Sep 12th  
The Wizard of Oz*** (U)                  
(Odeon Printworks Manchester)              

US 1939. MGM. 101m. Technicolor/sepia. IMAX 3-D

Farm girl Dorothy runs away from home but gets caught up in a storm which transports her to the magical land of Oz where she overcomes a wicked witch with the help of her four friends.
The quintessential cinema pantomime, competently transferred into Imax 3D, but still just as good and just as memorable in whatever format. The Munchkins are a bit of a bore, but are quickly over with after the first few reels, the villainous witch is truly terrifying, and the general performances (especially the 17-year old Garland enchantingly convincing as a little girl) and the sporadically charming songs makes this a classic of everlasting endurance which overcomes the sluggishness. Due credit must also be given to the charmingly underplayed sepia bookends as well.

Written by: Noel Langlety, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allen Woolf, from the story by L. Frank Baum.
Producer: Mervyn Le Roy.
Director: Victor Fleming (and Richard Thorpe, King Vidor, George Cukor).
Starring: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan, Bille Burke, Clara Blandick, Charley Grapewin.
Music: Harold Arlen.
Lyrics: E.Y. Harburg.
Photography: Harold Rosson.
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons.

+ previously made as a 1921 silent featuring Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man. See also Oz: Great and Powerful