Golden Age

Rating: 10/10 (30 December 2005)

When people speak of Hollywood's Golden Age, I think they're referring to Casablanca, the Wizard of Oz, and Citizen Kane. These films are timeless, classic, and all-around wonderful. They will never grow old and they will never go away.
The Wizard of Oz has been a part of my life for such a long time that, truly, I cannot think of a time in which I was unaware of it. When I was three, I saw my sister become the Wicked Witch of the West in a high school production. I shall never forget her disappearing act. In a puff of smoke, my sister was gone, and I was dismayed. I saw the movie a short time thereafter, in its annual televised appearance on network television, and I've never shaken the feeling of that film. I think, when I see The Wizard of Oz, I see it perennially through the eyes of a four- or five-year old. Any cynicism and experience drops away as soon as I see Dorothy crouch upon the dusty road with Toto. It's transporting.
That's to say nothing of the magnificent moment when Dorothy sets foot into Oz. I've watched that moment a thousand times and it still astounds. From sepia to transcendent color--it's such a shock; I cannot imagine what audiences thought in 1939.
Apparently, they thought very little of it, as the film did poorly during its initial run. It wasn't, I believe, until the mid-1950s that The Wizard of Oz grabbed hold of the national psyche. Has it ever let go? I can't be sure, but references to it are ineluctable. It has so infiltrated our society that anyone's likely to know the tale whether or not they've seen the movie or read the books. In that regard, it's so unlike almost any other object our culture has produced and certainly any movie. It's in the same pantheon as Huckleberry Finn, Bob Dylan, and baseball. It's, in a manner of speaking, America.
That's my take on it, in any event.
It's also great spectacle and great entertainment. Not only does it contain memorable performances, it also contains memorable music. The Wizard of Oz represents one of the only films of which I can think that is a musical without quite fitting that category entirely. The songs grow organically out of the picture, unlike, say, another great movie, Singing in the Rain--it's more akin to the early Disney films where music and film were entwined inseparably--or maybe it's like The Red Shoes where music/dance exists symbiotically with narrative. In any event, it's a major achievement and one that I hardly noticed for years. To The Wizard of Oz's credit, I never once thought of it as a musical until I was into my 20s.
Moreover, unlike the children's movies of today, there is no fear of inducing fear. The Wicked Witch is frightening, Glinda seemingly impotent, and the flying monkeys crepuscular. Oz is fantastic, but look into the background forests and see some gloom. Look at the plastic flowers in munchkinland, and tell me they're not eerie. The movie is bright and colorful, but with a hint of mischief and melancholy. I would not be surprised to learn that this film stands as a major influence over the work of Tim Burton. His melancholy fairy-tales are far more blatant but nevertheless find source material here.
The Wizard of Oz is, quite simply, one of the major works of cinema, American or otherwise. It's great for children and wonderful for adults. I believe, if you do not like this movie you have a heart of stone.