“The Wizard of Oz”
1939 MGM film
This month in film history, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in 1939. This golden age classic was directed by Victor Fleming and starred Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, and Frank Morgan.
As you probably know, the film was based on the children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz –written 39 years earlier by Lyman Frank Baum.
L. Frank Baum
Author: “The Wizard of Oz”
You probably don’t know that Walt Disney Pictures made an unofficial sequel to the film in 1985, titled Return to Oz, which was based on the novel’s sequels, The Marvelous Land of Oz (published in 1904) and Ozma of Oz (published in 1907).
“Return to Oz”
1985 Disney film
This Walt Disney film was directed by Walter Murch and starred Fairuza Balk as Dorothy, who returns to Oz to free the land from the Nome King with the help of her new friends Billina, Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, The Gump, and Princess Ozma. The film received mixed reviews as critics praised the effects and performances but criticized the dark content and twisted visuals. I guess it was too Tim Burton-ish for their tastes. Fittingly, it did manage to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, despite being an overall flop at the box office.
Spoiler alert: there are dozens of film adaptations of Frank Baum’s Oz novels, and I mean dozens upon dozens! Here are a handful of notable ones.
“The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz”
2005
The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, which was released in 2005, starred Ashanti as Dorothy, Queen Latifah as Aunt Em, and –you guessed it– The Muppets as almost everyone else. Miss Piggy (a “diabolical diva”) played all of the witches, Kermit played the Scarecrow, Gonzo played the Tin Man, and Fozzie played the Lion. As a “modernized” adaptation, ABC Studios aimed to incorporate elements from the original novel instead of the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer movie. They also changed Dorothy’s wish from ‘return home’ to ‘become a star,’ which many critics claimed was a selfish goal for the story’s protagonist.
Overall, the film received less than dazzling reviews. Many critics believed it lacked the heart and wit of Jim Henson’s Muppet films and contained jokes and references that were too violent and sexual for its target audience. Others claimed it was a fun and whimsical movie with a fresh take on Frank Baum’s novel.
“Tin Man”
2007 Syfy Network TV Miniseries.
Two years later, RHI Entertainment and Syfy released the three-part miniseries Tin Man on the Sci-fi Channel. Directed by Nick Willin, Tin Man was a completely reimagined story and conceptual sequel “set in the spirit” of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novel. The producers placed plenty of easter eggs to the classic film throughout the show, from lines of dialogue to wardrobe choices.
Zooey Deschanel played the heroine, a descendant of Dorothy Gale named D.G. who battles the sorceress Azkadellia, played by Kathleen Robertson. D.G.’s three friends possess similar parallels with the original characters of the classic novel. Glitch (Alan Cumming) is a former adviser to the Queen whose brain has been removed. Raw (Raoul Trujillo) is a part-man part-lion telepath who sees with his heart rather than his mind. Wyatt Cain (Neal McDonough) is a former policeman who has been imprisoned in an iron suit and forced to watch his family’s destruction on repeat.
According to IMDB, Tin Man broke records by being the highest-rated television event in Syfy Channel history.
“Oz The Great and Powerful”
2013 Disney film
Walt Disney Pictures attempted another Wizard of Oz spin-off in 2013 when they whipped-up Oz the Great and Powerful. In this conceptual prequel to Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, James Franco plays a circus magician named Oscar Driggs who is carried away in a hot air balloon to an unfamiliar place via wind storm. The unfamiliar place turns out to be the Land of Oz, where the prophecy of a wizard’s arrival seizes everyone with hope and expectation. Oscar eagerly steps into a metaphorical pair of shoes that turn out to be too big for him to fill, while the land’s three witches — Theodora (played by Mila Kunis), Evanora (played by Rachel Weisz,) and Glinda (played by Michelle Williams) — remain unconvinced that Oscar is truly what he claims to be. Also, there’s a love triangle.
Despite eliciting mixed reviews from critics, the film was the 13th-highest-grossing movie of 2013 and won the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Live Action Family Film. Interestingly enough, both Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp declined the offered role of Oscar for the film.
Other shows such as Supernatural, Phineas and Ferb, Futurama, Rugrats, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and many more also indulged in creating spoofs and spin-offs of Frank Baum’s classic tale. The list of adaptations goes on and on, and that’s not including the extensive history of books, plays, comics, and radio shows all inspired by one of the most influential children’s novels published one hundred and twenty-one years ago.
So the next time you ask someone what they think about The Wizard of Oz, perhaps you should specify which one you’re referring to.
I’ve always been intrigued by the quote, ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.’ Perhaps that’s why I find such interest in movie adaptations. I believe when art inspires art, a contagious form of magic propagates through the world. It’s a curious thing to see how different versions of similar stories are interpreted by different artists and received by different audiences.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”
-Oscar Wilde
Look forward to more articles about book-to-movie adaptations in the future!
Do you have a book-to-movie adaptation you want us to write an article about? Throw it in the comments!
Ashley Bigbie
By day, Ashley works as a freelance video and audio editor, UPM, and stage manager for local theatrical productions. By night, she writes horror and fantasy novels under the pen name Jen Ellwyn. She has yet to see a bat signal in the sky calling for her aid. www.jenellwyn.com
