I'll Get You My little Pretty and Your Little Dog Too!!!!!!

Rating: Null/10 (14 July 2006)

Recently on Turner Classics, not only did they show the Judy Garland Version of The Wizard of Oz, but the 1925 silent version as well as the 1910 silent version starring a very young 9 year old Bebe Daniels who is remembered for her role of the star who breaks her leg in 40 Second Street only to be replaced by Ruby Keeler who becomes an overnight star because of Ms. Daniels bad luck.
I know I could probably get shot for saying so, but the script to The Wizard of Oz is horrible. I'm sure that the boys at M.G.M. probably thought to themselves, "What were we thinking when we agreed to this? We must have been drunk!" But, this shows what can be done by a very talented cast with great directions. There were many films like this that the heads of the studios thought would flop on its nose. Look at the Sound of Music. No one ever expected The Sound of Music to do what it did financially which saved 20th Century Fox to go under because of the Liz and Dick version of Cleopatra.
And to think that the studio bosses at M.G.M. wanted to delete Somewhere Over the Rainbow from the movie because they felt that the song stopped the film for no good reason at all. Of course, there were many headaches. Buddy Ebsen almost died from the Metalic Makeup. Gale Sondergaard want to look beautiful as the Wicked Witch much like the Queen in Disney's Snow White, but when they decided to make the Witch ugly, Sondergaard preferred her beauty - let her ego get in the way - and gave up beauty for characterization! Sad! I remember when the wide screens came out with stereophonic sound and the studios were trying to make films like The Wizard of Oz in a wide screen process. They were already recording stereophonic sound and didn't know it, so it was easy to remix the soundtracks into true stereophonic sound. There IS a wide screen version of The Wizard of Oz, but it is no longer available; the same as there IS a wide screen version of Gone With The Wind but no longer available.
But the talented cast with a talented director makes the script work and who knew that in the future this film would end up being a yearly event on television for all to see. Again, it's just a shame that this movie can't be enjoyed on the big screen in the movie theaters. That's a whole different ball game for all to really see what the Wizard of Oz is "really" all about!