4. The Movie - Post-Production and Premiere
4.1. Have any scenes been cut from The Movie since it was released?
4.2. Is it true that "Over the Rainbow" was cut out at one point?
4.3. Are there any flubs or bloopers that made it into The Finished Movie?
4.4. When and where did The Movie first open?
4.5. Wasn't The Movie a flop at the box office when it opened?
4.6. Didn't the critics pan it when it first came out?
4.7. How many times has the film been rereleased?
4.8. Did The Wizard of Oz win any Oscars?
4.9. Where can I see a widescreen version of The Movie?
Once in a while, I'll run across someone who remembers a scene that they think was in The Movie, but isn't now. (These scenes usually involve Dorothy finding the Ruby Slippers on her feet or under her bed once she's back in Kansas. No such scene was ever filmed, however.) But the fact is, The Movie that you see now is The Same Movie audiences first saw in 1939, and nothing has been altered. A few cuts were made for television in the 1970s (all scenes without dialogue), but they have since been restored. If you remember a scene that's not there anymore, you were either at one of the pre-release sneak previews (see below), or you had a vivid imagination as a child.
Almost. After one preview, "Over the Rainbow" was slated to be cut out, as it was felt it slowed The Movie down, and there was some concern about one of MGM's rising stars being seen singing in a farmyard. Fortunately, LeRoy and Freed stepped in and argued that it should be kept in.
Yes, there are lots. See the Bloopers section.
The Wizard of Oz was first seen outside of the MGM studios in mid-June, 1939, where it was sneaked into theaters in the Los Angeles area to gauge audience reaction. This version was not completely edited, however (it was after a sneak preview in either Santa Barbara or San Bernardino that "The Jitterbug" was cut, for instance. The first publicized showing of the final, edited film was at the Strand Theatre in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin on August 12, 1939. No one is sure exactly why a small town in the Midwest received that honor. The official premiere was at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on August 15, attended by most of the cast and crew and a number of Hollywood celebrities. Notably absent, however, was Judy Garland -- she was on the East Coast with Mickey Rooney, rehearsing a vaudeville act. They were preparing for the New York City premiere of The Wizard of Oz at the Capitol Theatre, where they would perform after each performance of The Movie (and publicize their forthcoming movie, Babes in Arms), beginning August 17. After those openings, it continued to open throughout the United States. The Movie was first shown in Canada on September 14, 1939, and Spanish- and Portuguese-language versions opened in Latin America on November 19. The first European release was in December of 1939 in Great Britain.
That depends on how you look at it. It cost nearly three million dollars to make "Oz" in a day when most big movies were made for around a million, so MGM knew it would be tough to make back its costs. Nevertheless, it was one of the biggest hits at the box office in 1939, gathering over three million dollars and breaking attendance records in many cities. It officially lost money, however, because of the high cost of publicity ("Oz" was one of MGM's most ballyhooed films up to that point), prints, and other related expenses. Other factors that cut into Oz's earnings include the high number of children attending screenings, who paid less than adults; the high turnover rate for movies that year (there were so many other films being made in 1939 that none of them could stay at one theater for very long); and the start of World War II in Europe heavily cut into its earnings abroad. This was fine with MGM, as Oz was their "prestige" picture of the year, and wasn't produced to make a profit anyway. MGM was able to recoup its costs on Oz with a successful, high-profile rerelease in 1949.
Not really, no. In fact, the film was nearly universally acclaimed by critics, who often singled out Judy Garland and Bert Lahr's performances. But the praise was not universal. Some of the positive reviews were guarded or reserved in their judgment, and most of the few bad reviews came from some of the most well-known, influential critics of the time. It wasn't until The Movie's 1949 rerelease that the reviews became generally enthusiastic in their praise.
In the United States, the film was first rereleased in 1949, when it did almost as well as upon its initial release. MGM tried once again in 1955, but it was too soon after its last release, and television was making too many inroads into the nation's free time, so it didn't do as well. Later, it was released for children's matinees in 1970 and 1972, and became a staple in college theaters and revival houses around the country. In 1998, the "Special Edition" of The Movie, with its color and sound digitally restored, was shown in theaters all over North America. The Movie has also been released a number of times in other countries.
If Oz had been released in just about any year other than 1939, it might have gotten more attention from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But that year there were so many high quality films, many now considered classics (among them Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Wuthering Heights, Ninotchka, The Women, Gunga Din, Beau Geste, Stagecoach, Jesse James, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, Young Mr. Lincoln, Babes in Arms, Love Affair, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Of Mice and Men, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Intermezzo, Dark Victory, Destry Rides Again, and Drums Along the Mohawk), that it would have been tough to pick any sort of front-runner for Best Picture or other awards. Many movie historians, in fact, consider 1939 to be the best year ever for the American film industry because of all those classics. Nevertheless, Oz probably would have done very well -- if Gone with the Wind hadn't also been released in 1939. It went on to dominate the Academy Awards that year, winning eight Oscars, two honorary awards, and a special citation for producer David O. Selznick.
The Wizard of Oz was nominated for Best Picture, along with Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, and Wuthering Heights. Oz was also nominated in four other categories: Special Effects (the first time an award was ever given in the category), Original Score, Best Song, and Art Direction. The Special Effects Award went to The Rains Came, and Gone with the Wind won the Art Direction and Best Picture Awards. The only category in which Oz won over Gone with the Wind was for Original Score, where Herbert Stothart was presented the Oscar. Under present day Academy rules, songwriters Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg would have also shared in the Original Score award, but they did receive an Oscar for writing the best song, "Over the Rainbow." Judy Garland was also presented with a scaled-down Oscar, a special award for outstanding performance as a screen juvenile in 1939. (Garland later referred to it as "The Munchkin Award," but it was the only Oscar she would ever receive.) Had Best Make-up been a category at the time, it's likely Oz would have won. Victor Fleming picked up the Oscar for Best Director, but it was for Gone with the Wind, not Oz.
You can't. Like most movies of it's time (including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and numerous others), The Wizard of Oz was made with a 4:3 screen ratio -- nearly square, and very similar in shape to an average television screen. It wasn't until the 1950s that widescreen movie formats came along. So if you should ever see any sort of widescreen presentation of The Wizard of Oz, odds are the top and bottom of the picture are being cut off!
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