#The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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The Wizard of Oz (1939) dir. Victor Fleming

[letterboxd-worth-a-damn]

[aquitainequeen]

The moment in the cyclone with Miss Gulch turning into the Wicked Witch and cackling is one of the best moments in cinema.

[ultrakeencollectionbreadfan]

I do hope that if The Wizard of Oz is ever adapted again in any form, I want it to have the 1939 Wizard's tone combined with Return to Oz's technological sensibilities.

[mask131]

So you want to know about Oz! (4)

Now that we got the topic of the Oz books out of the way, let's talk about... The MGM musical! The 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz"!

Or rather, let's NOT talk about it. Let's talk about... its alternate continuity.

"Alternate continuity" or "alternate Oz" are terms cherished by Oz fans and scholars, because they allow one to navigate through the maze of Oz adaptations.

I don't want to talk here about the MGM movie per se, because A) there's way too much to say and B) everybody knows it or saw it, so I don't need to explain what it is as thoroughly. But I want to insist on a specific and given point... The 1939 musical COMPLETELY changed the game.

It is an adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", yes. And it is the most famous and acclaimed Oz adaptations that ever was - to the point it is a landmark of American cinema, and a key part of American popular culture. But, and here's the important part: it is also not at all a faithful adaptation of Baum's novel. It is a very loose adaptation that omitted, reinvented and added MANY, many things - and the problem is that, since the movie is much more famous and well-known than the original novel, it created its own "alternate continuity" of Oz works, completely dissociated from the original novels by Baum (and other authors). These are two different worlds, that start from the same story-point but diverge in many, many ways.

In this post, I want to look at all the works, movies and adaptations that present themselves as prequel or sequels to the MGM movie, and that build together this "alternate Oz continuity" that is the 1939 continuity.

How do you recognize these works, and separate them from the ones more aligned with the old novels? Simple! All you need is to look out for key details that were introduced by the MGM musical!

The Wicked Witch of the West is considered the supreme evil of Oz, and is depicted as having a green skin and being clad in black.

There is only one Good Witch, Glinda Good Witch of the North.

The magical slippers are Ruby Slippers, not Silver Slippers.

Insistence on Oz being a "dream lord" paralleling the real-world

The Wicked Witches are sisters, and not just unrelated allies in wickedness

And other details of the sort. Alright! Ready? Let's go!

Let me begin with something a bit obscure... The 1990 cartoon "The Wizard of Oz".

In 1990, a Wizard of Oz cartoon started airing on television. This animated series proposed itself as the direct sequel to the MGM movie. Dorothy, still with the ruby slippers, returned to the Land of Oz, called by Glinda due to new troubles brewing in Oz: the Wicked Witch of the West was resurrected. The series is mostly about the group of heroes travelling through Oz, encoutering various Oz folks (purely invented for the series) and defeating the various schemes of the Wicked Witch, while trying to catch up with the Wizard of Oz, whose hot air balloon is tormented by the West Wind...

Unfortunately, due to poor ratings, the series was never renewed beyond its first season. Even worse, it just... kind of stopped mid-season. 13 episodes were created (I am not even sure all were aired?) and... the show just stops. No conclusion, no ending, it just stops. Sometimes, the two-part opening episode "The Rescue of the Emerald City" is edited as one short animated movie.

Much more famous: the Disney movie "Return to Oz", from 1985. One of thes "obscure Disney movies", one of those "weird fantasy sequels", one of those "dark 80s children movies"... There's multiple reasons why this piece became a cult-classic today.

It is most notably one of the many instances of Disney trying to create an Oz product in line with the MGM movie, despite not having the rights to do so, and thus playing around with the public domain of the Oz novels. This movie presents itself as a sort-of-sequel to the MGM movie (sort-of because, since they couldn't make an actual sequel, they have things that do not match - like Dorothy's new appearance - and things that do match - the slippers are ruby). In terms of inspiration, it is mostly a retelling of the third Oz novel, "Ozma of Oz", but with various elements taken from the second Oz novel "The Marvelous Land of Oz". For example, one of the villains of the movie is Mombi, the witch from "The Marvelous Land of Oz", but her behavior and appearance are those of Princess Langwidere, a secondary antagonist of "Ozma of Oz".

Another famous attempt by Disney at gaining their ground on the MGM-Oz domain is this movie:

2013's "Oz: The Great and Powerful". Meant to be a prequel to the MGM Wizard of Oz (but stll placing itself in its own continuity, since it couldn't be an ACTUAL prequel), it tells the story of how Oscar (the Wizard) arrived in Oz, and how the power-struggle between the three Ozian witches put itself in place. And it was... it was not a great success. In term of Oz adaptations it is recognized today to be between "mid" and "failure". (It is still VERY pretty though)

Speaking of Oz failures...

Do you remember THIS movie? "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return"? Oh that's one messy story...

"Dorothy's Return" (2013) was an animated movie adapting one of the novels written by Roger S. Baum, L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, called "Dorothy of Oz" (1989). And it did... VERY poorly, despite the huge amount of money and advertisement put in it. But you know what's even funnier? Why does the movie has such a long title? Because "Legends of Oz" was actually a HUGE franchise project. There was this plan to create a big line of animated movies and derived products, of which "Dorothy's Return" would have been just the first step. The movie came out, did poorly... and the entire franchise was canceled. But not without a lawsuit being opened for the shady practices and financial ruins behind this project... Yeah it is QUITE a story!

Still within the domain of modern Oz movies people do not particularly like...

The Tom and Jerry Oz movies!

These animated pieces are part of the modern trend of putting Tom and Jerry in famous movies (there is also the very unfamous Tom and Jerry + Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie). The first movie, "Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz" was basically just Tom and Jerry being present during the MGM movie. And... that was it. Oh yes, they did include the Jitterbug deleted scene but you know. It was just that.

Less known is this movie's direct sequel, "Tom and Jerry Back to Oz". It was less talked about than the first one, despite being at least more original! It is notably a loose adaptation of the third Oz novel, "Ozma of Oz".

More successful and beloved: 2017's "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz".

Just like the 1990s series, it is a children cartoon presenting itself as a direct sequel to the MGM movie, but unlike the 1990s series it was HUGELY successful. It aired for three full seasons, and while it is placed within the MGM continuity, it notably modifies several details so kids could be able to get into the story more (Dorothy is a little girl, the Wicked Witch is replaced by her daughter), and sprinkles several elements from the novels (Ozma, queen of Oz, is a recurring character). It is mostly a... I'll say "slice-of-life" type of show, about Dorothy and her friends just... living in Oz, solving problems if they are, avoiding the various schemes of the Wicked Witch's daughter.

Now that we looked at all the most "recent" incarnations, let's take a look at an older classic: 1972's Journey Back to Oz.

This animated movie is a loose adaptation of the second Oz novel, "The Marvelous Land of Oz", but presented as a sequel to the MGM movie. Tip is replaced by an MGM-looking Dorothy as the protagonist, Mombi is depicted as a green-skinned witch and the cousin of the deceased Wicked Witches of The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy's voice is provided by Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland.

And to conclude it all a movie that... nobody seems to have noticed upon its release?

2000's Lion of Oz. An animated musical movie for children, adapted from Roger S. Baum's novel (yes, still him) "The Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage" (1995) ; but still placing itself, by the characters' design, under the legacy of the MGM movie.

This movie presents the backstory of the Cowardly Lion, who, as it turns out, was a lion Oscar Diggs brought with him to Oz, and who, before meeting Dorothy, underwent a quest to fight the nefarious plans of the Wicked Witch of the East...

[bikkue]

The Wizard of Oz' 75th Anniversary Companion - The Wizard's Gifts™

[quotes-from-oz]

I do think it's a great touch (and a pointed diss to higher education that Baum would have loved) to give the Scarecrow a diploma in the film instead of physical brains. It does a great job of accentuating the ridiculousness of using a piece of paper to measure intelligence or wealth when we know it's all a sham <3

[cindysparkle96]

Happy 85th Anniversary to The Wizard of Oz, one of my favorite films

[themousefromfantasyland]

Thoughts I had while watching The Wizard of Oz after a long time

1 - This is the Wicked Witch of the East. She's wearing high heels that look suspiciously similar to the ruby slippers, and later Dorothy tells the Munchkins how the Wicked Witch of the East flew too close to the house.

The wind began to switch – the house to pitch and suddenly the hinges started to unhitch.

Just then the Witch – to satisfy an itch went flying on her broomstick, thumbing for a hitch.

2 - Why do Munchkins think goblins are destined to go to hell? Are there goblins in Oz?

Wake up, the wicked witch is dead!

She's gone where the goblins go below, below, below, yo ho

3 - Is Oz technically a county?

4 - Oz seems to be a mostly agrarian society. You could see farmlands in almost all backgrounds

5 - The Wicked Witch of the West is Hitler and Mussolini. The Wicked Witch is green, because the Winkies are green. She's a sovereign leader who enslaved her own people, and is so tyrannical, that they are glad and relieved when she's dead. I think 1930's audiences were more than likely to understand these subtexts.

6 - The LGBTQ fandom of the movie subverted the whole message.

In the film, the Land of Oz, no matter how much it's more colorful, more cheerful and more liberated than Kansas, is treated just like a childish fantasy, and Kansas is the reality that Dorothy has to learn to conform to live within. The message comes as if you should never try to escape your dreary, monochromatic conservative rural state.

The LGBTQ following, the friends of Dorothy, identity themselves more with Oz, and prefer to live over the rainbow in a magical fairyland where they can be themselves and be celebrated because of it, than to be forced to conform to society expectations in dreary Kansas.

@ariel-seagull-wings @autistic-prince-cinderella @tamisdava2 @natache @thealmightyemprex @the-blue-fairie

[chisterymalky]

so i saw last night again the wizard of oz for preparation of Wicked (Not sure why cause i know that film like the back of my hand lol)

and it's kinda funny how i see wicked antis complaining about the Wizard being 'villainized', but like, lol, even in OG Oz canon he comes off as very shady, lol, as somebody who makes shit up as it goes. terrible for a head of state lol.

Also i feel ripped off. Scarecrow and Tin Man had moments to show their intelligence and feelings, but we NEVER get the Lion be truly brave. C'me on man!

He's so gay tho...somebody put him in Pride...

[goodmorningsandgoodnights]

Source: thewraithrisingfilmscenes.tumblr.com

[pollsforpondering]

[mariusslonelysoul]

yes we will all thirst over jonathan bailey as the scarecrow next year, yes ray bolger's scarecrow was already perfect bUT WHAT ABOUT THE TIN MAN THE TIN MAN WAS CUTE AND FUNNY AND SWEET GUYS COME ON

[bikkue]

The Wizard of Oz' 75th Anniversary Companion - Certificate of Death™

[letterboxd-worth-a-damn]