"Toto, I've a feeling were not in Kansas anymore." This quote from the movie The Wizard of Oz, along with many others, has always struck a nostalgic tune for many. It drives them straight back to the first time they encountered this Technicolor masterpiece.
The whimsical music storyboard and over-the-top visuals are what make this movie stand out in a crowd of musicals. The music in the movie is easy to hum along too even after only seeing the movie once. The most memorable song "Somewhere over the Rainbow," is repeated eight times throughout with different tempos. This type of repetition makes a song very hard to forget. The reoccurrence of a melody happens again with the "Witch's Song," which appears every time she does, inevitably to invoke the suspense of the protagonist.
The dialogue is spoken at a very fast rhythm for the majority the movie with sing-song undertone. A person would have to be much focused to understand every word spoken. Even with the fast paced dialogue the storyline is easily conveyed through the emotions of the actors and the music.
There was also multiple times when foreshadowing gave viewers a preview to the movie. The situation that stands out the most is when the audience is first introduced to Dorothy’s uncles. They all give tag lines to their characters they play in the Land of Oz. The final observation was that Professor Marvel actually plays four roles in the Land of Oz; the original door keep, the carriage driver, the guard, and finally the Wizard of Oz. The staffing on set must have been lacking that day of filming.
This movie is a legend that will continue to be remembered for generations to come.
I did not realize that Professor Marvel was all of those people. This was the first time that I ever noticed who the Tin-man, Scarecrow, and Lion were. I never gave too much thought to the movie. It was a true masterpiece of its time though. Over the Rainbow is used all over the place now. My children still have toys that play that song with the pull of a string or spin of a dial so I can easily see how it is still making money today.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find a lot of the speakers to be overly fast unless it was the intent in some of the scenes however, that was the intent numerous times throughout the movie.
Did you notice the camera angles that they used to make the "Munchkins" look shorter than they really were? this was my favorite part of the movie.