too sweet - who can forget Margaret Hamilton's scary Witch, the terrifying flying Monkeys or even the scary Wizard. (well scary until he is unmasked) Another reason this film holds up so well are that the supporting cast (Jack Haley, Ray Bolger & Bert Lahr) were just incredibly talented comedians. They really shine even the 100th time through. Need I say anything about Judy Garland in this film? Her performance is spot on terrific. She is the one who makes this whole fantasy believable without being sickeningly sweet. If there is any doubt she was a great actress just rewatch the scene of her crying in the witch's castle. Heartbreaking. (and her singing voice was just incredible but you know that) This is my favorite film - the one film I would take with me to a dessert island.
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Summary: a classic for the kid in you :)
Review: This film really enchanted me as a kid, so I wanted to see if the old magic still held up in adulthood. Well... it does. Dorothy and her newfound friends like the Cowardly Lion will charm you in this amusingly fantastical tale of good conquoring evil. David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"
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Summary: A Crowning Acheivment
Review: One of the greatest films of all time, The Wizard of Oz is one film that gives you everything in a film. You laugh, you sing, you feel for the characters, and some parts put you on the edge of your seat. Judy Garland truely gave her best performance of her lifetime, she definately deserved her Oscar. The film itself is a colorful piece of art. The places it takes you and the characters you meet. L. Frank Baum's awesome novel was wonderfully adapted by one of the greatest directors in film history, Victor Flemming. The acting in this film was wonderful. Every character is alive and believable. The DVD is really beautiful. You have plenty of bonus features and the picture and sound quality is awesome. No DVD is complete without The Wiard of Oz. Get it or it will get you... and your little dog too.
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Summary: The Deleted Scenes (Cyclone, Falling House)
Review: For those of you who own both Video & DVD of the "classic" and are disappointed that there were some good Cyclone-&-House scene not in the film, will be glad to know that HALF of them actually ARE in the Film. Eg. Watch the Deleted scenes (on the DVD) and watch the scenes carefully, with the twists and swirling clouds. Then watch the film (from cyclone's first appearance to CRASH!!) and you'll notice that half of the scenes/effects are in the movie. Some of them are the twisting cyclone when Dorothy arrives at home and you see the tornado is different at both ends of the house and the REPEATING of the house falling. Craefully examine the DVD Deleted Scenes then watch teh Film again carefully. Good luck!!
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Summary: A childhood dream with the wonderful world of oz
Review: The greatest movie ever made in history to most children and adults. The wonderful world of oz is something alot of us remember as a child.I can still remember when we would get excited about The Wizard of Oz, being a upcoming event on television. The Wizard of Oz was first part of American Literature,written by Lyman Frank Baum. The fairytale was altered on the big screen nearly forty years later by Metro Goldwyn Meyer for a release in 1939,starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. Dorothy had been hit on the head during a tornado in Kansas where she lived,which sent her in to the wonderful world of Oz. There she meet Ray Bolger the Scarecrow,Jack Haley as the Tin man, and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. During her journey down the yellow brick road. She encountered each one of these characters, who joined her to find courage,a heart,a brain and most of all Dorothy's way home to Kansas. Their adventure mean't finding The Wizard of OZ who could make their dreams come true. As their journey went on they had many encounters with the wicked witch who was trying to stop them from reaching their destiney. THis is a must see movie and most of all one that needs to be purchased for your library.
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Summary: Magical
Review: A good movie. Always brings back memories. I highly recommend trying the Dark Side of the Moon thing. In order for it to work perfectly, start the CD right when the MGM lion starts his third growl. By the way, the whole munchkin suicide thing is a myth. It is clearly a bird flapping it's wings though still is a little creepy to look at...
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Summary: The Music is Superb!
Review: Anyone growing up in the 60's can remember that this movie was an annual must see tv event! Even 40 years later it still is as fresh as when it was first released. They don't make em like this anymore and it is quite a shame. The innocent Dorathy, conked on the head during a tornado, is mysteriously tranported to a world that comes alive with color. She awakens in the psychodelic land of the Munchkins and immediately becomes a target for the Wicked Witch of the West. Protected by the beautiful Glenda and charmed by the entertaining Munchkins, Dorathy sets off for the city of OZ where she hopes to find the wizard that will be able to send her home back to Kansas. Along the way she meets three friends who become some of the most memorable characters in movie history. Interesting documentary footage added to the end showing Buddy Ebsen as the Tin Man and scenes that never made the movie. This is a movie for both adults and kids of all ages. My own kids started watching it from the time they were 3!
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Summary: Fact checkers needed at Amazon
Review: Victor Fleming directed this move -not KIng Vidor
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Summary: A classic for your collection
Review: The DVD version contains lots of good stuph for film aficionados. The interviews with three of the cast members were nice but should have had their own individual menu entry instead of three talking heads simultaneously on the screen.....very disconcerting.
Another goodie IMNSHO that should have been included on the DVD version is Pink Floy's "Dark Side of the Moon' properly cued up for the delight & amusement of the 'Dark Side of OZ' fans, this way we wouldn't have to have a separate CD player to get the same effect.
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Summary: AN ADULT PERSPECTIVE ON A CHILD'S TREASURE
Review: This film obviously continues to be one that deeply appeals to many children and there are many reviews here that look at it from that perspective. But I would like to offer a different sort of review, one that explores how and why this film can still be meaningful for an adult over 50, such as I.
I do not know how many times I have seen this film, if I was ever counting I lost count long ago. How can I have watched it so many times? First of all, let me make it clear that I am not a sentimental sort of person, I do not still find this film meaningful because I like to be 'taken back to childhood' and indulge in that sort of excessive and narcissistic emotion. I have, like many adults, seen films again that had captivated me as child only to wonder how they could have had such power over my feelings. And there are some such elements in THE WIZARD OF OZ, but these easily discerned and set aside elements have no negative impact on my ability to still be moved by this film. So what is it that I am getting at ? Well, in part it is that I admire L. Frank Baum as an artist and a man and I think the film succeeds even though it diverges considerably from the book in capturing some of the books qualities. I like the original concept and realization of the apparently plain, simple, lonely Kansas farm-girl who proves to actually have a strong, rich, sensitive, imaginative core of being that transforms her mundane world. But we can get closer to my point if we observe that the film itself, I mean the raw material of the screenplay-script, the production qualities, the basic vision of director and producer, etc., does not actually development the strong original concept very deeply, it merely uses it to set up, to construct, an occasion for a Hollywood Spectacle and it succeeds admirably at this, but try to imagine what the film might have been like if someone other than Judy Garland had played the part of Dorothy. I have no doubt that if that had been the case this film would hold little if any interest for me. So what does this have to do with my interest in the original story-concept ? It is Judy Garland who preserves the purity of that core concept in the film. It is not only Judy Garland's presence and performance that holds this film together, it is her spirit that preserves the core concept and lifts it above, in the subtlest ways, being something only a child could find meaning in. For example, let's look at the justly famous sequence early in the film that begins with Auntie Em' telling Dorothy to find something to do and stay out of trouble and that is immediately followed by the first appearance of Miss Gulch on her bicycle, the sequence which contains SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW. This is, in my view, the real crux of the film in the sense that this little sequence creates the heart that beats through the rest of the film. I mean this sequence creates the vital core of the central character, Dorothy, in the following way: Dorothy has two basic seemingly contradicting characteristics: Her naive, simple, farm-girl appearance and her extraordinary imaginative richness of soul. This sequence is the crystalizing of this character. Watch her face and body-language here closely. She is, in spite of the relative self-consciousness of the script itself, so un-self-conscious that she seems naive, so naive that one hardly notices the truly extraordinary quality of her singing. She hits her notes with such ease and purity that her singing voice seems merely an extension of her speaking voice. Without the viewer realizing it, especially the child viewer, her singing voice becomes the living symbol of her extraordinary soul embodied in her plain farm-girl appearance. Precisely because the viewer, especially the young viewer, may well not realize what a great singer Garland actually is, Dorothy with her plain-extraordinary character easily becomes the projected identity of the young viewer herself (or even himself) for though the viewer most likely can not physically sing like that, she can and does sing like that in her imagination. I don't think anyone other than Garland could have made this possible to such a degree. And Garland's performance also keeps this 'children's film' in touch with the original vision of Baum's book that was outwardly aimed at but was in fact not only for children. Within this film-treasure,if you search carefully, thanks to Judy Garland, is another treasure that only an adult can really see. -
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