The Wizard of Oz Appreciation Thread (1 Viewer)

[Rich Romero]

Appreciate the greatness of The Wizard of Oz here. Personally I think it's one of the greatest movies ever made. Cinematography is one of the best and I never noticed it till watching the DVD I just got today. Perfect example of the superiority of Technicolor. This movie rules.

 

[Tim Glover]

Great idea. It is one of the greatest movies ever made. I have owned so many different incarnations of this it's not funny. I owned a very lame vhs version, then the laserdisc, then the much praised THX technicolor laserdisc, then the original MGM dvd, then the absolutely stunning Warner Bros. digital remastered anniversary edition! One of my favorites of all time. I really enjoyed Harry Potter, but when Roeper said it was the "Wizard of Oz of our time" I nearly choked. To me, and this is not disrespecting HP-which I own all the books and the dvd- but it's nowhere near the level of The Wizard of Oz.

Just my humble .02 cents.

 

[ScottR]

The Wizard of Oz has always been my best friend...a story and characters that were with me even when others weren't. I can't remember a time when it was not a part of my life. Anyone who knows me knows how special it is to me. It is for this reason, above all others, that I return to it again and again. The Wizard of Oz is the definition of "movie."

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Who wrote the book series? I've always heard that the books were better. Either way, the film is astounding as stands to be in every collection.....except mine because I'm out of money.

 

[ScottR]

L. Frank Baum wrote the initial 14 books. After his death, several other writers actively continued the official series until the 1960's. More books have been written since, including some by Baum grandson Roger.

 

[Christopher P]

It's interesting to consider the social and political metaphors in the book, as it related to the US around 1900 (I believe) I used to know what all the elements represented, but it's been so long.

And just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in, and say I never liked this movie, and probably never will. I don't really know why, and I'm not going to trash it here, because I don't despise it. But I never enjoyed much if anything about this movie.

Chris

 

[Peter Kim]

I grew up with the Wizard of Oz. I'll grow old with the Wizard of Oz. It's a film that rescues and resonates the innocence in all of us.

 

[Kevin M]

WIZARD OF OZ is the stupidest movie ever made. It is HORRIBLY overrated & the makeup & FX is shitty compared to todays stuff. The music was dumb too. Who the hell sings like that anyway? Also the DVD is Pan & Scam! I have refused to buy any DVD's of films older than 1953 (Even from Criterion!) because the stupid studio's only release them Pan & Scanned! Stupid studios! Toto is stupid too! Those breed of dog are yappy little mutts, I got bit by one when I was a kid & I hate them!
Kidding, just kidding. You know someone was going to troll/fart on this thread, I just thought I would get it out of the way quickly so the rest of us could praise the land over the rainbow.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

A most wonderful movie---the closest I can think of to an absolutely perfect film. The effect with the Witch of the East's feet curling up and being pulled in is a little lame, and there's the continuity glitch that remains as a result of cutting the Jitterbug number, but overall it's beautiful and sentimental and utterly enjoyable no matter how many hundred times I've seen it. I always cry. Heck I'm tearing up just thinking about it. [why isn't there a Smilie for weeping? imagine one here] And so many great, great lines! "Oh, she bit her dog!" always cracks me up.

 

[BrettB]

One of only a handful of films that is nearly perfect. I am always amazed when I watch this at how well it has held up. It seems I will never grow tired of this exceptionally well-made film.

 

[Jason_Els]

Perfect script and perfect casting combined with a sincere innocence that never comes off as naivete. What is must have been like to sit in a theater in 1939 never having seen Technicolor before and then to behold Dorothy opening the door of the house to Munchkinland! It was a defining moment in American cultural history and a milestone in cinema that stands like the Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria- a wonder the world will remember for a very long time.

 

[Mark_vdH]

It's interesting to consider the social and political metaphors in the book, as it related to the US around 1900 (I believe) I used to know what all the elements represented, but it's been so long.

From Macroeconomics (N. Mankiw):
From 1880 to 1896 the price level in the U.S. fell 23 percent. This deflation was bad for debtors - the farmers. One proposed solution was to replace the gold standard with a bimetallic standard, as this would increase the money supply and stop the deflation.
Dorothy [represents traditional American values] makes three friends: a scarecrow [the farmer], a tin woodman [the industrial worker] and a lion whose roar exceeds his might [Democratic candidate W. Bryan, who favored the bimetallic standard].
Together, the four of them make their way along the yellow brick road [the gold standard] hoping to find the Wizard. Eventually, the arrive in Oz [Washington], where everyone sees the world through green glasses [money]. The Wizard [W. McKinley, the republican candidate that wanted to preserve the gold standard] tries to be all things to all people but turns out to be a fraud. Dorethy's problem is solved only when she learns about the magical powers of her silver (changed to ruby for the movie) slippers.

 

[Richard WWW]

Actually, the casting of the tin man was quite fortuitous. Originally, Buddy Ebsen was to play the tin man, but he had an allergic reaction to the tin makeup. So they had to replace him. I can't locate my dvd to name the actor who ended up playing the tin man, but Buddy Ebsen's recording of "If I Only had a Heart" is included on Warner's dvd, and the gentleman who ended up playing the tin man is worlds better than Ebsen sounded in his recording.

I hated the Wizard of Oz until we bought the dvd recently for my daughter. When I was little, my sister wanted to watch it every year when it was on tv, and it infuriated me. I wanted to see something I hadn't seen new, not a damn rerun! I thought the story was hokey and the special effects outdated. (This would have been around the time I saw Star Wars as an eight year old boy). And I hated musicals, as most eight year old boys do. (I'm still not that big a fan of musicals, but I make an exception for the Great and Powerful Oz).

But now that I've matured, I see the genius of the film. I've mentioned to a couple friends that the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz, from 1939, are much more convincing than the flying men from Flash Gordon from the early 80's. The tornado, too, is remarkably convincing. Technically, the movie is a masterpiece, and movies made fifty years later sometimes look amateurish in comparison.

Also included in the dvd is a version of 'Over the Rainbow' that was orignially to have been sung by Dorothy while she was locked in the witches castle. Find that version and play it! It is one of the most heartbreaking pieces of audio you will ever hear! I can't believe they didn't find someway to put that in the film!

Needless to say, in the last year and a half that we have had the dvd, I have reversed all my opinions on the quality of Wizard of Oz. It may well be the best movie ever made. And to think that it was made at the dawn of cinema!

 

[Steve Kuester]

A classic in every sense of the word. One of my all time favorites. The movie is just about perfect.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I don't know how much more I can add.

Classic. Pure and simple.

 

[Brad_V]

The movie is entertaining and is indeed what I would consider a good movie, and it probably deserves "classic" status due to popularity if nothing else, but none of that means that it was well-written.
I'll toss some quick ones out there:
The Wicked Witch of the West descends upon Munchkinland in the beginning and terrorizes everyone. And then, after everyone has been scared for awhile, Glinda tells her she has no power there and to get lost. Hundreds of Munchkins hear/know she has no power there, yet they cower in fear instead of kicking her to the curb?
Glinda is either mean, or she is just plain stupid. When the house falls on the witch, instead of taking the red shoes for herself to help defend the innocent (Munchkins) from evil (Witch of the West), she puts them on the NON-witch from Kansas. What's a NON-witch going to do with magic shoes? Why not just give them to a Munchkin?
She possibly has a mean streak at work because she then lets Dorothy almost get killed umpteen times throughout the movie only to tell her in the end to just bang the shoes together to get home. What!? When asked why she didn't say that in the first place, meanie Glinda says, "You wouldn't have believed me." Dorothy is swept up in a tornado and dropped off in Never Never Land with witches flying on broomsticks, but if told to click a pair of Reeboks together to get home she would have instead said, "Yah, right. I'll walk, thanks"? Weird.
To show Glinda's lack of mental aptitude, she even asks Toto if he is a witch. You could say there are no dogs in Oz and that's why, but the Wicked Witch of the West knows what Toto is right away. Glinda can't recognize a dog but everyone else can?
The ultimate deus ex machina, and the main reason to me why this movie, while entertaining, is poorly written: the water scene. The Wicked Witch is evil incarnate and haunts Dorothy throughout the entire film. And then, when all is lost and there is no chance of escape, how does our hero triumph over the unbeatable foe? ...she accidently gets some water on her. Good Lord, that's some bad storytelling.
Ok, it's 3 a.m., so I better stop there for now. Just thought I'd toss some quick ones out. This is all in good fun, it's just a movie after all, but I really do think issues like these need to be raised when the movie is looked at as more than just entertaining.