The Wizard of Oz

This animated version of L. Frank Baum’s novel follows Dorothy from Kansas into the land of Oz and along the road back home again. Toho and Wiz Corporation produced it, Fumihiko Takayama directed, Yoshimitsu Banno and Akira Miyazaki wrote the screenplay, and the animation was done by Topcraft, the studio whose people would later be absorbed into Studio Ghibli. Joe Hisaishi composed the music, and Takayama, better known for science fiction and giant-robot work such as Mobile Suit Gundam 0080, keeps the seventy-eight minutes moving through the scarecrow, the lion and the rest of the road. Oddly for a Japanese production, the English version came out first, playing in the United States with Aileen Quinn voicing Dorothy and Lorne Greene as the Wizard, and becoming a fixture of American cable and syndicated television through the decade. The Japanese version did not appear until 1986.