The Wizard Of Oz

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Well, a whole slew of people; George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, King Vidor, and Norman Taurog, but most of it was Victor Fleming

Starring: Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley

From: MGM

I'll be honest here, this review here is just an expanded verison of what I said on Letterboxd yesterday. I don't need to go over the plot as everyone knows it; I presume that everyone has seen it, too.

I watched this Friday night on the big screen as for one week only they are showing it in IMAX 3D. I ended up not even noticing the 3D stuff as believe me it's rarely a factor; at least it did look nice in that format. If you enjoy the movie, it's probably worth it to watch it on the (very) big screen. If nothing else, it obviously disproves a longstanding rumor concerning the flick; no, not the one involving The Dark Side of the Moon album, but rather the one concerning how in one scene you can see someone deceased in the shot as they had just killed themselves via hanging. On a giant screen and with a clear picture, it's obvious that it was what many people said it was... a large black bird.

Sure, nostalgia may be part of my enjoying this on the big screen but hey, it's still an entertaining tale with great-looking sets, memorable songs, plenty of phrases that have become legendary and are said even today, and for the kids some important life lessons to learn. It may be “hip” to hate on this movie or say it's overrated or what have you; I think that talk is poppycock.

I don't know what else to say about this wildly popular classic so I'll mention that this time I was able to laugh at the wacky things, such as there being sentient trees, a talking man/lion creature, villages full of "vertically challenged people" and of course those flying monkeys. I can only imagine what watching this on drugs is like, and honestly when you have a scene where the heroes fall asleep in a poppy field and are suddenly full of pep after having a white powdery substance fall on them... of course the topic of drugs will pop in my head.

Anyhow, I will return tomorrow night.