The Wizard of Oz 9/10

The Wizard of Oz (G) 1939
Reviewer’s Tilt (5)
Musical-103min
Special DVD Features worth a look-Cast interviews

Regardless of whether you are a kid, a kid at heart, a friend of Dorothy’s, or just really really high, The Wizard of Oz has something for everyone. (For those of you in the last category, be sure to start the “Dark Side of the Moon” immediately after the third MGM lion roar). This is the tale of a young girl, Dorothy (played by a very talented 17 year old Judy Garland) who runs away from home, only to find herself lost in the surreal and magical land of “Oz”. There she meets an anthropomorphic Lion, a Tinman and a Scarecrow. The four team up to find the mythical “Wizard,” the only one, they feel, that can supply the missing pieces of their incomplete lives. Magic, deceit, kidnapping, death, flying monkeys and various show tunes menace the quartet while supplying life lessons to young audiences. Indeed, the only thing this film lacks is the vantage of a five-year-old to fill in the cracks and make it all seem real.

A “must see” for children, I recommend an adult viewing companion to avoid nightmares and inevitable therapy. Although innocuous on its face, only the Bunuel/Dali collaboration Un Chien Andalou can provide an adult some feel for the impact The Wizard of Oz has on the minds of young children. Although it could be the musical numbers that cause this film to linger in the dark recesses of a child’s psyche well into adulthood, it is more likely the classic battle of good versus evil that provides such a lingering finish. Devoid of any shade of gray, good and evil manifest themselves in many forms throughout the movie. The innocence of childhood simply magnifies this battle to apocalyptic proportion. The film concludes that God is a fake, and that it is nothing more than base Freudian insecurities that govern our lives. Pretty heavy stuff for the Power Ranger set.

If you cannot resurrect the five year old in you to watch this film, watch it with a five year old. Only through their eyes can you polish the flaws and feel the magic. If you never saw this film as a child, and have no children to view it through, it will still impress. It will simply not that which you take to your grave in a small dark recess of your mind.

Format: B&W and Color, Fullscreen, Closed captioned.
Sound: (Dolby Digital 5.1), (Dolby Digital Mono), French (Dolby Digital Mono)
Extras: “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and “Making Of” featurettes, musical outtakes, newsreels, cast interviews, script, recording sessions, vintage movie and cartoon clips, trailers.