After the Wizard
Well, I went and saw The Wizard of Oz on the big screen, and overall I loved it. But...
Flaws
As shown, the top and bottom of the film was cropped. I noticed this almost immediately when the opening prologue text seemed to be missing half a line at the top. It was most noticeable in two scenes. The first was where the Witch threatens Dorothy and group from the roof of the Tin Man's house next to the yellow brick road. The Witch's head was cropped out of the frame as she speaks! Also, the classic scene where Dorothy says "And you were thee, and you were there... was severely cropped so that you could barely see Dorothy at all. In fact it looked like this (greyed areas did not show).
I mentioned this cropping to the staff, because maybe other films got cropped as well (for instance, yesterday when I saw THOR bits of both sides were outside the screen).
It was clear by the number and type of scratches on the film, and times the colour registration went out of focus (presumably on a reel change), that this was real film, rather than a digital distribution of the same (which i know they use at that cinema because when I saw Avatar in the same theatre we had to wait for the download). In a way that's really nice, but all the same it detracted from the film.
Notes
Was the Cowardly Lion one of the original inspirations for furries and Furry Fandom?- I was watching Toto all the way through the film, and it's interesting to note that he's carried for more screen time than when he walks. There's a scene where he's placed on a tractor seat and it's clear THE DOG WANTS TO GET DOWN. Otherwise he behaves a lot like my dog Bobby, who is also a smaller breed. He watches and wags his tail at anyone who dances, and on more than occasion that he's being cued by a wrangler off-screen.
- There appears to be at least a couple of cut scenes. Dorothy and friends enter the haunted forest and the scarecrow is carrying a gun (which looks made out of tin); the lion carries an insecticide sprayer, and the tin man has a large butterfly net. The Witch sends not only the flying monkeys but also a swarm of bees to attack them. So, there was probably a scene setting up having them carrying those items, and also one where they kill the bees, and both seem to have been cut (probably because they didn't flow with the rest of the film).
- There is no munchkin hanging from a tree in a certain scene, having committed suicide by hanging himself. It's clear on the big screen that it's a bird like a pelican, and as the scene transitions to the next, you can see it fly off the set!
- The munchkins really can't dance well or act much either. It doesn't matter that much though as we the audience are all focussed on Glinda and Dorothy singing.
- As I watched a song by the Cowardly Lion about courage, I realised that the alliteration in part of another song from Sweeney Todd (about putting people into pies) was directly inspired by it. Check out the links and hear what I mean.
- On the big screen all the backdrops look very very flat. That really doesn't matter if you treat the film as a straight musical, adapted from a stage show (I doubt that it was). The song I mention above makes sense in a stage show, because it would give the performer playing the guard/wizard time to change costume for the next act (sorry, but I'm spoilt after seeing Wicked).
Some thoughts about the original book, Wicked and the film and stage musical (SPOILERS!!!)
The book of Wicked is very different in tone from the Musical. It is more downbeat, realistic and final than the stage version. In comparison, the stage production is a light and frothy latte, compared with the book's dark turkish coffee.
In the book, Elphaba is dead by the end of it. Only a very slender hope is offered that she might return - there is no trapdoor where she hid, no secret happy ending - she dies.
The stage show has a framework around the stage which seems to be a dragon. It wasn't until I read the book that I realised that this was the Time Dragon, and in the book there is (to quote wikipedia):
"The Clock of the Time Dragon" A travelling show, which contains many magicked tik-tok puppets that act out prophetic scenes. At the top of the tower-like container that holds the show, there is a painted clock, hands perpetually at one minute to midnight and above that, a tik-tok dragon so lifelike as to strike awe in the hearts of all who see it.
...so the Musical itself can be seen as just such a show, the performers it's puppets, and the whole musical a prophetic reduction of what happens in the book - similar but changed.
Likewise, the 1939 film simplified the original book, dropping whole characters and whole chapters from it. There really isn't a framing device of a dream in the book - Dorothy really does go to OZ via a tornado. A whole adventure in a land of china people is absent (not to mention hammerheads!).
It can be looked at this way. The original book is Dorothy's version of events of what happened to her, as best she could recollect, with gaps in her knowledge guessed at. But she was a young girl. The Wicked book on the other hand is what "might have happened" in gritty detail. The 1939 film reflects that but simplifies the story, as does the musical for the book Wicked.
So yeah - I really enjoyed it!