Birthday of The Wizard of Oz

On August 11, 1939, in the town of Kenosha, Wisconsin, as well as in towns located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, trial previews of the movie “The Wizard of Oz” were performed.

It is difficult to name another example of a feature film (television series we do not take into account), in the creation of which as many filmmakers would take part. Initially, Norman Taurog was appointed director. He was quickly replaced by Richard Thorpe. But literally a week and a half later he was succeeded by George Cukor. But not having time to remove anything plainly, he left to shoot "Gone with the Wind." The director’s chair was occupied by Victor Fleming, who lasted longer than everyone else, but also not until the very end of the shoot: he was forced to replace Fleming as the director of “Gone With the Wind”. The shooting was completed by King Vidor and the film’s producer himself, Mervyn LeRoy.

In relation to this film, the expression “A good spoon for dinner, and an egg for Christ's Day” fits perfectly. I will explain. what I mean. I, like many other Soviet children, still in the first grade read the book "The Wizard of the Emerald City", the author of which was Alexander Volkov. I liked the book incredibly. And we were completely unaware, then, in the mid-60s, that this book actually reproduces the contents of the book of the American writer Lyman Frank Baum "The Wizard of Oz", which was written at the very beginning of the 20th century.

Much later, already in perestroika times, rumors began to be heard that the plot of the book by Alexander Volkov was not original, but that the original film was shot, which was very popular all over the world. And finally, in the 90s, the film “The Wizard of Oz” itself reached the Russian cinema audience. I don’t know how those who did not read Volkov’s book as a child, but the American film didn’t make much impression on me. Visual images too diverged from childhood impressions.

And the main character, performed by Judy Garland, somehow made a more impression on herself as a girl on marriageable days (after all, 17 years old) than a little girl, which we are used to perceiving from the Volkov book.

By the way, it is known that even before the filming began, there was an assumption that the role of Dorothy would be played by Shirley Temple, the then star of American cinema, which in 1939 was only 11 years old. But, as it turned out, Shirley, firstly, was bound by contractual obligations with another film company (going crazy - at 11 years old already have contractual obligations!), And secondly, her vocal abilities were lower than that of Judy Garland.

But, my impressions are just my impressions. I compared my impressions with reviews by reviewers on Kinopoisk. The vast majority of reviews are enthusiastic. But, which is characteristic, the age of the authors of these reviews is 25 - 35 years. And, as a rule, they watched this film in childhood. That is, at the very age when I read Volkov’s book. That's why I remembered about the spoon and egg.

Among those who saw the film as a child and continued to rewatch it from time to time throughout their lives, is the guru of American film critic Roger Ebert. He rated "The Wizard of Oz" 4 stars out of 4 possible, included in his list of "Great Movies" and in his 1996 review wrote: "“The Wizard of Oz” has a wonderful surface of comedy and music, special effects and excitement, but we still watch it six decades later because its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them. As adults, we love it because it reminds us of a journey we have taken. That is why any adult in control of a child is sooner or later going to suggest a viewing of “The Wizard of Oz.”»

Well, if we ignore personal impressions, then objectively - the film, of course, is a masterpiece. However, the budget of the film was more than impressive: 2.777 million dollars. This amount is equivalent to 51.6 million dollars in 2020. And if in rubles, then about 3.8 billion. And also take into account that 300 days, almost a year, were spent only on the production of the scenery for this film! How can one not create a masterpiece in such conditions?!

67% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated this film from 8 to 10. Taking this into account and the above, the rating of the film "The Wizard of Oz" according to FilmGourmand is 7.979, making it the 732nd place in the Golden Thousand.