Review of The Wizard of Oz

One of the most beloved movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz, at almost seventy five years old, is unique among motion pictures in that it mirrors our longings and imaginations as children.
The experience is brought to us by a series of elements that we are all familiar with. The dreams that Dorothy sings about and the adventure that she follows, along with the songs she sings, all seem to mirror our yearnings as children. She imagines a bigger place where her problems do not linger and she is free to explore the world. She imagines a place where people listen to what she has to say, somewhere where she is important, somewhere where she is understood. She imagines a world where her troubles melt like lemondrops. We can all relate. Children sit in their rooms or in their yards, and played, imagining a place where they can interact with characters, a colorful world bigger than our small, confined worlds.
I think that The Wizard of Oz represents a brief moment of happiness in Judy Garland’s life. We know of her problems with studio executives that put her through exhausting schedules and used drugs to get her going in the morning then put her to sleep at night. We all know the legends of her mental and physical problems that dogged her most of her life but The Wizard of Oz sees her at a moment in a life that seems perfect, just as her star was rising and her problems really began. There is a poignancy in that, and that is why I think the casting of Shirley Temple in the role would have been a mistake. By 1939, Temple was the biggest star in the world her presence in the movie would have been too much, she would have stood out and we would only have seen Temple, not Dorothy Gale.
If Judy Garland gives the film its center than the production design, awe-inspiring in 1939, is the perfect backdrop. In these early musicals filmed on a soundstage, it is not hard to spot where the soundstage ends. Some have seen that as a flaw but it adds to the dreamlike quality of the film. The matte paintings behind the sets add to the storybook quality of the film. The fact that we’re in a dream makes it okay that the special effects look a little hasty. That was the genius of the screenplay, that and to establish the Oz characters as characters that Dorothy knows in Kansas. In our dreams we often see people and events that have recently occurred in out lives, but this is the first time it has ever successfully been expressed in a movie. In particular, the notion that Professor Marvel keeps showing up as various characters in the dream.
The search for something over the rainbow is something every child experiences. The imagination and the desire to solve your problems as a child is stronger than any other epoch of one’s lifespan.