Film challenge.

Film challenge, April: Fantasy, sci-fi and adventure.

- The Wizard of Oz. (1939. Dirs. Victor Fleming, et al). Young Dorothy Gale runs away from home seeking adventure, using her dog’s safety as a pretext. Tricked by a benevolent con man, Professor Marvel, she turns back home —only to find herself locked out of a storm cellar as a tornado approaches. It sends her to the marvelous land of Oz. Dorothy’s journey back home has just begun…

A classic fantasy film and a cultural icon —to such a degree that, at least in the US, the movie outright surpasses the original book series in terms of popularity. 

Oz in general, and the first story in particular, has been subject to thousands of parodies, dark reinterpretations and more. And from the borderline mean-spirited (“Emerald City Blues” by Stephen R. Boyett (there are actually quite a few books and stories with this title), MacFarlane’s Toys “The twisted land of Oz”, the comic book “Jack of Fables”) to the more interesting takes (“Wicked”, both novel and musical; the comic book “Lost Girls”, movies like “Return to Oz” and “Wild at heart”) —all are far more inspired by this movie adaptation than by the books (“Fables” incorporates characters from the book series, but rarely for more than a knowing wink at the reader). 

And what of this movie as an adaptation? It changes plenty of details, but is still a fairly charming, surprisingly modern American fairy tale. While the Dorothy of the movie has nothing on the book’s levelheaded adventurer, this one has become an important icon (to say nothing of a Gay Icon) in her own right. 

And as a movie in itself? It’s an enchanting spectacle, and much less dated than you would think: The opening act’s tornado alone is still a marvel of special effects. There are more faithful adaptations of the books (including, surprisingly enough, a 1986 Anime adaptation that even incorporated some of the book sequels), but this movie is still worth watching, be it for itself, as an example of an adaptation that is also reinterpretation, and as a fundamental piece of Fantasy cinema.