The Wizard of Oz

On August 15, 1939, a film premiered that would change how audiences saw movies. The Wizard of Oz opened with a sepia-toned Kansas farm and, within twenty minutes, burst into full Technicolor. That shift from brown to brilliant color remains one of cinema's most breathtaking moments. But the film is more than a technical marvel. It is a story about wanting to escape and then realizing you already have what matters most.

Judy Garland, just sixteen years old, plays Dorothy Gale, a girl who sings about a place over the rainbow and gets swept there by a tornado. The Land of Oz she lands in is strange and dangerous, full of Munchkins, a Wicked Witch, and a Wizard who hides behind a curtain. Along the Yellow Brick Road, Dorothy meets a Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Tin Man who wants a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage. Each of them already has what they seek, but they do not know it yet. That idea, that the thing you are looking for is already inside you, gives the film its emotional power.

Produced by MGM for nearly three million dollars, a huge sum in 1939, the film faced a grueling production. The original Tin Man, Buddy Ebsen, was hospitalized after a severe reaction to aluminum dust makeup. Jack Haley took over. Margaret Hamilton, playing the Wicked Witch, wore copper-based green makeup that was toxic; she could only drink liquids through a straw. The tornado was a 35-foot muslin stocking filled with wind machines and dust. Despite these challenges, the film earned two Academy Awards, including Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow, and became a cultural touchstone that has never faded.[edit]

Dorothy Gale lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. The landscape is gray and flat, and Dorothy feels that no one understands her. Her dog Toto has bitten the town's wealthy Miss Gulch, who obtains a sheriff's order to have Toto destroyed. Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who decides to run away to protect him. She meets Professor Marvel, a traveling charlatan who pretends to read her fortune and convinces her that Aunt Em is sick, sending her back home.

A tornado strikes as Dorothy rushes home. Unable to reach the storm cellar, she is knocked unconscious in her bedroom. The house lifts into the sky and spins across the clouds. When she wakes, the world has changed. The sepia tones are gone. She opens the door to a brilliant, colorful landscape. Glinda the Good Witch appears and tells Dorothy that her house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and freeing the Munchkins. The Munchkins celebrate, but the Wicked Witch of the West arrives, demanding her sister's ruby slippers. Glinda magically places the slippers on Dorothy's feet, protecting her.

Dorothy wants only to go home. Glinda tells her to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz can help. On the road, Dorothy meets a Scarecrow who complains he has no brain. She invites him to come along to ask the Wizard for one. They find a Tin Man rusted in the forest; he wants a heart. They oil him and he joins. A Cowardly Lion startles them but admits he has no courage. He comes too. The four travelers face obstacles: a dark forest, a river, a field of poppies that puts them to sleep. Glinda sends snow to wake them. The Wicked Witch watches from her castle and sends her flying monkeys to capture Dorothy and Toto. The monkeys tear the Scarecrow apart and throw the Tin Man against rocks. The Lion is captured too. The Witch locks Dorothy in her castle and sets an hourglass to mark her doom. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion, now showing the very qualities they thought they lacked, sneak into the castle to rescue her.[edit]