|
Year
: 1939
Director:
Victor Fleming
Starring:
Judy Garland, Frank Morgan,
Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley. |
The Wizard Of Oz
There
surely cant be many films as closely associated
with Christmas TV than this. Miss Garland was always
busy at Christmas no sooner would The Wizard of
Oz finish on one TV channel, then Meet Me in St
Louis would be on another.
You
all know the story but here goes anyway. Dorothy
lives on a Kansas farmstead. One day a tornado
hits the farmstead and Dorothy and her dog Toto
are transported to the land of Oz. Despite Oz
being a beautiful land Dorothy is keen to get back
to Kansas to see her family and friends again.
To do this she must follow the yellow brick road
to the Emerald City so she can meet the Wizard
of Oz, the only person who can get her back to
Kansas. Along the way she makes friends with others
who are also looking for things from the mighty
Wizard of Oz. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the
Tin Man wants a heart and the Cowardly Lion wants
a reversal of his bodged botox injections (or
something). But the journey wont be easy - Dorothy
has accidentally landed her house on top of the
Wicked Witch of the East and so her sister The
Wicked Witch of The West means to hunt her down.
What
Christmas would be complete without watching
this on the TV. What is striking about this film
is just how good it looks bearing in mind the film
was made in 1939? I can still remember seeing this
film for the first time in the late 1970's and
being amazed at the transition between the black
& white at the start of the film and the stunning
technicolor when Dorothy walks in to Oz. The sets
and the special effects were also pretty amazing
(epecially for its time). The performance
of Judy Garland is stunning, most especially her
rending of "Over The Rainbow" which seems so heartfelt
- strange to think this was almost cut by the studios
as the film was running long! Also its frightening
to think what the results would have been like
had the studios been successful in getting their
first choice for Dorothy - Shirley Temple! Thank
heavens she wasn't available.
The
Wizard of Oz (reputedly the most watched film
in cinematic history!) is a truly awesome film,
stunningly realised and beautifully performed
but it begs one question - Did anyone ever think
that looked anything like a Lion?
The
Wizard of Oz is
placed at December 13th on our Films
guaranteed to make you feel Christmassy (UK edition).
Buy
this film and more from our Christmas
DVD Store in association
with Amazon.co.uk
