The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

When a tornado rages over the Kansas landscape, a young girl (Judy Garland) and her dog are carried off in their house and when it lands, it's in a strange and colorful land called Oz. But how to get back home? Glinda (Billie Burke), the good witch, suggests visiting the wizard of Oz in the Emerald city and it's down the yellow brick road to see the wizard. Well, what can one say that hasn't already been said about one of the most beloved film classics of all time? It's seeped into our collective consciousness and pop culture. Well, I hate to be the spoilsport but I'm just not enamored of the film as most people. It's got a genial sweetness to it and Judy Garland alone should be reason to watch the film (and she is). Her rendition of Over The Rainbow is one of the great movie moments of all time. But I find its message of "there's no place like home" disturbing. Who'd want to go back to Kansas after they've been to Oz? But thematically the film suggests that everything we need is "home" and there's no need to go out into the world and seek adventure or anything else. Hmmm ..... But perhaps I'm projecting something into the film that was never intended but I'm dubious. The hummable songs are by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. With Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Jack Haley and Frank Morgan.