The Wizard Of Oz

Sunday, May 29

6:00 pm

Film is $5.00

Rated G

Box Office opens 30 minutes prior to screening

Amazing Sights To See ! The Tornado . . . Munchkinland . . . Horse Of A Different Color . . . Startling Balloon Ascent . . . Flying Monkeys . . . Trees That Talk And Throw Apples

The Wizard of Oz (1939) is a 1939 American musical fantasy film directed primarily by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It features Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins. Notable for its use of special effects, Technicolor, fantasy storytelling and unusual characters, The Wizard of Oz has become, over the years, one of the best-known of all films. Garland stars as Dorothy Gale, an orphaned young girl unhappy with her drab black-and-white existence on her aunt and uncle’s dusty Kansas farm. Dorothy yearns to travel “over the rainbow” to a different world, and she gets her wish when a tornado whisks her and her little dog, Toto, to the Technicolorful land of Oz. Having offended the Wicked Witch of the West (Hamilton), Dorothy is protected from the old crone’s wrath by the ruby slippers that she wears. At the suggestion of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (Burke), Dorothy heads down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, where dwells the all-powerful Wizard of Oz, who might be able to help the girl return to Kansas. En route, she befriends a Scarecrow (Bolger), a Tin Man (Haley) and a Cowardly Lion (Lahr). The Scarecrow would like to have some brains, the Tin Man craves a heart, and the Lion wants to attain courage; hoping that the Wizard will help them too, they join Dorothy on her odyssey to the Emerald City.

Although it received largely positive reviews, won three Academy Awards, and was nominated for Best Picture of the Year, The Wizard of Oz was initially a box office failure. The film was MGM’s most expensive production up to that time, but its initial release failed to recoup the studio’s investment. Subsequent re-releases made up for that, however. “Over the Rainbow” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the film itself received several Academy Award nominations. Telecasts of The Wizard of Oz began in 1956, re-introducing the film to the public and eventually becoming an annual tradition, making it one of the most famous films ever made. The Library of Congress named The Wizard of Oz the most-watched motion picture in history, and it is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time in various critics’ and popular polls, providing many memorable quotes of both modern American and world popular culture. The pairing of the 1973 Pink Floyd music album The Dark Side of the Moon with the visual portion of the film produces moments where the film and the album appear to correspond with each other in a music video-like experience. This juxtaposition has been called Dark Side of the Rainbow.