The film starts in sepia toned Kansas in the early 1900s. Dorothy Gale lives with her dog Toto on the farm of her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Dorothy and Toto get in trouble with a ruthless neighbor, Miss Almira Gulch, when Toto bites her. However, Dorothy’s family and the farmhands are all too busy to pay attention to her. Miss Gulch arrives with permission from the sheriff to have Toto euthanized. He is taken away, but escapes and returns to Dorothy; she then decides to run away from home with Toto to escape Miss Gulch.

They meet Professor Marvel, a phony fortune teller, who realizes Dorothy has run away and tricks her via his crystal ball into believing that her aunt is ill so that she must return home. She races home as a powerful tornado develops. Unable to get into her family’s storm cellar, she seeks safety in her bedroom. A wind-blown window sash hits her head and she falls unconscious on her bed. She begins dreaming, seeing the house spinning in the air, held aloft by the twister. In the storm outside the window she sees an elderly lady in a chair, several farm animals, two men rowing a boat, as well as Miss Gulch (still pedaling her bicycle), who transforms into a cackling witch flying on a broomstick.


Dorothy (Judy Garland, right) with Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke)
The farm house crashes in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz, where the film changes to Technicolor. Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins welcome her as a heroine, as the house has landed on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East, leaving only her feet exposed. Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, arrives to claim the magic ruby slippers worn on her sister’s feet. Glinda transfers them off her feet to Dorothy’s feet instead. The Wicked Witch of the West swears revenge on Dorothy and Toto for her sister’s death. Glinda tells Dorothy to follow the Yellow brick road to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz might be able to help her get back home.

On her way to the Emerald City, Dorothy meets and befriends the Scarecrow who wants a brain, the Tin Woodman who desires a heart, and the Cowardly Lion who is in need of courage. Dorothy invites each of them to accompany her. After encountering the Witch, who attempts to deter them from their destination, they finally reach the Emerald City. Inside, after being initially rejected, they are permitted to see the Wizard (appearing to them in the form of a large head surrounded by fire) who agrees to grant their wishes when they bring him the Witch of the West’s broomstick.

On their quest to the Witch’s castle, the group passes through the Haunted Forest while the Witch views their progress through a crystal ball. She then sends her winged monkeys to ambush the four and capture Dorothy and Toto. At the castle, the Witch fails to get the slippers off Dorothy due to a magical electric barrier, remembering that Dorothy must first be killed. Toto escapes and leads her friends to the castle. After defeating three Winkie Guards and stealing their uniforms, they march inside and free her, but the Witch and her guards trap them. The Scarecrow drops a chandelier onto the Winkies, and the group is chased across the battlements, before being trapped on both sides. The Witch sets fire to the Scarecrow and Dorothy splashes a bucket of water onto the flames; the Witch, also hit by it, melts. The guards rejoice that she is dead and give Dorothy the charred broomstick in gratitude.

Back at the Emerald City, the Wizard delays their requests to grant their obviously well-deserved rewards. As the outraged group argues, Toto pulls open a curtain and exposes the ”Wizard” as a normal middle-aged man who has been operating and controlling the image of the wizard; he then admits to being a humbug. Nonetheless, he gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal, and the Tin Man a ticking heart-shaped watch, granting their wishes and convincing them that what they sought has been achieved. He then prepares to launch his hot air balloon to take Dorothy home, but Toto chases a cat, Dorothy follows, and the balloon leaves without them. Glinda arrives and tells her that she can still return home by tapping her heels together three times and repeating, ”There’s no place like home”. After bidding a tearful goodbye to her friends, Dorothy taps her heels together and awakens from her dream, surrounded by her family, the farmhands, Professor Marvel, and Toto.

1939

0883929043477

Gift Set

Movie

1.37:1

101

~£36.30

2025-02-11

2018-02-07 21:12:36