MGM's Technicolor Oz became the most-seen film
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1939 musical fantasy, chiefly directed by Victor Fleming from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, sent Judy Garland's Dorothy down a yellow brick road. Three-strip Technicolor, songs, and strange companions made it a critical hit. The Library of Congress later called it the most seen film in cinematic history.
MGM's 1939 fantasy, drawn from L. Frank Baum's 1900 book, was chiefly guided by Victor Fleming until he departed to salvage Gone with the Wind. Judy Garland's Dorothy leaves a dust-brown Kansas farm and steps into three-strip color Oz after a tornado. Script credit lists Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf among others. Five Oscar nominations included Best Picture; the songs category honored Over the Rainbow, Herbert Stothart took the scoring prize, and Garland received a juvenile Academy award.
Once the house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda steers the ruby slippers to Dorothy. Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion join her road toward the Emerald City; the Wizard demands the western witch's broom before granting brains, heart, courage, and passage home. Water meant to save a burning Scarecrow dissolves the witch. The Wizard proves a Kansas balloon showman; Glinda then admits Dorothy always could return, but only after learning it herself. She wakes in bed insisting Oz happened.
CBS's 1956 television premiere put the movie back before mass audiences. The Library of Congress calls it cinema's most-watched title and, in 1989, filed it among the National Film Registry's first twenty-five entries. Frank Morgan juggles Professor Marvel and the Wizard's disguises; Billie Burke plays Glinda. Brown farm and saturated Oz still teach popular fantasy how to look. Annual broadcasts later turned that studio gamble into a shared seasonal ritual for generations of viewers.
Source: The Wizard of Oz
