The Wizard of Oz

Not to be confused with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Lobby card

The Wizard of Oz is an American musical movie. It was produced by MGM and released by MGM in 1939. The movie is based on the children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. This book was first published in May 1900. The book and movie are about a little girl's adventures in the land called Oz. This is still watched from 1939 to 2017.

The song "Over the Rainbow" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The movie was first televised in 1957. It became an annual Thanksgiving television special for many years. The movie was named the most-watched motion picture in history by the Library of Congress.

In 1998, the movie was sixth on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies list. The movie has been chosen for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Story

Stars of the movie

Dorothy (Judy Garland) lives on a drab Kansas farm with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry (Clara Blandick and Charlie Grapewin). A powerful storm sweeps her and her house away to the Land of Oz. Upon arriving, she arrives in a town of people called "munchkins". She soon realises that her house has crushed a witch and now the witch's magical ruby slippers belong to her. The good witch, Glinda (Billie Burke), tells her that only the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan) can send her back home.

She must go to the Emerald City to see him. She sets off on the Yellow Brick Road wearing the witch's ruby slippers. She makes three friends on the road: a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion (Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr).

On the way to Emerald City, the friends are tormented by The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton). She is the sister of the witch Dorothy killed. She wants the ruby slippers. Dorothy won't give the slippers to the witch. The friends arrive in Emerald City. The Wizard refuses to help them unless they defeat the Wicked Witch. The friends go to the Witch's castle and are captured. The Witch tries to torture the scarecrow with fire so Dorothy throws a bucket of water over the Witch, causing her to melt.

In the Emerald City, the four friends are welcomed as heroes. It is revealed that the Wizard is not actually magic and is instead just an ordinary scientist. The Wizard prepares his hot air balloon to take Dorothy back to Kansas. But the balloon takes off without her. The good witch called Glinda (Billie Burke) tells Dorothy she can go home by just clicking the heels of the ruby slippers together and thinking about home. She does this. She wakes up in her bed. Her adventures have been a dream.

Main cast

• Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale
• Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow
• Jack Haley as the Tin Man
• Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion
• Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch
• Billie Burke as Glinda, the Good Witch
• Frank Morgan as the Wizard of Oz
• Clara Blandick as Aunt Em
• Charlie Grapewin as Uncle Henry

Other websites

• The Wizard of Oz on IMDb
• Greatest Films
• RaveCentral Archived 2006-02-08 at the Wayback Machine
• The Wizard of Oz tornado Archived 2012-09-09 at the Wayback Machine - on the set
• Moria.co.nz Review Archived 2005-12-18 at the Wayback Machine