DIRECTOR: Victor Fleming
Adapted from the novel by L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz (1939) tells the story of Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl swept away by a tornado to the magical Land of Oz. With her adorable little dog Toto and three companions—a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion—she follows the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, hoping the Wizard can send her home. Along the way, they confront the Wicked Witch of the West, only to discover that the power to return was within Dorothy all along.
Judy Garland’s Dorothy is the mother of us all. Before Barbra, before Liza, before Madonna, before Lady Gaga—there was Judy. Her performance in Oz struck a chord that transcended orientation: vulnerable yet resilient, innocent yet knowing, and anchored by that miraculous voice. Over the Rainbow, written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. “Yip” Harburg, remains the greatest movie song ever written, and Garland delivers it with a purity that still feels like a lifeline.
The film’s visual splendor—shot in Technicolor by Harold Rosson, framed by sepia‑toned Kansas bookends—was shaped under director Victor Fleming, who took over Gone with the Wind after George Cukor’s dismissal. Queer cinema can be a small world. And yes, Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion reads unmistakably gay; it’s almost a wonder MGM didn’t hand him a lavender mane.
With Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and queer actress Margaret Hamilton making an indelible impression as both the Wicked Witched of the West AND her black-and-white Kansas counterpart Almira Gulch the harsh, wealthy Kansas neighbor who wants to have Toto euthanized. She hits Toto with a rake for chasing her cat and later produces a sheriff’s order to take him away to be destroyed. During the tornado scene, Dorothy sees Miss Gulch on her bicycle transforming into the Wicked Witch on a broomstick. Dorothy’s flying farm house lands in Munchkinland full-force splat on top of the Wicked Witch of the East – sister of the WWOTW – killing her instantly.
As for the phrase Friends of Dorothyits origins are murky, but the logic is clear enough. Garland wasn’t gay, but queer men recognized something in her: a shared sense of outsiderness, a capacity for survival, a voice that could lift you out of whatever Kansas you were stuck in. Dorothy’s longing for a place “over the rainbow” became a metaphor for a life not yet possible—but desperately hoped for.
Billie Burke played Glinda the Good Witch with an airy, almost self-parodying sweetness that became her signature screen persona. The widow of impresario Florene Ziegfeld, his death in 1932 left her in considerable debt, which partly drove her prolific film career. In later years she became something of a camp figure—her fluttery, scatterbrained characters were beloved—and she worked steadily in film and television well into the 1950s and 60s. We will meet her again in Film number 8 – The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Frank Morgan is one of the great unsung pleasures of classic Hollywood. He played five roles in The Wizard of Oz—the Wizard himself, Professor Marvel, the Emerald City door attendant, the cabbie, and the guard—and brought a wonderful blend of bluster and vulnerability to each of them. He was a character actor of the highest order, Oscar-nominated for The Affairs of Cellini (1934) and again for Tortilla Flat (1942). He had a long MGM contract and appeared in dozens of films throughout the 30s and 40s. He died in1949, aged 59, and is less celebrated than he deserves to be given the sheer range and warmth he brought to his work. His performance as the father in Frank Borzage’s The Mortal Storm (1940) is one of the decade’s best.
Just one dog played Toto – a female Cairn Terrier named Terry. She was trained by legendary Hollywood animal trainer, Carl Spitz, and earned $125 per week on the production, reportedly more than many of the human actors. Terry later had her name officially changed to Toto after the film’s success.
In addition to Over the Rainbow, Arlen and Harburg’s song suite includes Follow the Yellow Brick Road/Were Off to See the Wizard, If I Only Had a/the Brain/Heart/Nerve, If I Were King of the Forest, The Merry Old Land of OZ, and Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.
In 1939, AMPAS was still sorting things out – it still is! MGM’s court composer Herbert Stothart ‘s arrangements of Harold Arlen’s music should have been nominated in the BEST ADAPTED SCORE category. Instead, he ended up being nominated for BEST ORIGINAL SCORE and WON defeating Max Steiner’s immortal score for GWTW.
Production design by Cedric Gibbons, costumes by Adrian.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Harold Rosson
MGM
