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The Wizard Of Oz (1939) Certificate U

The Wizard Of Oz
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Rated 3.5 stars
Average rating
(72%)
 
Starring: Judy Garland | Ray Bolger | Frank Morgan | Bert Lahr | Jack Haley | Billie Burke | Margaret Hamilton | Charley Grapewin | Clara Blandick | Pat Walshe | Jack Haley Jr.
Director: Victor Fleming, King Vidor
Studio: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time: 98 mins
Collections: 100 Big Adventures | 100 must-see movies
Genres: Music/Musical | Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Languages: English
Released: November 05, 2001
Also available on: Also Available on: blu_ray

Follow the yellow brick road again! Young Dorothy lives on a farm in Kansas where a large tornado picks her house, and her dog up and deposits them in the land of Oz. Things in Oz are strange and beautiful, but Dorothy just wants to get back home. She's helped by the Good Fairy of the North, but she's also in trouble with the Wicked Witch of the West, who seeks revenge for the death of the Wicked Witch of the East, for which she blames Dorothy. While searching her way home she meets a Scarecrow who needs a brain, a Tin Man who needs a heart, and a cowardly lion who needs courage.

Rating of 4 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Classic fairy tale given vigorous straightforward treatment, made memorable by performances, art direction and hummable tunes.

Highest rated reviews

14 out of 25 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 1 stars
boring

kerry harrison from kent, 22nd March, 2006

boring not worth watching

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8 out of 9 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4 stars
Great family film

A Customer from Aberdeen, 11th June, 2004

Im sure evryone knows the story of Dorothy, a young Kansas girl who gets caught up in a storm and transported to the world of Oz, but I imagine a lot of people have not actually watched this film. It is great to watch such a famous film all the way through to see and hear all the famous scenes and songs such as 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' and 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'.
Judy Garland is wonderful as Dorothy and thoroughly deserved the Oscar she received. Speaking of which in the special features section there is actually a short clip of her recieving her Oscar from Mickey Rooney! There is also interviews with some of the cast 30 years after this film made and some trailers. The rest of the special features are stills of the actors but there are some deleted scenes and an odd news reel from the 30's featuring just a bit of the set and two of the actors.
All in all well worth watching and you'll be singing the songs for weeks!

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3 stars
A True Classic!

A Customer from Faversham, England, 3rd December, 2005

A must see for young and old alike!!

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2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5 stars
can't be repeated

A Customer from Scotland, 16th December, 2008

There are very few films around that can’t be repeated. These films are made at the right time to give them something extra. The Wizard of Oz is one of them (Casablanca too). As a child I never notice the pantomime quality that comes from a film that is nearly seventy years old and I just got absorbed by the story telling… and as an adult I see earnestness in the acting coming from the great depression and the coming of the Second World War. Maybe this is why the flying monkeys looking like bombers is so strong an image. This gives it something more real than pantomime. MGM might have removed a lot of the fiscal metaphors, but heart, courage and bravery are just as important now as they were in 1939 and a lot less dull than gold standards etc. It is a modern fairy tail. The use of colour in the narrative of a film has probably never been surpassed; especially when Dorothy makes it back to Kansas. Who cares if the lion has crappy ewok feat and the good witch looks like she belongs on a Christmas tree?

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Most recent reviews

Rated 4 stars
Great classic film

A Customer from Uxbridge, 14th October, 2009

a timeless classic, one to watch again and again. to brighten up a rainy day children and grownups alike.

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Rated 3 stars
An allegory of the gold standard and fiat currency

roblondon from , 7th July, 2009

Quite apt for the current times! From wiki: Some scholars have theorized that the images and characters used by Baum and Denslow closely resembled political images that were well known in the 1890s, specifically the debate of the day regarding monetary policy: the 'Yellow Brick Road' represents the gold standard, the silver slippers (which were ruby slippers in the film version) represent the sixteen to one silver ratio (dancing down the road). Many other characters and story lines represent identifiable people or circumstances of the day. The wicked witches of the east and west represented the local banks and the railroad industry, respectively, both of which drove small farmers out of business. The scarecrow represents the farmers of the Populist party, who managed to get out of debt by making more silver coinage. The return to bimetalism would increase inflation, thus lowering the real value of their debts. The Tin Woodman represents the factory workers of the industrialized North, whom the Populists saw as being so hard-pressed to work grueling hours for little money that the workers had lost their human hearts and become mechanized themselves. (See Second Industrial Revolution) Toto was thought to be short for teetotaler, another word for a prohibitionist; it should be noted that William Jennings Bryan, the fiery popular candidate (possibly the Lion character) from the Populist Party, was a teetotaler himself. Bryan also fits the allegorical reference to the Cowardly Lion in that he retreated from his support of free silver after economic conditions improved in the late 1890s. However, it has also been suggested the cowardly Lion represented Wall Street investors, given the economic climate of the time. The Munchkins represented the common people (serfdom), while the emerald city represented Washington and its green-paper money delusion. The Wizard, a charlatan who tricks people into believing he wields immense power, would represent the President. The kiss from the Good Witch of the North is the electoral mandate; Dorothy must destroy the Wicked Witch of the West—the old West Coast 'establishment' (money) with water (the US was suffering from drought). Moreover, 'Oz' is the abbreviation for the measuring of these precious metals: ounces.

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Rated 5 stars
The Wizard of Oz

Freddude from , 3rd July, 2009

An excellent film. Brought back many childhood memories.

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Rated 5 stars
Still a fantastic film!

A Customer from Brighton, 20th June, 2009

I saw this years ago and rented it to watch with my kids. We all loved it. The songs are funny (great putting subtitles on so you don't miss the words!) and the characters are brilliantly done. It is really difficult to get your head round the fact that this was made 70 years ago; it really doesn't seem like it. The remastering on it is amazing, and the feature about the clean up is also really interesting! They have actually found stuff on the film that no-one has seen before as the quality was pretty poor even when it first came out because of the technology of the day. But we can now see it exactly as it was when it was filmed which is pretty amazing! Great for the kids to see real acting, no CGI, real singers........a great family movie.

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