The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind.

The film stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the film, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar "Yip" Harburg.

The film is celebrated for its use of three-strip Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters. It was a critical success and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score for Stothart; an Academy Juvenile Award was presented to Judy Garland. It was on a preliminary list of submissions from the studios for an Academy Award for Cinematography (Color) but was not nominated. While it was sufficiently popular at the box office, it failed to make a profit until its 1949 re-release, earning only $3 million on a $2.7 million budget, making it MGM's most expensive production at the time.

The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on CBS reintroduced it to the public. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in movie history. In 1989, it was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World international register. It was ranked second in Variety's inaugural 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list published in 2022. It was among the top ten in the 2005 British Film Institute (BFI) list of 50 Films to be Seen by the Age of 14 and is on the BFI's updated list of 50 Films to be Seen by the Age of 15 released in May 2020. It has become the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. It frequently ranks on critics' lists of the greatest films of all time and is the most commercially successful adaptation of Baum's work.

In rural Kansas, Dorothy Gale lives on a farm owned by her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em and wishes she could be somewhere else. Her neighbor, Almira Gulch, who was bitten by Dorothy's dog, Toto, obtains a sheriff's order authorizing her to seize him, but Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who runs away to protect him. Professor Marvel, a charlatan fortune teller, convinces her that Aunt Em is heartbroken, which prompts Dorothy to return home. She returns just as a tornado approaches the farm. Unable to get into the locked storm cellar, she takes cover in the farmhouse and is knocked unconscious by the window. She seemingly awakens to find the house moving through the air, with her and Toto still inside it and various figures float by with Gulch turning into a witch.

The house comes down in an unknown land, and Dorothy is greeted by a good witch named Glinda, who floats down in a bubble and explains that she has landed in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz, and that the Munchkins are celebrating because the house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her. Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, suddenly appears, but before she can seize her deceased sister's ruby slippers, Glinda magically transports them onto Dorothy's feet and tells her to keep them on. Because the Wicked Witch has no power in Munchkinland, she leaves, but swears vengeance upon Dorothy and Toto. Glinda tells Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, the home of the Wizard of Oz, as he might know how to help her return home, before she floats away in her bubble.

Along the way, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain; the Tin Man, who wants a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, who wants courage. They reach the Emerald City, despite the efforts of the Wicked Witch. They are initially denied an audience with the Wizard by his guard, who relents due to Dorothy's grief, and they are led into the Wizard's chambers. He appears as a giant ghostly head and tells them he will grant their wishes if they bring him the Wicked Witch's broom.

During their quest, Dorothy and Toto are captured by flying monkeys and taken to the Wicked Witch's castle, but the ruby slippers protect her, and Toto manages to escape, leading the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion to the castle. They free Dorothy, but are pursued and finally cornered by the Witch and her guards, the Winkies. She taunts them and sets fire to the Scarecrow's arm. When Dorothy throws a bucket of water onto him, she inadvertently splashes the Witch, causing her to melt away. The Winkies gratefully give Dorothy the Witch's broom, and the group returns to the Wizard, but he tells them to come back the next day. When Toto pulls back a curtain, the "Wizard" is revealed to be an ordinary man operating machinery that projects a ghostly image of his face. They confront him, who insists he is a good man at heart, but confesses to being a humbug. He then "grants" Dorothy's friends' wishes by giving them tokens to confirm that they had the qualities they sought.