The Wizard of Oz

Victor Fleming’s 1939 film follows Dorothy, blown out of Kansas by a cyclone. One director is credited; five worked on it. Norman Taurog shot the Technicolor tests, Richard Thorpe lasted about two weeks, George Cukor reworked Judy Garland’s look without exposing a frame, Fleming finished the Technicolor Oz material and left for Gone with the Wind, and King Vidor completed the rest: the sepia farm scenes, the cyclone, Professor Marvel and Over the Rainbow. The Kansas passages are sepia toned, not black and white. Buddy Ebsen, the first Tin Man, had his lungs coated with the aluminium powder in his makeup and lost the role to Jack Haley. Margaret Hamilton was burned on 28 December 1938 by the fire effect for her Munchkinland exit, and could not work until the second week of February 1939. Both awards it won in 1940 were musical, Music (Original Score) and Music (Song). It was only nominated for Art Direction, Special Effects and the top prize, then called Outstanding Production rather than Best Picture, which Gone with the Wind took. Garland got a special miniature statuette as a juvenile performer. A good fit if you will check whether your copy keeps Kansas sepia. Not for you if you want one director’s signature, since King Vidor shot Over the Rainbow, not Fleming.