Nominated for best Picture (1939)

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2019)

Dorothy Gale lives with her dog Toto on the Kansas farm of her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Toto bites Miss Almira Gulch on the leg, and she obtains an order from the sheriff for Toto to be euthanized. She takes Toto away on her bicycle, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy, and she decides to run away. She meets Professor Marvel, a kindly fortune teller who uses his crystal ball to make Dorothy believe that Aunt Em may be dying of a broken heart. Dorothy races home, arriving just as a tornado strikes. Locked out of the farm's storm cellar, she seeks shelter in her bedroom. Wind-blown debris knocks her unconscious and the house is sent spinning in the air. She awakens to see various figures fly by, including Miss Gulch on her bicycle, who transforms into a witch on a broomstick.The house lands in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz. Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins welcome her as a heroine, as the falling house has killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, arrives to claim the slippers, but Glinda transports them onto Dorothy's feet first. The Wicked Witch of the West swears revenge on Dorothy, then vanishes. Glinda tells Dorothy to keep the slippers on and follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, where she can ask the Wizard of Oz to help her get back home.
On her journey, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain, the Tin Woodman, who desires a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, who needs courage. Dorothy invites them to accompany her to Emerald City, where they can ask the Wizard to help them too. Despite the Witch's attempts to foil their journey, they reach the Emerald City and are eventually permitted to see the Wizard, who appears as a large ghostly head surrounded by fire and smoke. He agrees to grant their wishes if they prove their worth by bringing him the Witch's broomstick.
As the foursome and Toto make their way to the Witch's castle, the Witch captures Dorothy and plots her death in order to remove her slippers. Toto escapes and leads her three friends to the castle. They ambush three guards, don the guards' uniforms, march inside and free Dorothy. The Witch and her guards chase and surround them. The Witch sets fire to the Scarecrow, causing Dorothy to toss a bucket of water, inadvertently splashing the Witch, who melts away. The guards rejoice and give Dorothy her broomstick.The Wizard stalls in fulfilling his promises, until Toto pulls back a curtain and exposes the "Wizard" as a middle-aged man operating machinery and speaking into a microphone. Admitting to being a humbug, he insists that he is a good man but a bad wizard. He then gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal and the Tin Man a ticking heart-shaped watch, helping them see that the attributes they sought were already within them. He then offers to take Dorothy and Toto home in his hot air balloon. He reveals that he, too, is from Kansas, and worked at a carnival when a tornado brought him to the Emerald City. He was offered and accepted the job as Wizard due to hard times.
As Dorothy and the Wizard prepare to depart, Toto, distracted by a cat, leaps from Dorothy's arms. As she pursues Toto, the balloon disembarks with the Wizard, leaving Dorothy. Glinda appears and tells Dorothy the ruby slippers have the power to return her to Kansas if she taps her heels together three times repeating "There's no place like home." Dorothy complies and wakes up in her bedroom surrounded by her family and friends, including Toto. Everyone dismisses her adventure as a dream, but Dorothy insists it was real and says she will never run away from home again. She then declares: "There's no place like home!"