Wednesday, November 6, 2024

The Wizard of Oz (1939): A Review

 

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

In the annals of film history, 1939 is held as the single greatest year in cinematic history. That year is filled with grand epics, definitive Westerns, sparkling and witty romantic comedies, and searing looks into American politics. Tucked in among such lofty films is one of the most charming, sweet and enchanting fantasy family films ever made: The Wizard of Oz. Few films are as beloved as The Wizard of Oz, its blending of fantasy, innocence and exceptional songs placing it among the Greatest Films Ever Made. 

Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) feels ignored by all the adults around her. Uncle Henry (Charlie Grapewin) and Auntie Em (Clara Blandick) are loving but also highly preoccupied with farm business. The three farmhands Hunk (Ray Bolger), Hickory (Jack Haley) and Zeke (Bert Lahr) are also caring but in need to attend to other things. No one has time for Dorothy's terror about losing her beloved dog, Toto, at the hands of the wealthy but wicked Almira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton). Dorothy wonders if her problems can be solved if she ever can find her way Over the Rainbow.

In a desperate effort to save Toto, Dorothy decides to run away, encountering charming shyster Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan). Professor Marvel cons her into going back to the farm, but Dorothy is caught and swept into a tornado. When it lands, she finds that she and Toto are not in Kansas anymore. They are in a magical land known as Oz. To Dorothy's shock and horror, she has accidentally killed the Wicked Witch of the East. While the local citizens, the Munchkins, are thrilled, not so is her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (Hamilton in a dual role). Taking the advice of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke), Dorothy follows the Yellow Brick Road to seek help from the Wizard of Oz to find her way back home.

While on route, she encounters three figures who join her in seeking the Wizard's help. The Scarecrow (Bolger again) seeks a brain. The Tin Man (Haley) looks for a heart. The Lion (Lahr) wants courage. Once in the Emerald City, the quartet now must perform a task: bring the Wizard the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West. How will they face off against this monster? Will they succeed in their quest? What role does the man behind the curtain at the Wizard's receiving room (Morgan) have in all this? Will Dorothy find her way back home?

The Wizard of Oz's production was chaotic to say the least. While three people received screenplay credit (Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf), there were many hands working on the story. The directing of the film also has many fathers. Victor Fleming received sole credit and directed the bulk of The Wizard of Oz. However, he was the second or third director on the film, depending on how you count. Original director Richard Thorpe had shot two weeks work when he was reassigned, producer Mervin LeRoy displeased that the film lacked a charm he felt the production needed. George Cukor took a few days before starting work on Gone with the Wind to offer recommendations, most of which were used by Fleming when he stepped in. Ironically, Fleming took over for Cukor on Gone with the Wind when the latter was fired from that production. King Vidor then stepped in to direct what was unfinished, including the Over the Rainbow sequence. 

The overall production may have been a jumble, but the end results are surprisingly coherent. I think this is because first and foremost, everyone took the premise seriously. Despite the film being seen as one of the hallmarks of children's entertainment, The Wizard of Oz never talks down to the audience. Instead, the film has a very firm foundation. I think that at one point, we all yearn for adult validation of whatever our troubles are. We almost all have had pets we adore and whom we fear separation from. The notion of a place where our troubles are far away is something that speaks to the whole of humanity. The Wizard of Oz taps into all those emotions, which does not downplay the fantasy elements but rather enhances them.

The Wizard of Oz also succeeds because of the work put into it by those in front and behind the camera. The film keeps a balance between the "real" world of Kansas and the "fantasy" world of Oz with its use of sepia for the former, full-blown Technicolor for the latter. Even now, the transition from sepia to color when Dorothy opens the door to enter Munchkin Land is breathtaking in its seamlessness. While the sets do look like large matte paintings, the overall look is still solid in capturing this fantasy world of crabby apple trees and flying witches. 

The set design is top-notch and effective. Everything from the miniaturized Munchkin Land and the grandness of the Emerald City to the darkness of the Wicked Witch's castle looks authentic while keeping that fantasy element. The costumes and makeup work are also exceptional. The Wizard of Oz has many of the actors playing two roles, and the film does very well in making them distinct identities. There is a whimsy to the Munchkins, an elaborate nature to Glinda, and a sweetness to Dorothy's various wardrobes.

The Wizard of Oz also is so exceptionally well-acted. Judy Garland was not the first choice for Dorothy, perhaps not surprising as she was already a sixteen-year-old teenager at the time. However, her wide-eyed face and quivering voice worked to make Dorothy's fears and hopes so believable. She made Dorothy this sweet, innocent girl who despite her fears has to rise above them if she is to find her way home. Garland's performance in bringing that innocence to her character sells the character to the audience.

This is also captured by those playing dual roles. The screenplay gives Bolger, Haley and Lahr time to showcase their mirror opposites in both Kansas and Oz: Zeke telling Dorothy that she must have courage, Hunk advising her to use her brains, Hickory blustering about his prospects. When they become the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, each plays their roles correctly, blending a childlike manner with an almost manic glee whenever they sing and/or dance.

Frank Morgan is so underappreciated in general and perhaps in more so in The Wizard of Oz. Every character he played (Professor Marvel, the Wizard, the Emerald City doorman, the cabbie and the guard) he plays as if it were totally different. The best example of Morgan's skills is when we see him as Marvel and the Wizard. As Marvel, he is shrewd and shady but good-hearted, using his skills to get Dorothy to return home without openly saying so. As the Wizard, he is bumbling, a bit of a charlatan, but not a bad figure. As the Wizard says, he is a very good man, but a very bad wizard.

Margaret Hamilton's performance as the Wicked Witch of the West is pure perfection. Already rather curt and cruel as Almira Gulch in Kansas, her Wicked Witch is unrepentantly evil. In threatening Dorothy and her little dog too, in sending an army of flying monkeys to capture our heroine, even in mocking Dorothy's tearful pleas to Auntie Em, Hamilton makes the Wicked Witch into a frightening figure for children. 

In their smaller roles, both Grapewin and Blandick excel as Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, the caring relations who bring humor and heart to the Kansas sequence respectively.

The Wizard of Oz has one of the greatest songbooks in film history. Harold Arlen's music (adapted by Herbert Stothart) and Edgar Harberg's lyrics blend so well that almost every single song is perfect and so much part of the American vernacular that even those who have never seen the film would recognize something of the music or songs. There is the spinning seven-note theme for Almira Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West, a twisty blend of menace and mirth. The score is charming and light when needed, such as when Dorothy and her companions escape dangerous poppy fields. It also is not afraid to be dark and surprisingly frightening, such as when the flying monkeys swoop into the Haunted Forest to attack our quartet. There is also the ominous "Oh-YEE-Oh, EEOO-AH!" chant of the Witch's guard, menacing but still child-friendly.

Then you have the songs, the simply brilliant songs. At the top of the list is Over the Rainbow, one of if not the most haunting, beautiful musical numbers ever filmed. It is the perfect song, with the perfect delivery by the perfect singer. The lyrics speak of great longing for a place of refuge, of hopes that resonate within each one of us. Garland's vocals are divine, blending softness with power. The yearning, the longing in Over the Rainbow come through in Judy Garland's rendition. It is the first song in The Wizard of Oz and came close to being cut from the film. It is one of the greatest decisions in cinema that Over the Rainbow was saved from the cutting room floor. If you listen to the lyrics of Over the Rainbow, you hear just how perfect they are. The message of longing for something beyond one's current situation and the hope for better come through. That longing, that desire, all come through the lyrics and Garland's delivery.

If, however, you listen to almost all the songs, you find that The Wizard of Oz has perhaps the most literate lyrics in a major film musical. Listen, for example, to the It Really Was No Miracle section of what technically part of the massive Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead musical number. In that section, you had the rhymes "switch, pitch, unhitch, Witch, itch, hitch" all flow almost rap-like, with "rich" a near-rhyme closing part of it out. Throw in "slitch" and "ditch" in a similar sing-song manner and you have a smooth and funny musical section. One does not question what "slitch" means or if it even a word. It just works so well.

The entire Munchkin Land section shifts from the sweet introduction of The Lullaby League and faux toughness of The Lollipop Guild to the comical somberness of the Coroner who declared the Wicked Witch of the East not just merely dead but most sincerely dead. The various versions of If I Only Had a Brain/Heart and You're/We're Off to See the Wizard are so witty, unafraid to use nonsensical lyrics that still fit. 

The only song that I am not particularly enamored of is Lahr's solo number, If I Were King of the Forest. It is not a bad song and a showcase for Lahr's wild manner. It works within the story, but it still feels slightly out-of-place.

The Wizard of Oz is a landmark in film history. It is also a beautiful film, charming, sweet, innocent and moving. Well-acted all around, with perhaps the single greatest collection of songs written specifically for film, The Wizard of Oz truly is wonderful because of the wonderful things it does. 

DECISION: A+

The Wizard of Oz Retrospective: An Introduction

The Wizard of Oz (1925)

The Wiz

Return to Oz

The Dreamer of Oz

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

VeggieTales: The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

Oz the Great and Powerful

Lynch/Oz

Wicked Part I

The Wizard of Oz Retrospective: The Conclusions

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