THE WIZARD OF OZ

US, 1939, 102 minutes, Black and white and Colour.
Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke.
Directed by Victor Fleming.

US, 1939, 101 minutes, Black and white/Colour.
Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charlie Grapewin.
Directed by Victor Fleming.

The Wizard of Oz has to be one of the most popular films of all time. It was released in one of the best Hollywood years, 1939, with such films as Gone With The Wind (the Oscar winner), Stage Coach, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Dark Victory.

Judy Garland was not the original choice for the role of Dorothy. MGM wanted Shirley Temple but 20th Century Fox would not make her available. It was the beginning of an extraordinary career for Judy Garland, although she had appeared in some of the Andy Hardy films and had sung ‘Dear Mr Gable’ in Listen, Darling. Frank Morgan was a veteran of MGM films and was the genial hoax, the Wizard. Ray Bolger made the character of the Scarecrow his own as did Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. Jack Haley appeared in many musicals and Billie Burke, the wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, is the Good Witch. However, in many audiences’ memories, it is Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West who remains strongly present. In the supporting cast is a group of dwarfs, the Munchkins. (A film about their irresponsible behaviour during the making of The Wizard of Oz was Under the Rainbow with Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher, 1979.)

The film is based on the famous novels by L. Frank Baum. The screenplay was written by South African-born Noel Langley. He worked in Hollywood but during the 1950s worked in England, writing the screenplay for a number of MGM adventures like The Knights of the Round Table but also writing and directing some British films: The Pickwick Papers, Svengali, Our Girl Friday and The Search for Bridie (*Bridey? – mental blank) Murphy. (The IMDB lists two other screenplay writers and a list of fourteen people who added dialogue and are uncredited.)

The popular musical score was written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. Part of the legend of The Wizard of Oz is that originally, ‘Over the Rainbow’ was cut from the film. However, ‘Over the Rainbow’ became the signature tune for Judy Garland’s life.

The film opens in Kansas, showing a family during the Depression and the victims of a twister. The film also ends in Kansas – after Dorothy’s journey, her dream during the twister where she goes to the magical land of Oz, sees the people who are her close friends on the farm as the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, sees the local conman as the Wizard and sees the dreaded teacher as the Wicked Witch of the West.

The film has entertained audiences for decades, a delight for children (even though sometimes frightening) and a wise fable for adults. In the 1980s one of L. Frank Baum’s other books, The Return to Oz, was filmed with Fairuza Balk and Piper Laurie. There was an Australian variation on the theme, Oz, made in the 1970s.

(For those interested in these matters, the IMDB full credits are very interesting as including directors Mervyn Le Roy, Richard Thorpe and King Vidor as also directing the film, Vidor doing the Kansas scenes. It also includes a credit for a great range of music that was incorporated into the film by several composers including Mendelssohn and Mussorgsky.)

1. Why has this film been so popular for decades?

2. How did it present the 1930s "gentle philosophy"? What was this "gentle philosophy"? Where is the film’s charm and encouragement?

3. Comment on the success of the techniques: the black and white photography at beginning and end; the use of the same people in the realistic story and in the fantasy; the use of fantasy and colour and music.

4. The film tells the same story twice - in reality and in fantasy. Elaborate the story and the points made.

5. What was the message of the black and white, realistic sequences, the message of ‘Over the Rainbow’? The message of the cranky woman? The friendship of the men on the farm? The message of Professor Marvel when Dorothy ran away? The message of "There's no place like home”?

6. Was this the message of the fantasy? Parallel the details of the realistic story with those of the fantasy.

7. Why is Dorothy so attractive? Why do people identify with her?

8. The picture of Kansas and hard life in Kansas - do audiences identify with this? What if Dorothy had come from richer and more comfortable circumstances? Why is fantasy so important for ordinary people in life like that in Kansas?

9. The three men on the farm - what were their weaknesses on the farm about which they joked? How did they correspond to the scarecrow, the tin man, the cowardly lion? Why were they such friends to Dorothy? How amusing were their personalities in the fantasy? The significance of the song "If I only... a brain, a heart, the nerve? What was the message of this particular song for these characters? How did they get their brain, heart, nerve?

10. Why was the wicked witch so wicked? Why was she so horrifying? Why so malicious? Was this too horrible for the gentleness of the film? Why was it necessary for Dorothy to make the witch die? Was this too brutal? The brutality and malice of the witch? Her castle?

11. How attractive was the Wizard of Oz ? why was he a fake? Did this matter? Did he perform his marvels despite the fact that he was a fake? Was his message much more simple and within people than all the gadgetry of his palace?

12. How attractive was the good Queen? Does this indicate that there is always a benign and kindly influence in life?

13. Why were the Munchkins in the film? What did they add? Was there something slightly odd about so many dwarfs in the film? Or did this show that Dorothy was in fantasy land convincingly?

11. The contribution of the songs to the film, especially "Over the Rainbow" and "We're off to see the Wizard and "The Witch is dead" and "If I only had a ...”?

15. Why was the film so joyful - the joy of simple things, simple attitudes, and the fact that the solutions to the problems of life are within us?