Hidden third layer

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 2008)

One of those films that helps define the conscience of western civilisation Â– full of those little homilies that the generations pass down. A hundred of them are crystallised here in this film. The theme is wanting things without realising that you have them all the time, a dream whose moral is to stop dreaming. It's still sweet and funny, only occasionally veering too far into the world of cartoonery. I could have done without Toto and the blasted Munchkins Â– though the Lollypop Guild trio are worth seeing. Shirley Temple was considered for the part and would have been good, but then the film would have been without its essence, which, on deep reflection, is July Garland's sexual innocence. Dorothy might well have gone to the Wizard asking for desirability, without realising that she was already the hottest thing in the Land of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the West was clearly envious of Dorothy's beauty Â– that must have been the real power of those ruby slippers.