An institution on television.

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2002)

For me, OZ wasn't a movie so much as it was a family ritual. It was so embedded in my childhood and puberty, that I no longer thought of it as a movie- especially since it had an annual pilgrimage on television. I was still in diapers when it aired on CBS- the first time. That network's contract with the film only lasted until 1967 (I was just five then), and then the film switched its airings from CBS to NBC between 1968 and 1975- though CBS would take it back and air it yearly until the end of the 20th century. I watched it during the NBC period, and it was always introduced with the NBC peacock- with a special reminder that the first 19 minutes were in black and white. We would always circle the date on the calendar, and it always seemed to be a Spring broadcast, usually on Easter Sunday. And when the tornado sequence ended with the house crashing down, you could hear a pin drop in our living room. My favorite part of the film- since I was five- is watching the film change from b/w to the color of Munchkinland simply by opening the front door. (I saw the film years later as a college student in a real theater, and this scene actually brought whistles and applause from the audience!!) That's what I remember the most. When it left network television, I purchased the DVD.