The Wizard of Oz

Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s book, The Wizard of Oz follows Judy Garland’s Dorothy Gale as she’s transported to the mystical, magical world of Oz – where she meets and befriends a trio of oddball figures (Ray Bolger’s Scarecrow, Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion, and Jack Haley’s Tin Man). It’s clear, ultimately, that The Wizard of Oz benefits substantially from Garland’s consistently (and thoroughly) appealing work as the affable Dorothy, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the actress receives more-than-able support from her uniformly well-cast costars – with filmmaker Victor Fleming, as well, eliciting strong, colorful work from an expansive roster of periphery performers. (Frank Morgan, cast in several roles, is especially good here, while Margaret Hamilton’s portrayal of the fearsome Wicked Witch of the West is as engrossing and memorable as one might’ve anticipated.) Far more impressive, ultimately, is Fleming’s persistently (and pervasively) creative approach to Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf’s screenplay, as The Wizard of Oz boasts an almost continuously dazzling visual sensibility that heightens the impact of even its most minor of sequences – with Fleming’s top-notch work ensuring that several interludes, including Dorothy’s initial arrival in Oz, possess a gripping, absorbing feel that proves impossible to resist. And although the narrative admittedly does include a small handful of lulls, The Wizard of Oz builds towards a completely satisfying finale that ensures it concludes on as positive a note as one could envision – with the final result an impressively iconic endeavor that does, for the most part, live up to its reputation as a bona fide classic.

***1/2 out of ****