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The Still Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
TBS was good enough to broadcast the classic film this weekend and I found myself once again swept away in the magic. Even though I knew the lyrics to every song and most of the dialogue it is still a joy to watch.
I thought I’d share a little of the magic.
2 Responses to “The Still Wonderful Wizard Of Oz”
The Wizard of Oz was a great movie for its time and even stands out as a great movie when compared to many of the movies that came out decades afterwards. I was always disappointed, however, in how far the movie strayed from the book. I realize that all movies stray a little bit from the books on which they are based, but in the case of The Wizard of Oz, the movie basically lopped off the final 1/3 of the book, which included some of the best parts of the book (i.e. the treacherous journey throught the mountains of the Hammerheads, the cowardly lion's battle with the giant spider).
I'd love to see a movie remake of the Wizard of Oz that stayed truer to the book. It would also be interesting to see an movie adaption of any of the other books in the Wizard of Oz collection, given that L. Frank Baum and Ruth Thompson wrote more than 30 Oz books. The 1980's sequel, while not as good as the original, was pretty interesting in that it was much darker than the 1939 movie.
Patrick,
We may disagree on a lot, but here is one more thing (marriage equality being another) that we can agree on. I wouldn't even want to attempt counting the number of times I watched “The Wizard of Oz” starting from childhood and going right on up. I have read every book there is to read on Judy Garland, and everything on the movie I could get my hands on.
This is one of those instances where the film version of a book — although undeniably, as nicrivera points out, very different from the book — becomes legendary in its own right. Not better or worse, but almost a new work in and of itself.
Thank you for sharing the magic.