grim_tales

The Wizard of Oz - 4.5/5

I'd never actually seen this "properly" before! (Dons flameproof smoking jacket with pearl buttons)

I have to say I really enjoyed this Of course I'd seen clips over the years but never seen the film "properly" but it was great fun!
I suppose it's a kids' film (or at least a family film) but having said that, like all the best famiy films, it has a timeless appeal. There's a nice story, great characters and timeless songs, that I knew most of as a kid.
Put simply, I loved it!

A nice touch is that everyone Dorothy meets is in fact versions of everyone she knows back home. Isn't the Wizard Prof Marvel?
The crabby, wicked Mrs. Gulch = The Wicked Witch of the West
Hunk (Ray Bolger) = The Scarecrow
Zeke (Bert Lahr) = The Lion
Hickory (Jack Haley) = Tin Man

I also loved the bit when the Wizard is revealed as just some bloke behind a screen

I also think Dorothy should stood up for herself more instead of saying "I don't mean to!" a lot to the Wicked Witch etc, but it was a different time, maybe thats just my 21st century mind talking.

Premise

Glad to hear you liked it,although this should be in the movie forum.

grim_tales

Sorry.
Can I move it? My thoughts are actually about the new SE on R1.

Joe Molotov

For once, it's an "I just a saw [Insert Classic Movie Here]..." thread that doesn't end with "...and I hated it." I knew I'd see one eventually.

Glad you liked it.

Thunderball

Hard to believe there are people out there who haven't seen the Wizard of Oz yet.

Glad you enjoyed it. The new SE is quite nice, my gf got it for me for XMAS.

spartanstew

I'm stunned.

I also don't think spoiler tags are necessary on a film that's been out 60 years.

SkullOrchard

Welcome to 1939.

grim_tales

Sorry about that, I can delete the spoilers then!

canaryfarmer

Now make sure you follow it up with the totally different, but I think superior "Return to Oz"!


/Wheelers, man. They creep me out.

kitkat

I thought they were kind of cute.

Cameron

wait til someone gets him a copy of dark side of the moon...


no seriously....how did you never see this? wait, your across the pond...how often did it play on television over there when you were a child? This is one of those movies that I know all to well. I have seen it at least once year during my childhood....

eedoon

Well he was not alone. I saw the movie for the first time a few year ago on my early twenties. I'm not sure why I never watched it before, but for me it was something that is worth the wait. As imagined it, me as a fifteen years old wouldn't appreciate the movie as much as when I'm twenty. I still have so much to learn on my teens.

Now I have the 3 disc SE sitting somewhere collecting dust, and I hope I can get the time (and the mood) to watch it anytime soon.

grim_tales

I'm not sure... as I said I'd seen "bits" of it, just not the whole film
Yes I'm in the UK.
BTW, do you remember I reviewed Gone With The Wind on here? That was the first time I'd seen that one too. I'm definitely not a popcorn junkie, just not used to seeing old classics

The Bus

I didn't see the movie until just a few weeks ago. I got the 3-disc SE, hoping I would like it, and was very pleasantly surprised. What I think in my mind keeps it timeless, and the effects perfect, is that it's a child's dream. Of course, the sets and everything look like a kid's book - not cardboardy like Plan 9 but just innocent, as if Dorothy herself imagined them. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the full intention upon original release, but that's how it comes across now.

It also made me realize how endlessly quoted this movie is, perhaps more than any other. I can list at least a dozen quotes or things that have endlessly turned and re-turned themselves into references in the broadest possible way.

As with the OP, I did not grow up in the US so I didn't see it on TV/etc.

grim_tales

Oh its on TV every Christmas and stuff in Britain, for some reason I just never caught it until now and so watched it properly
Even though I hadn't, I could quote lines and knew the songs quite well - wierd..

Dai

I'm surprised you never watched it on TV in England....considering the fact that there were only 3 channels when I grew up, there wasn't that much else to watch!! (and I lived quite close to you actually, in Hemel!)

SINGLE104

You've never seen The Wizard of Oz? Where have you been these past decades? This is very unusual!

TomOpus

For Christmas, I got my best friend's wife the 3-disc set. He's never seen the movie, so these things happen. I can't wait to hear what he thinks.

nemein

It it was a question about the DVD then it would belong in the main forum. If it was about the quality/features of the DVD then it should go into the Review forum. Since this seems to just be reflections ont the movie itself so it belongs in Movie Talk.



BTW I've never seen the original completely through myself and at this point I really have no desire to... I know the story well enough through other sources so it's just not high on my list. JMO

caligulathegod

Back before video, it was a big deal when it came on TV. Ironically, now that it is easily available, it's easy to not get around to seeing it. It's kind of like living in an area with a famous landmark or tourist attraction and never visiting it. It'll always be there, you tell yourself, then one day you move and you missed it.

Johnny Boy

That's pretty much the way I feel.

Does anyone own the version of Wizard of Oz where Michael Jackson plays the scarecrow? I'd probably be more interested in buying that one, just for laughs.

grim_tales

I believe that is the 1978 movie "The Wiz".
Been thinking, isn't the story of Wizard of Oz closely related to Alice in Wonderland?
BTW, I know what you mean about the film on TV, I actually did tape it a few Xmases ago and never got round to it, then it was on TV again last Xmas (2005) but of course theb I had the DVD. But now I've seen it I'm glad I did.

grim_tales

Hey,

On the credits I spotted Cedric Gibbons as art director (knew who he was), but the costume designer was an interesting one - just "Adrian". I knew MGM's costumer was called Adrian, but doesnt the guy have a last name?

mllefoo

One of the doctors I work with has not only not seen The Wizard of Oz, but he never even heard of Judy Garland.

To his credit, he's from India and probably doesn't watch all that much TV that isn't in Hindu. He says he only really watches Bollywood flicks.

In the book, it was all real and not a dream.
And in subsequent Oz books, L. Frank Baum evidently forgot what he wrote in previous books because the inconsistencies in back stories and character traits ran a bit thick.
Even so, they were a fun read when I was very young.

grim_tales

Wasn't there a kind of sequel/remake of Wizard of Oz - "Return To Oz" (1986) starring the girl who played Mildred in "The Worst Witch" (1986)?