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Directed by: Victor Fleming  (finished, uncredited, by King Vidor)
Written by: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Wolfe from Frank L. Baum's book. Songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg .
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| Tookey's Review |
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| Pro Reviews |
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| Mixed Reviews |
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| Anti Reviews |
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| Trailer |
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| Cast |
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| Released: |
1939 |
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| Genre: |
MUSICAL
UNDERRATED
ADVENTURE
FANTASY
REMAKE
FAMILY
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Length: |
102 |
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Unhappy girl (Judy Garland) travels and makes unusual friends, has nasty experiences with witches, flying apes, midgets and opiate drugs, understandably decides there's no place like home.
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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Classic family musical which was slagged off on release for having an overage heroine, garish sets and heavy-handed direction (though it still managed to reach Number 7 on the 1939 Film Daily poll of US film critics). Audiences either believed the hostile reviews or were not in the mood for fantasy, for it did disappointing business; it was not until a re-release in 1948 did it turn a profit. It was TV that made people appreciate the film’s finest qualities. The musical highlight is Judy Garland singing the Oscar-winning Somewhere Over The Rainbow, a song that studio executives wanted to cut out. The art direction by Cedric Gibbons and William A. Horning and visual effects by A. Arnold Gillespie and Douglas Shearer were Oscar-nominated.
"The Sydney trade paper The Film Weekly which reviewed just about every feature released in Australia didn’t bother to review The Wizard of Oz at all - because it was considered of such peripheral interest to exhibitors. The movie was booked almost solely into kiddies’ matinees - and even there it fared poorly.”
(John Howard Reid, long after release)
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