The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie)

. See the respective articles for more details. ISBN 0-7868-8352-9. The general scientific consensus is that mind control of the type shown in the film was not possible then, is still not possible, and is not likely to be possible in the near future. In 1977, Aljean Harmetz wrote The Making of The Wizard of Oz, a detailed description of the creation of the film based on interviews and research; it was updated in 1989. Following the act, the candidate will have no knowledge or recollection of his or her actions, and will return to a normal state until awakened again. It is also consistently in the top 100 on the IMDB Top 250 Films List. When the candidate encounters this trigger, he or she will perform any action his or her controllers demand, like an assassination.

The film is #6 on the American Film Institute's 100 years, 100 movies list, and two songs from the film are on the 100 years, 100 songs list ("Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead" was #82 and "Over the Rainbow" was #1). He or she will behave normally in all situations, until the sleeper is "awakened" by a particular word or phrase. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. A Manchurian candidate has no knowledge of the brainwashing he or she underwent. For more detail about this, see Possible film and music synchronizations. The term "Manchurian candidate," spawned by the book and later films, refers to an individual who has undergone brainwashing and / or mind control with the intent of creating a "Sleeper" personality within that individual. There are also several coincidences between this movie and the Pink Floyd album, Dark Side of the Moon. See The Manchurian Candidate (2004 movie).

There is also a similar theory that portrays the elements of the story together as a populist allegory. The effect was so dramatic that the shot made it into the final version of the film. and, of course, on the side of the Allies. The table was not supposed to figure into the fight, so a break-away prop was not used--Sinatra accidentally put his hand through a real coffee table. And the seemingly "muddled" good witch, Glinda, appears to represent God: all-knowing, all-powerful.. Sinatra permanently damaged the little finger on his right hand when he punched through a coffee table during his fight scene with Henry Silva. He is, in fact, the spirit of democracy. Sinatra didn't acquire distribution rights to the Manchurian Candidate until the late 1970's, and was involved in a theatrical re-release of the film in 1988.

He is both a supreme humanitarian and a misanthrope, in that he excels at detecting the weaknesses of others, because he knows his own so well. It also was shown twice on NBC, once in the spring of 1974 and again in the summer of 1975. The Wizard who encourages and profits from the defeat of the Western Witch turns out to be another version of the same flimflam man she met at home, a cynical politician who realizes that none of Dorothy's allies truly require anything that they didn't already have. In fact, it appeared as part of the Thursday Night Movies series on CBS in September of 1965 and again later in that television season. To defeat Fascism, she receives the aid of Britain (Glinda), the naive peasantry (the Scarecrow), the dehumanized Proletariat (the heartless Tin Man), and the emasculated nobility (Cowardly Lion). Kennedy, although there is no evidence to support this. She defeats Stalinism when her house falls upon the Eastern Witch early on, which suggests the overwhelming power of commercial capitalism and its precedence in Western Europe. Hollywood legend holds that Sinatra removed the film from distribution after the assassination of President John F.

She enters a more colourful Europe (Munchkinland), threatened by the Wicked Witches of the East (Stalinism) and West (Fascism). The film is consistently in the top 100 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films; was #67 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies, and #17 on its 100 Years, 100 Thrills; and has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Roosevelt's New Deal (the flimflam magician) for hope. The film won acclaim for its political themes and the exploration of the connection between the far left and far right in cold war America. Such obscure and esoteric interpretations usually posit Dorothy as representing a depressed, monochrome America, turning to Franklin D. The nature of her character has been heavily discussed, with a bizarre conversation on a train between her character and Marco viewed by some as implying that Leigh's character, Eugenie Rose Cheney, was actually working for the Communists to attempt to activate Marco's programming, much as Shaw's had been (a clue supporting this claim is that her name "Eugenie Rose" in French means "red queen."). Several film scholars have written interesting interpretations of the film, including several attempts by structuralist semiologists suggesting that the film was intended to prepare America for entry into war, although this ignores the fact that the Second World War had not yet started. Janet Leigh plays Marco's love interest.

On May 24, 2000, a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the film (with red sequins; seven pairs are believed to exist) sold at auction for $666,000. She uses Raymond to assassinate the main senatorial opponent to Iselin's vice-presidential candidacy and then plans to also have him assassinate the presidential nominee as well. Wizard of Oz collectibles, such as autographs and props from the film, are among the most sought-after of all movie memorabilia. It is learned late in the movie that Raymond was, in fact, controlled by his Soviet spy mother (played by Angela Lansbury), who seeks to advance the fortunes of her husband and Raymond's step-father, Senator Joseph Iselin (played by James Gregory), a bombastic McCarthy-like demagogue aiming for the vice-presidential nomination. Director John Boorman utilized aspects of the film in his 1974 science fiction classic Zardoz. In reality, the Communists intend to use Raymond as a test sleeper agent abroad and, using the queen of diamonds in a deck of ordinary playing cards as a subconscious trigger, compel him to commit heinous crimes, including murder, crimes of which he will have no recollection. The movie continues to generate a cult following, despite its age and original creative intent as a musical cinematic fable for children. When he finds out that another Army member has been having the same dream, he sets out to uncover the mystery.

After completion of the film, the coat was presented to Baum's widow who confirmed it was indeed his. After the war is over, Marco begins to have a recurring nightmare in which Raymond kills two of his fellow comrades. The inside pocket had his name on it. Their squad is made to believe Raymond Shaw saved their lives in combat, for which he receives the Congressional Medal of Honor when they return to the States. Frank Baum (the author of the Oz series of books). The movie stars Frank Sinatra (as Major Bennett Marco) and Laurence Harvey (as Sergeant Raymond Shaw) as soldiers who are captured and brainwashed during the Korean War in 1952. According to another story, which appears to be true, the coat Frank Morgan wore as Professor Marvel, which was handpicked from a second-hand clothing rack, once belonged to L. To cover their tracks, the Communists would implant false memories in the American soldiers' minds and provide a subconscious trigger whereby the soldier could be snapped into and out of hypnosis. Even after full reintegration with American society, they would have no knowledge of their having been brainwashed or the triggers which set them off.

On a late-night talk show in the 1960s, seemingly a little "medicated" herself, the host started to ask about the little people, and she blurted out, "They were drunks!" The audience roared, and that episode fed fuel to the story. The premise of the film was that, in the 1950s, the Soviets had developed a technique based on "brainwashing" and akin to hypnosis, whereby a person could be snapped into and out of a trance, ordered to do things with full compliance, and have no memory of such actions afterwards. United States soldiers fighting in the Korean War were thus captured, taken to the People's Republic of China to be brainwashed, then covertly released back to the American forces. This rumor was enhanced significantly by Judy Garland herself. It has twice been made into movies of the same name; a celebrated 1962 film directed by John Frankenheimer, and a 2004 film directed by Jonathan Demme. Additionally, the large group of "little people" cast to play the Munchkins were rumored to have held wild drunken orgies, but these stories are likely to have been exaggerated. The Manchurian Candidate is a 1959 novel by Richard Condon. The re-release of the movie to theaters for a time in the late 1990s settled this issue, as the picture was large enough to reveal the truth that the small TV screen had made to seem ambiguous.

It is in fact an animal handler recapturing an escaped bird. This is not true. The most common of these, which refuses to die, claims that one of the cast or crew hanged himself on the set, and can be seen in the Enchanted Forest scene. The Wizard of Oz has generated many rumors and stories, some of which have reached the level of urban legends.

The movie is just vague enough on that point to leave the door open to such an explanation. A counterargument to that complaint is that this was not necessarily an ordinary dream -- her uncle comments that "for awhile there we thought you were going to leave us" -- and that her experience might have been "real", but in another dimension. The main point of contention with Baum's fans is the ending, which they feel strongly goes against the nature of the original. In Baum's novel, there is no hint that Oz is anything but a real place, to which Dorothy returns repeatedly (she eventually moved to Oz permanently and was joined by her aunt and uncle) in the numerous sequels. The fans who have this opinion generally tend to agree that Return to Oz, the 1985 semisequel to The Wizard of Oz, is much closer to the feel of the original books and blame The Wizard of Oz for spreading misconceptions of the book, and the unpopularity of the image of Oz Return to Oz portrays.

The trees then shake in pain and terror. He also uses his axe to chop off all the limbs of anthropomorphized trees, which are not capable of speaking as in the movie. Some fans believe that the book tends to be a lot darker and in some places even gruesome, greatly diverging from the movie. For instance, in the book there is a scene in which the Tin Woodsmen chops the head off a tiger. Also the Tin Woodsman's name is changed to simply the Tin Man.

In the book, however, the Witch of the North's name is not given; and Dorothy must journey to visit Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, to learn how to use the silver shoes. In the movie, Glinda is the name of the Good Witch of the North who returns to show Dorothy how to use the Ruby Slippers to go home. This was changed to show off the film's sophisticated color technology. It is also worth noting that in the original book the enchanted slippers were silver, not ruby.

Numerous other abridgments occur: for example, the mice have no involvement with the band's escape from the poppies in the movie; a blizzard is used instead. The book featured several sub-plots (including a confrontation with the belligerent Hammer-Heads and a visit to a town with inhabitants and structures constructed of china) that, though relevant, weren't integral to the main plot. Baum originally provided complex back stories for all the characters and locations, which are largely omitted in the film. The film's basic plot is not very different from the original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but quite a bit less detailed.

The movie ends with Dorothy hugging Toto and exclaiming to her Aunt Em that there really is no place like home. She tells them about her journey, and they tell her it was all a bad dream. Dorothy and Toto say goodbye to their friends, and Glinda instructs her to click her heels together and repeat the words, "There's no place like home." She awakens in her Kansas house surrounded by her family and friends. When asked what she has learned, a tearful Dorothy replies that, if she can't find what she's looking for in her own backyard, then she never really lost it to begin with.

both herself and "Toto too!" She didn't tell her at first, though, because Dorothy had to learn a lesson. She tells Dorothy that she can use the ruby slippers to return home.. Just as Dorothy is resigning herself to spending the rest of her life in Oz, Glinda appears. ("I can't come back! I don't know how it works!").

Dorothy goes after him, and the Wizard accidentally takes off, unable to get back to the ground. Just before takeoff, though, Toto jumps out of the balloon's basket to chase a cat. He announces to his people that he will leave the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion in charge of the Emerald City. He promises to take Dorothy home in the same balloon that got him there in the first place.

He explains to them that his presence in Oz was an accident, that he was lost in a hot air balloon, and that he is, in fact, from Kansas as well (which seems strange since the text on his balloon reads "Omaha", a town in Nebraska). He gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Tinman a heart-shaped clock (he calls it a "testimonial"), and the Lion a badge of courage. The four friends are horrified, but the Wizard solves their problems. Dorothy scolds the Wizard for lying, and they soon discover, thanks to Toto's exploring, that the Wizard is just a man behind a curtain (also played by Frank Morgan), and not really a wizard at all.

He tells them to come back later. Once they are in the wizard's room they present the broom to a shocked Wizard. Footage of this scene no longer exists, except for a few frames seen in a later re-issue trailer. Originally, the crew returned to the Emerald City to a "hero's welcome", with everyone singing "The Wicked Witch is Dead". This too was cut after early previews.

They give Dorothy the broomstick and allow them to leave. To the travelers' surprise, her soldiers are delighted. Dorothy grabs a nearby bucket of water and, in throwing the water on her friend, she also hits the Witch and causes her to melt. The Witch stops them, and once she and her soldiers have them cornered, sets the Scarecrow on fire.

When they finally get inside the castle, they find Dorothy and try to escape (to the tune of Moussorgsky's A Night on Bald Mountain). It too was cut after an early preview of the film.). (Originally, during these scenes there was a reprise of Dorothy, in terror, singing "Over the Rainbow" with slightly altered lyrics. Dorothy cries out to her aunt, but the image of Aunt Em soon turns into the Wicked Witch, cackling and mocking Dorothy, terrifying her; then turning and facing the camera, continuing her devilish laughter before fading out.

As she waits and cries, she sees her Aunt Em in the crystal ball, wondering where her niece is. When the hourglass runs out, Dorothy will die. Dorothy, meanwhile, is locked inside a chamber with an hourglass and a crystal ball. He finds their friends and leads them to the castle to save Dorothy.

The latter, however, escapes. In a fury, the Witch orders one of her monkey slaves to kill Toto. Once Dorothy gets to the witch's castle, the Witch demands the ruby slippers, but it turns out that Dorothy cannot remove them. Some writers have pointed out that the bouncy song was inappropriate to the mood of the scene, and that cutting it was a wise decision.).

Unfortunately, the original footage appears to have been lost. (The only archival evidence remaining of this scene is the sound recordings and a backstage home movie filmed during rehearsals. It, too, was cut after an early preview. I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them" she sends a fictitious bug, "the jitterbug", that bites or stings them, causing Dorothy and friends to dance helplessly until the flying monkeys arrive to take Dorothy and Toto away.

Here was another deleted scene that the witch hints at when she says "They'll give you no trouble; I promise you that. On their way to her castle, flying monkeys, sent by the Wicked Witch, capture Dorothy and Toto and take them to the castle. He bellows that he will only help them if they can obtain the broomstick of the Witch of the West. When the party meets the Wizard, they find him to be a terrifying floating head surrounded by fire.

Given the full text of that message, arguably the executives also felt some ideas were too silly.). A lot of the witch's scenes were cut, or script ideas never filmed, because MGM executives felt it made the witch too scary for kids. (Originally it was "SURRENDER DOROTHY OR DIE SIGNED WWW"; the last few words were cut after the first preview. After some difficulty, they finally make it to the Wizard.

They clean up, and just before they go to see the Wizard, the Wicked Witch flies above the Emerald City, writing the words "SURRENDER DOROTHY" in the sky with her broomstick. Inside the Emerald City, everything is green except for the Horse of a Different Color, who changes colors several times while taking the group to a salon. They immediately arrive at the Emerald City, where they are only allowed in after Dorothy proves that Glinda sent her there. The Scarecrow and the Tinman (who are not conventional living creatures and are immune to the spell) cry for help, and Glinda produces a counterspell in the form of a snow shower to wake everybody up.

She produces a giant field of poppies that put Dorothy, Toto and the Lion to sleep. Just before the group reaches the Art Deco-style Emerald City, the Wicked Witch casts a spell to stop them. Originally there was a scene with dozens of bees flying around the Tin Man. The second one was a scene where the witch follows up on her threat to turn the Tin Man into a beehive.

First was about 2 minutes of Ray Bolger's "If I only had a brain" song scenes. Two scenes filmed along the way were cut. They too decide they will visit the Wizard to obtain what they desire, despite the Witch's threats to stop them. All three of them sing songs detailing their difficult handicaps.

On her journey, Dorothy befriends a brainless talking scarecrow (Ray Bolger), a heartless (though very kind) tin woodsman (Jack Haley), and a cowardly lion (Bert Lahr). Before Glinda disappears in her bubble, she tells Dorothy never to take off the slippers, and to always follow the Yellow Brick Road (as opposed to the red brick road which starts at the same point). Glinda tells Dorothy that the only way to get back to Kansas is to follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, where she can ask the mysterious Wizard of Oz for help. She returned to the set on February 11, 1939.

Her green makeup did catch fire, she was severely burned and she was out of the filming for six weeks. When the fire started she nearly got caught in it. On December 23, 1938, during a second filming of her departure from Munchkinland the lift Margaret Hamilton was standing on did not go down fast enough. The Munchkin Land scenes were filmed from December 10 - 23, 1938.

The Wicked Witch makes threats to Dorothy, but Glinda informs her that she has no power in Munchkinland: "Oh rubbish! You have no power here! Be gone! Before somebody drops a house on you!." The Wicked Witch vows revenge on Dorothy and Toto, and she disappears in the same way she arrived. To her horror, Glinda magically moves the slippers to Dorothy's feet, replacing a pair of homely, black lace-ups. She wants to know who killed her sister, and she wants to claim her dead sister's powerful ruby slippers. Mid-song, there is a burst of fire and the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) arrives.

She introduces her to the Munchkins, a small community of little people who sing and dance in order to thank Dorothy for freeing them from the Witch's terror. She informs her of where she is, and that she killed the Wicked Witch of the East with her house. She asks Dorothy whether she is a good witch or a bad witch, and despite Dorothy's repeated explanations, Glinda appears to never quite understand who Dorothy is nor where she comes from. Shortly thereafter, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (played by Billie Burke), arrives in an iridescent bubble.

(The dramatic footage of the house falling toward the camera was actually a reversed piece of film of a model house being dropped toward a sky-colored floor.) The movie changes from sepia-toned to Technicolor as Dorothy and Toto walk out of the house. Minutes later, Dorothy and Toto land in Munchkinland, a county in the land of Oz. She cackles her famous Eeeeh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh! and flies away. In a dramatic, terrifying moment (underscored by the audio track's sudden and powerful mood change), Gulch transforms into a witch and her bicycle into a broomstick.

Gulch. She sees some familiar faces out of the window, including the wicked Ms. Dorothy awakes to find that her house is inside the cyclone. A three-CD collection of all the music from the film, issued in 1995, contains a fuller version of this track).

(There is also a very noticeable edit in the audio track. Although Dorothy is lying unconscious, the audience (and Toto) already begins to see various objects, stirred up by the cyclone, starting to appear in the window. Seeing the tornado approaching (a very convincing special effect, made from a large musline stocking spinning on a sliding track), Dorothy rushes inside the house and gets to her bedroom, but the "Gale" wind blows her window out of its frame, hitting her in the head, knocking her out. When she gets home, her whole family is already down in the storm cellar and cannot hear her stomping on its door.

On her way out of the trailer, though, a cyclone begins to form ("a 'whopper', speaking in the vernacular of the peasantry"). Dorothy is convinced, and she and Toto hurry home. He leads Dorothy into his trailer and pretends to see Aunt Em crying in his crystal ball. Dorothy and Toto begin their journey, and they soon encounter Professor Marvel (played by Frank Morgan, who also the plays the Wizard of Oz, the doorman, the cabbie, and the guard).

Gulch would be coming back for him. When the dog gets home, Dorothy decides that they should run away from home, because Ms. Gulch's basket, who doesn't notice. He escapes, though, by jumping out of Ms.

Gulch, and Toto is taken away. Dorothy's aunt and uncle argue unsuccessfully with Ms. Dorothy's dog, Toto, gets in trouble for biting her, and Gulch comes to Dorothy's house with an order from the sheriff allowing her to take the dog to be put to sleep. The last recommends a more aggressive approach (Cowardly Lion).

The next starts making a passionate speech, straight from the heart (Tin Woodman), but is stopped in mid-speech by Aunt Em. One suggests that it's not smart to walk with Toto near Gulch's property (Scarecrow). Each hand advises her in his characteristic way, foreshadowing their appearance in Dorothy's dream of Oz. At the beginning of the film, Dorothy is telling the three farm hands about her conflict with a local rich woman, Almira Gulch (played by Margaret Hamilton, who also plays the Witch of the West).

Dorothy is an orphan from Kansas, raised by her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. They were filmed from late February - March 16, 1939. These opening scenes were the last ones to be filmed. (Also including deleted scenes and other filming information.).

Family Entertainment. As of now, the rights to its distribution are held by Warner Bros. For decades to follow, the movie was aired in the United States on or near Easter, although today with the Turner cable networks now holding the television rights, the film is generally shown during the summer and Christmas seasons. The viewing audience for this broadcast was estimated at 45 million people, and was the beginning of a tradition.

It achieved its iconic status after decades of television showings, beginning on November 3, 1956. In spite of the publicity, the movie was only moderately successful in its initial theatrical run. Judy Garland and her frequent film co-star Mickey Rooney performed after the screening at Loews Capitol Theater in New York City, and would continue to do this after each screening for a week. On August 17, 1939, the movie opened nationally.

It premiered at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939, and in Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater on August 15. On August 7, 1939, The Wizard Of Oz, a movie that cost $2,777,000 to make, unheard of at the time, was officially and legally copyrighted. Audience members thought the movie was too long; others found some of the witch's scenes too scary. After this preview, as a response to several audience members, some scenes were deleted.

On June 5, 1939 it had its first sneak preview. The movie's filming was completed on March 16, 1939. The next day King Vidor would be assigned as director to finish the filming of the movie (mainly the sepia shots of the Kansas farm). Ironically, on February 12, 1939, Victor Fleming again replaced George Cukor in directing Gone With The Wind.

Cukor had a prior commitment to direct the movie Gone with the Wind, so he left on November 3, 1938, and Victor Fleming took over for him. He changed Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton's makeup and costumes, which meant that all of their scenes had to be discarded and re-filmed. Thorpe was fired and George Cukor took over. Filming began on October 13, 1938, with Richard Thorpe directing.

Buddy Ebsen was a Midwesterner, like Judy Garland, and pronounced the r. Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr (and also Jack Haley, who had a solo but was not in the group vocal) were speakers of non-rhotic accents from the Northeast, and did not pronounce the r in wizard. His voice is easy to detect. So, while he had to be dropped from the cast, his singing voice remained, in the group vocals of "We're off to See the Wizard".

Several of the recordings were completed while Buddy Ebsen was still with the cast. The songs were recorded in a studio prior to filming. On August 12, 1938, Charlie Grapewin was cast as Uncle Henry. Frank Morgan was cast as the Wizard on September 22, 1938.

On July 25, 1938, Bert Lahr was signed and cast as the Cowardly Lion. She turned down the role, and was replaced on October 10, 1938 with Margaret Hamilton. She became unhappy with the role when the Witch's persona shifted from a sly glamorous witch into the familiar ugly hag. Originally, Gale Sondergaard was cast as the Witch.

Other MGM officials vetoed the idea of using Temple. After the casting of her role, a few executives at MGM contemplated replacing her with Shirley Temple, but were not able to get Fox to comply with the "loan" of the young actress. The role of Dorothy was given to Judy Garland on February 24, 1938. Ironically, despite his near-death experience with the makeup, Ebsen well-outlived all the principal players.

The makeup used on Jack Haley was quietly changed to nonmetallic. Jack Haley was given the part the next day. Ebsen didn't object to the change at first, but just 9 days into filming, he suffered an allergic reaction to the metallic makeup and had to leave the movie. Bolger was unhappy with the part, and convinced producer Mervyn LeRoy to recast him as the Scarecrow.

The Tin Man was originally slated for Ray Bolger, and Buddy Ebsen was to play the Scarecrow. One of the primary changes was in the role of the Tin Woodsman. Casting the film was problematic, with actors shifting roles repeatedly at the beginning of filming. Harburg for "Over the Rainbow").

It won Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score and Best Music, Song (Harold Arlen and E.Y. It was directed by Victor Fleming, Richard Thorpe (uncredited), George Cukor (uncredited), and King Vidor (uncredited). Mankiewicz, Jack Mintz, Ogden Nash, and Sid Silvers. Harburg, Samuel Hoffenstein, Bert Lahr, John Lee Mahin, Herman J.

Cannon, Herbert Fields, Arthur Freed, Jack Haley, E.Y. Several people assisted with the adaptation without official credit: Irving Brecher, William H. The movie's script was adapted by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf. The film premiered on August 12, 1939, and went into general release on August 25.

Filming started on October 13, 1938 and was completed on March 16, 1939. In January 1938, MGM bought the rights to the book. The script was completed on October 8, 1938. Over the following years it sold millions of copies, and Baum wrote thirteen more Oz books before his death on May 15, 1919. Frank Baum (born Lyman Frank Baum on May 15, 1856) published his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900.

L. While not the first feature film produced in Technicolor, The Wizard of Oz makes conspicuous use of the technique; its Kansas bookend sequences are in sepia-toned black-and-white, while the Oz scenes are in full three-strip Technicolor. It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton. Frank Baum's turn-of-the-century children's story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a resourceful American girl is snatched up by a Kansas tornado and deposited in a fantastic land of witches, talking scarecrows, cowardly lions, and more.

It is based on L. The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 2004, it was nominated for 9 Tony Awards, winning 3 (including one for Idina Menzel). The show opened to rave reviews from both critics and public, and even better box office.

Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman turned it into a musical entitled Wicked in 2003 with Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba. In 1995, Gregory Maguire released the critically acclaimed novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a the-other-side-of-the-story look at the witches of The Wizard of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West). The considerably darker Return to Oz, was made by Walt Disney Studios in 1985 starring Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. The 1974 musical and 1978 film The Wiz were adapted from the same story.

The Wizard of Oz has an official sequel, the animated production Journey Back To Oz (made by Filmation Studios in 1964 but not released until eight years later), featuring the voice of Liza Minnelli, Garland's daughter, as Dorothy. Meinhardt Raabe - The Munchkin Coroner. Pat Walshe - Nikko. Clara Blandick - Aunt Emily Gale.

Grapewin - Uncle Henry Gale. Charles E. Margaret Hamilton - The Wicked Witch of the West, Miss Almira Gulch. Billie Burke - Glinda.

Jack Haley - Tin Man, Hickory. Bert Lahr - Cowardly Lion, Zeke. Ray Bolger - Scarecrow, Hunk. Frank Morgan - The Wizard of Oz, The Wizard's Guard, Professor Marvel, Emerald City Doorman.

Judy Garland - Dorothy Gale.