**_Highly entertaining, but also... enlightening_** A tornado rips through Dorothy's home in Kansas and transports her to the land of Oz where she meets a scarecrow in need of a brain, a tin man in need of a heart and a lion in need of courage. So they venture to the Emerald City in search of the eponymous wizard. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) is eminently entertaining for both kids and adults. The message is great to boot. Yes, it's about developing your head, heart, and courage to find your way "home," but its most potent moral is about pulling back the curtain on political authorities and religion to expose the feeble phony pulling the levers. Which isn't to say that all such authorities are phonies, of course, just that we need to be ever conscious of the fakes trying to manipulate us by pulling our strings. The creators were smart to actually make the wicked witch of the west, her castle and flying monkeys creepy and horrific (in a comic booky way). The film runs 1 hour, 42 minutes. GRADE: A+

I was really fortunate, recently, to catch this on a big screen and it is still wonderful. After her dog is taken by "Miss Gulch" (Margaret Hamilton), "Dorothy" (Judy Garland) is all in a tizz. She decides to run away from her kindly aunt and uncle but only gets about a mile down the road before she encounters a medicine show run by "Prof. Marvel" (Frank Morgan). A twister is approaching - she must get home before she is blown away. She makes it into her room but is clouted by a blown-in window and next thing, the house is flying through the air and she lands in Oz and on top of the "Witch of the East" - exposing only her ruby slippers. "Munchkinland" proves to be a friendly enough place, but the good witch "Glinda" (Billie Burke) tells her that she must seek the help of the great and powerful Oz should she wish to get home. Now in possession of the dead witch's slippers, she sets off down the legendary "Yellow Brick Road" along which she encounters the scarecrow, the tin man and the frequently scene stealing cowardly lion (Bert Lahr) as they set off on their adventures - constantly harassed by the evil "Witch of the West" (Hamilton) who has designs on the shoes! The story evolves in the best traditions of a classic fairytale. Good vs. evil, humour, friendship, a good degree of pantomime menace, a can of WD40 and some small people with squeaky voices all contributing magnificently to the overall cinema experience. The colours of 'Oz" are vivid and joyous - contrasting well with the drab, downbeat monochrome Kansas from whence "Dorothy" has come and to where she hopes to boldly go again! The cast is small and tightly knitted, allowing the relationships and momentum to build up stealthily from Frank Baum's original story to probably the finest denouement of any fantasy film made since. Miss Hamilton's characterisation (I always love a good baddie) reminded me of my English teacher at school - only this one wore less make up; and Bert Lahr and Jack Haley never fail to raise a smile - or even a tear - as they follow their own yellow brick roads. Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen have worked their magic with a score and songs that compliment the adventure splendidly - I wonder how many singers have had a go a "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" since 1939? Despite being over eighty years old, it has lost little of it's magic. The visual effects rely on simplicity and vivacity, and they deliver well a thoroughly engaging story of longing, companionship and the most fiendish laugh in cinema history. Watch it, my pretty... or else!

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My personal favorite non-Disney produced film of all time as well as my personal idol for “melt” movies.