The Wizard of Oz (1939)

I'm not a huge fan of musicals. With a few exceptions, I'd rather watch a film in which the plot is forwarded through action and where emotion is expressed by acting; the few musicals I love I tend to skip the singing bits, with Singing in the Rain and Enchanted pretty much the only ones I watch uninterrupted. It's probably no coincidence that both have a slightly post-modern approach to the musical.

The Wizard of Oz is not one of those exceptions. Every time they burst into song I mentally go into sleep-mode, just waiting for the action to start up again.

But that's just a personal prejudice, most people love musicals. They're opera for the modern age. I do like this film, even if mostly it's because of nostalgia rather than merit. It's a film I've watched with family at Christmas, and which has been parodied and referenced until it's simply a part of our cultural consciousness.

Watching it again, and in a formal setting, I was able to take a more objective view. And objectively? It's patchy.

On the bad side is the acting. It's overdone and stagey in the worst pattern of films of this era. There's also the horribly tedious pacing, which means we have to sit through endless sequences with the oompa-loompas or whatever it is they are, or the Lion's interminable song.

I do like the effects, I've had a great affection for miniature effects since my immersion in Classic Doctor Who (which you might have thought would have cured my impatience with pacing, what with 4 hour storylines) and the design overall is very imaginative. This would have been better if it hadn't been for the faulty projector, which washed out all the reds - important in a film where a plot point is a red pair of shoes.

My feelings about the ending are mixed, and I think it's very open to interpretation. My view is that it's a stinging critique of American society, but it's either incredibly subtle or just my own imagination, because most people see it as just a happy ending.To me, the fact that instead of courage the Tin Man is given a medal is meant to be an attack on the kinds of soldiers who never went to war but were decorated handsomely - something which would be alive in the memories of ordinary people only twenty years after the Great War. The Wizard, to me, is one of the most sinister characters - a deceiver as much as his real-world counterpart and far less likable than the amiably OTT Wicked Witch.

Wizard of Oz is undoubtedly a film you should watch, but I have grave doubts about its ideas and execution. Maybe next time I'll cue up Dark Side of the Moon and see if that agrees with me any more.