12/5/2023 0 Comments Port discovery wizard of ozFields, Shirley Temple and Deanna Durbin, munchkins running riot, drunken cast members, sadness and suicides, and grizzled old pros fighting hard not to let Garland steal the picture. Some notes that might interest you being the original castings to be W.C. There are many interesting back stories to the picture, with books galore available to anyone interested. Myself as a lump of waning middle aged machismo, has no shame in saying that as Judy sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow I melt and feel as though I'm being sent spinning into another world, that's the power of the piece, because as a sepia Kansas becomes the glorious colour of Oz, nothing else in my world matters, I'm in hook line and sinker. Viewing now, and knowing what a sad life she would eventually lead, The Wizard Of Oz is a fitting picture on which to remember what a magical and wonderful performer she was. The film of course will forever be associated with its darling star, Judy Garland. Be it a young child spellbound on a first viewing, or an octogenarian couple of grandparents wistfully humming along to the tunes, it's a film that shouldn't be dissected looking for faults and hidden meanings, it's a film that should be loved and praised for the ode to fantastical whimsy that it so obviously is. The Wizard Of Oz stands up well 80 years later because it taps into all the emotions available to the human being. The Wizard Of Oz appeals (and caters) to every demographic and pretty much any age group, we have adventure, the meeting of new friends, fears and trepidations, booming colour, songs to singalong with, and of course the total crux point of homely values. Crucially, though, any misgivings are quickly erased due to the utter wonder of it all, you see this is because the film has a beguiling ability to transport everybody who is watching it and slot them into OZ alongside Dorothy. Upon multiple viewings only the most biased of film fan could say that it is a technically perfect picture, it clearly isn't, for at times it's a wee bit creaky and when scrutinised, some of the performances in the piece are far from being of an excellent standard. One thing that strikes me every time I view it is that there not only is no place like home, there is also no film like The Wizard Of Oz, and really, when all is said and done, there is unlikely to be another film of its ilk to ever grace the silver screen. The Wizard Of Oz is a film that has been pored over and dissected from almost everyone involved in the wonderful world of film. It's a journey that will prove to be both magical and fraught with danger. As she sets off and on her way, she meets and befriends a wonderful array of characters whom also have something to ask of the fabled wizard. Desperate to get back home and under threat from a wicked witch, she is advised to seek out a great wizard who should be able to help her get back home. Network airings in the 1990s were uncut and not time-compressed the film aired in a 2-hour, 10-minute time period.ĭorothy is a young girl living on a Kansas farm, during a tornado, she, along with her dog Toto, is swept up and plonked down in a magical and mysterious land known as Oz. CBS, which had shown the uncut version of the film in 1956, and again from the films first telecast until 1968, finally started to show it uncut again beginning in 1985, by time-compressing it. By the 1980s, the other excised shots included: the film's dedication in the opening credits, continuity shots of Dorothy and Toto running from the farm, establishing shots of the cyclone, the aforementioned tracking sequence in Munchkin Land, the establishing shot of the poppy field, and tiny bits and pieces of the trip to the Wicked Witch's castle. Also according to Fricke, more wholesale cutting of the film took place when CBS regained the TV rights in 1975. According to film historian John Fricke, these cuts started with solely a long tracking shot of Munchkin Land after Dorothy arrives there. As the amount of commercial time on network television gradually increased, more scenes were cut. From 1968 to 1984, on NBC-TV and CBS-TV airings of the film, the film was edited to sell more commercial time.
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