The Wizard of Oz Reviews

The DVD extras are a mind-boggling embarrassment of riches. The "Making Of" documentary hosted by the incomparable Angela Lansbury is worth the price of the DVD alone, but there's so much more: an international poster gallery, interviews with cast members, deleted scenes, production stills, radio clips, etc, etc. There's enough material to keep even the most casual viewer fascinated for hours, and a true Oz buff will be occupied for days!

If you only bought a DVD player to watch this one disc, it would well be worth the expense. Treat yourself, and fall in love with this classic film again ... for the first time.

Rating: 5 - DREAMY
First off, I don't believe a word of it. I think its all made up. Farm girl sings song about rainbows, then winds up in some foreign land. She meets new friends, and together they go to some place called "Emerald City" (sure). There their wishes are granted. Soon she's back in Kansas (or is it Arkansas?). Everything is normal again.Probably the greatest American film ever made. It has everything. Baum's plot IS what dreams are made of. The 1939 special effects are delightful and seemingly current. The songs are wonderful, the dancers are great, and that little dog is pretty cool too! There are so many nice touches to this film, it would be impossible to enumerate them.As a child, I looked forward to the CBS presentation of Wizard of Oz. It was broadcasted but once a year, and was a family event. For us boomers, we all remember it as one of the few things that bond us closely with our parents. Sort of a miracle.The DVD offering gives us a glimpse into the casting problems, the production, etc. And that's coo. But the film itself is the real star. Follow the yellow brick road...and ll will be fine.paris c.

Rating: 5 - A STERLING PRODUCTION
In his otherwise excellent review,Mr.McEwan mistakenly claims it was the Scarecrow who unravels the rope,whereas the guilty culprit is indeed the Tin Man! There is another trivial visual in the film:see if you can catch the exotic birds roaming around in the background in the scene where the Wicked Witch throws a ball of fire at the Scarecrow from the roof of the deserted cabin. The most famous of musical fantasies,"The Wizard of Oz" is undoubtedly the best of the genre;it's been enjoyed by succeeding generations of adults and children alike. The universal appeal of the film owes much to the fact that it represents an almost perfect integration of music and action, with every song either advancing the suspenseful plot or explaining the motivations of one of the intriguing characters. "The Wizard of Oz" was first published in 1900 and author Lyman Frank Baum wrote thirteen succeeding volumes ;he even formed his own movie company in 1914 which produced three five reel Oz films! The cherished 1939 film begins in drab sepia tones as the orphan Dorothy decides to run away(she expresses her feelings of longing in the plaintive, haunting song "Over the Rainbow") Her modest farmhouse is tossed into the air via a "twister" as friends and neighbors go floating by her window (these scenes are both dated and timeless!) After the house lands with a pronounced crash; Dorothy opens the front (with little Toto in her arms)and she's mesmorized by the sight of a strange land vibrant with brilliant,garish and exhilarting Technicolour! The rest is cinema history! "The Wizard of Oz" is an amalgam of many fine talents and is an example of the teamwork that was representative of the Hollywood studio system at its best. Director Victor Fleming carries the action forward at a never-flagging pace, which is no minor accomplichment in a musical movie with forty of its 100 minutes of running time devoted to songs. The tender kinship between Dorothy and her three friends is admirable in that it never becomes romantic or maudlin. The cast and the music are the most memorable features of the film; each character is so well portrayed that it is difficult to believe that many members of the cast were not first choices!(I agree with a former reviewer in that Ed Wynn would have made an interesting Wizard, but Shirley Temple (though she closely resembled the W.W. Denslow drawings in the original Baum editions of the book) would have been a totally different Dorothy from the one we all know as Garland's star-making role) When "The Wizard of Oz" opened in 1939, critics were almost unanimous in it's praise, although there were a few dissenters(a New Yorker critic thought Bert Lahr out of place in Oz) The film garnered eight awards and audiences generally enjoyed the film;it must be remembered that "Oz" was released in that incredible year of 1939, and there was very heavy competition and only with it's theatrical revival in 1948, did "Oz" reap financial rewards. My kids were most frightened by the flying monkeys (which seems to be very common among children I've witnessed watching the film);others are terrified by the Witch of the West. The DVD print is a big improvement, the color is clear and crisp and highly recommended for family viewing.

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The Wizard of Oz