The Wizard of Oz

Name: The Wizard of Oz
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Family, Musical
Released: August 25, 1939
Duration: 102 min
Rating: 92
Cast: Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Frank Morgan, Jack Haley, Judy Garland

1939

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 30 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 481 Ratings

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8.5

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8.5	User Score Universal acclaim based on 481 Ratings

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The Wizard Of Oz

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Movie Details & Credits

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: August 25, 1939 | PG

Starring: Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Frank Morgan, Jack Haley, Judy Garland, Ray Bolger

Summary: Adapted from L. Frank Baum’s timeless children’s tale about a Kansas girl’s journey over the rainbow, The Wizard of Oz opened at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on August 15, 1939. [Warner Bros.]

Director: George Cukor and King Vidor and Mervyn LeRoy and Norman Taurog and Victor Fleming

Genre(s): Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Family, Musical

Rating: PG

Runtime: 102 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Dave Kehr

I don't find the film light or joyful in the least—an air of primal menace hangs about it, which may be why I love it. Read full review

100

Staff (Not Credited)

They don't make 'em like this anymore! [13 Nov 1998, p.B2]

100

Chris Gore

A masterpiece that was certainly decades ahead of its time. Read full review

100

John C. Flinn Sr.

It’s a mixture of childish fantasy and adult satire and humor of a kind that never seems to grow old. Read full review

100

Todd McCarthy

This is one vintage film that fully lives up to its classic status and should play with outstanding success to contemporary audiences of all ages. Read full review

100

Staff (Not Credited)

This phantasmagorical fantasy really does represent old-school MGM filmmaking at its best – sets, make-up, costumes and music combining to quite stunning effect. Read full review

Russell Maloney

Fantasy is still Walt Disney’s undisputed domain. Nobody else can tell a fairy tale with his clarity of imagination, his simple good taste, or his technical ingenuity. This was forcibly borne in on me as I sat cringing before M-G-M’s Technicolor production of The Wizard of Oz, which displays no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity. Read full review

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User Reviews

Marco134

Dec 30, 2022

Filme excelente, histórico, o melhor musical da história junto com a Noviça Rebelde

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MovieGuys

Sep 19, 2013

How could you not be captivated and engrossed by this movie that changed filmmaking forever? This movie goes far and beyond your wildest dreams. Even for 1939, this movie changed everything I know about movies and the way films are perceived today.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

toeheadterrors

Apr 19, 2011

i love the friendship of Dorothy and her companions, no matter what happens they stick together. Perhaps that's why it strikes such a chord with us all.

7 of 11 users found this helpful74

geewah

Jan 23, 2021

Considering this movie was made in 1939, it holds up extremely well today both visually and in it's ability to captivate young viewers.
A classic

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

lasttimeisaw

Apr 16, 2013

My early plan to watch Sam Raimi’s OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (2013) has been successfully foiled by the tepid reviews and in fear of another ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010, 6/10) travesty, then it stroke to me that I had never even watched the worldly-famous 1939 version, it must be a presumablyMy early plan to watch Sam Raimi’s OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (2013) has been successfully foiled by the tepid reviews and in fear of another ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010, 6/10) travesty, then it stroke to me that I had never even watched the worldly-famous 1939 version, it must be a presumably safe and better alternative.

I’m indisputably way past the age which will be exalting to watch this family-friendly vaudeville for the very first time, I wish I could have done that around my childhood year so I would be more in shock-and-awe admiration for this haute crowd-pleaser and ground-breaking studio-based product.

It all begins in Kansas, young Dorothy lives in a farm with his uncle and auntie, (after a melancholic rendition of OVER THE RAINBOW, still astounding and flawless) her tentative runaway with her cuddly puppy Toto has been persuaded by Professor Marvel (a very first introduction of multi-personae performance from Frank Morgan), en route, a twister rampages the farm and Dorothy and Toto (along with the house) has been brought to Wizard Oz’s wonderland with the casualty of a star-crossed wicked witch (crushed by the house accidentally), and the shoddy superimposition of the airborne journey may be cutting-edge 74 years earlier, sadly it barely works even under an uncritical eye.

The tangible visual transference from sepia farmland to the variegated Oz land grants a soothing refreshment and heralds a jovial adventure ahead, sing-a-longs with DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD (new entry at No. 2 in this week at UK Singles Chart in the wake of Thatcher’s death), it is just carefree and mollifying one’s hard-pressed nerves (if you have those). Then the classic characters (Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion) successively accompany Dorothy to meet the great and mighty Oz.

Despite of its all-comprising industry-reeking indoor design, it is a marvel how the film could be made in such a laborious scale and obedient order at its time, entering the second half of the film, when insouciant singing-and-dancing gives its way to the escapade of taking back the broomstick of The Wicked Witch of the West, all the set pieces are incontrovertibly stale and the logic of the story sags into an untenable farce (no specific elucidation of how the witch would succumb to a basin of water or what is so special about the red shoes the witch is hankering for, et al). The guarded-gate of the witch’s castle must be the recipient of the homage from Sauron’s gate from THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Acting-wise, Judy Garland is humble, mawkish but naturalistic in delivering jejune lines, Bert Lahr’s Lion and Ray Bolger’s Scarecrow otherwise are the film’s best offers, also Margaret Hamilton’s heinous witch, simply wish she had more venom to spill.

Overall, it is a cartoon-ish adaption of children’s best-known bedtime story, may be predisposed to be an overrated sensation which stands flimsily after a serious filmic anatomy, but the bent of director Victor Fleming and his crew has been testified positively through the arduous endeavour, and one can still relish 75-or-so years after its inception.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

EpicLadySponge

Feb 3, 2016

In order to keep my strength going, I must review more movies. Likely, I've heard the Wizard of Oz is a good movie to review. It was released a very long time ago... so don't expect bad reviews from this.... except for the scumbags who likes to give every movie a bad review.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

gameguardian21

Feb 22, 2016

I can understand why adults like this movie, and maybe young kids, but I cannot stand this movie. It is basically a musical which I cant stand. The story is just another excuse for it to sell its soundtrack. The sound is terrible, no surprise. The only good thing about this movie was thatI can understand why adults like this movie, and maybe young kids, but I cannot stand this movie. It is basically a musical which I cant stand. The story is just another excuse for it to sell its soundtrack. The sound is terrible, no surprise. The only good thing about this movie was that the wicked witch of the west wanted to kill the main character, which never happened. This movie is too kidish for me, and u can go right ahead and hate this review, but it wont change my mind.… Expand

1 of 10 users found this helpful19

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