Since it was first released in 1939, through subsequent re-releases and annual television showings, THE WIZARD OF OZ has become an American classic. It was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1939, possibly the most amazingly productive year in Hollywood history. In 1989, THE WIZARD OF OZ was one of the first movies ever named to the National Film Registry. To find out more about this effort to preserve our nation's film heritage see the Best Classic Movie Links page.

THE WIZARD OF OZ has not been colorized.  The film was originally shot in both sepia-toned (which means brownish-tinted) black-and-white and Technicolor. The sequences in Kansas were in black-and-white and the Oz sequences were in Technicolor. Most of the people who remember THE WIZARD OF OZ being a black-and-white movie grew up watching it on black-and-white TVs, which of course, didn't differentiate between the Kansas and Oz sequences.

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale with the ever-present Toto. Garland was awarded a special Oscar in 1940 for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile in this film. Though she would go on to make more than thirty more films in her career including many lavish MGM musicals, it is for this role that she is best remembered.  Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's Oscar-winning song from the film, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", became her personal theme song.

Music Clips from THE WIZARD OF OZ:

"Main Title" (clip) by Herbert Stothart (a .MP3 file courtesy Rhino Records).
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (clip) sung by Judy Garland (a .WAV file courtesy Rhino Records).
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sung by Judy Garland (a .MP3 file courtesy Rhino Records).

Memorable Quotations:

• "Almira Gulch, just because you own half the county doesn't mean you have the power to run the rest of us! For twenty-three years I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now... well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!" --Aunt Em.
• "Professor Marvel never guesses, he knows." -- Professor Marvel.
• "To speak in the vernacular of the peasantry, 'Poor little kid.  I hope she gets home alright.'" -- Professor Marvel.
• "It's a twister!  It's a twister!" --Zeke.

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