The Wizard Of Oz BUY 5 and up

Yeah! I'm going to see a movie! Hopefully a good one.....

               This post is part of an amazing blogathon hosted by the one and only Forgotten Classics Of Yesteryear. I'm so honored to be here because I'm a huge fan of the blog for it has introduced me to some of my new favorite movies that I probably would have never heard of had I not read the blog.


This is a VHS for you young readers out there.

           When I was in Kindergarten, I never was fascinated with movies at all. Sure, I would watch my healthy dose of Disney/Pixar/Warner Brothers. But, I wasn't compelled by them to find out other movies to watch or to explore the people who actually made the films. Then, I saw the film that forever changed my life.

      My mother always would go to Blockbuster to rent videos for me to watch. (This was before Netflix and DVDs made it easier to watch films.) One day, she rented a video that she knew I was ready to watch. The movie was called The Wizard Of Oz.

        Now, you have seen and know everything about this movie, so I won't be going over the plot or background behind it. I'll be writing just about my thoughts of the film. The reason is that a person's thoughts about a beloved film is more powerful than the history of the film. Especially if he is a young toddler who's obsessed with Dr. Seuss. Now, let's move on.
           When I first saw the Serpia Kansas farm scenes, I at first questioned why the film wasn't in color. Instead of my mother lecturing me about the history of film, she just told that there's a surprise coming later. So, I patiently waited to see this surprise. In other words, I wanted the Kansas scenes to be over with when I first saw it. But, nowadays I kinda like them. They have a wholesome quality that catches you off guard. For example, after the evil Mrs. Gulch takes Toto away from Dorothy, Auntie Em says to her, " For forty years, I've always wanted to say this to you." A modern film would have her say a quote like "You are a godless woman!" Instead, Auntie Em says " But now, I'm a Christian woman and I can't say things like that anymore now." When you analyze it now, you see that Auntie Em hates this woman so much but because of her values, she won't give in to the temptation of cursing her, which would her character seem unfavorable in front of the family.

There's something out there for us, Toto.

        The best scene in the entire movie is the classic scene where Dorothy sings the classic song called "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". When I first saw it, Dorothy represented childhood wanting better and new things to do, and I identified with her because her life was misunderstood by her family, and the song represents hope and a better future. Now, I always cry at the scene. It's so beautiful.  
       After a visit to the local fortune teller, a twister hits the area. This part always creeped me out as a kid. None was more terrifying than Dorothy's own family accidentally locking her and poor Toto out of the shelter! I know that the tornado made it impossible for them to hear her cries, but as a kid, I was shocked to see Dorothy's loved ones abandoning her to the evil of the storm, and blocking the only way out of the dangerous situation! If that didn't terrify me enough, then we have poor Dorothy being knocked out by a flying window. What the heck!
           After a dream sequence that ended with a thunderous boom of the house, Dorothy wakes up and walks toward the door. When she opens it, the world changes from boring black and white to a colorful wonderland that's apparently been built out of plastic. But, it still is an impressive scene because of the way we are introduced to Oz with the magical score and beautiful cinematography.
         She finds out from Glinda, a.k.a the Good Witch, that she accidentally killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Since she was so wicked, the Munchkins who live around here are pleased with this that they sing an entire song dedicated to her. It's actually a charming sequence because the audience gets to know that the citizens are really happy to have someone rescue them from their villan. Apparently, since this is a children's film, we need to have a villan to come along and spoil the charming scene for a while. Enter the Wicked Witch of the West, and everyone but I was scared by her. I don't know what was wrong with me, but maybe I had seen people getting dressed up like her at Halloween. So, I was not scared by her because I knew what was coming already.
                 She's apparently upset with Dorothy because Dorothy not only killed her sister but she also got a hold of the MacGuffin that's very valuable here. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the Ruby Slippers, but I digress. Glinda saves Dorothy by saying the coolest thing ever. She says, " Go away because you have no power here." That quote is basically saying that evil won't win and it should get the heck out of here before the powerful good comes along and kills evil.


We're off to see the wizard and to kill a wicked witch!

             After the Wicked Witch leaves via explosion, Dorothy and Toto are shown the way to Oz via the Yellow Bricked Road. Along the way, she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion who accompany her for the trip. These characters were awesome for they not only help the main character but they have probelms that we can relate with. That's pretty rare considering the sterotypes in modern films.   
        Long story short: They get caught in the  infamous poppy fields, but they get rescued by Glinda. They arrive to Oz where they participate in the Cowardly Lion's worst song ever. I'm not kidding. This song is just horrible to listen to, and Oz just looked too green for me. Luckily, we get to see the Wizard's big face come the heck out of nowwhere and scare the living daylights out of us. Thank you.
            The Wizard tells them that they must kill the Wicked Witch and bring him her magic broom. But, Dorothy gets captured by her flying monkeys whom always are cool to me. Seriously, you have monkeys with wings. What idea can't be so stupid in real life but is cooler in fantasy?!?
       The scene where Dorothy is locked in the castle brings real peril to me for the timer is running out and we know that if the trio of sidekicks don't hurry up, there's not going to be a happy ending. Luckily, they do arrive and after a chase through the castle, Dorothy kills the Witch by throwing a bucket of water at her. That's an epic villain death scene because she literally melts away into nothing! That scene gave me nightmares for weeks but they always ended with the Witch dying. :)
       The Wizard is shown to be a good-hearted fake who helps the trio realize that they had everything that they needed with them the entire time. Eventually, Glinda shows Dorothy the way home via clicking her ruby slippers three times. She returns home, and says the classic line, "There's no place like home."
             This is my favorite movie of all time. It not only has imagination, but has great acting, sets, directing and mostly good songs. But, it also revelaed to me that movies could be the most magicial thing ever. So to find out more, I started viewing other films that are now favorites of mine. Thank you, Oz.
       

There's No Place Like Home.

         
   

Holy Cow!: The Most Dangerous Game (1932) RENT 12+ (Depending on their capacity for scary stuff)

                Now, most of you guys are going to see The Hunger Games, and you're probably thinking that we aren't that obsessed and crazed with a bloody and devastating sport as the characters in that awesome movie do. You're wrong as we keep our eyes glued to televised sporting events like football, soccer, boxing, wrestling, car racing and of course hunting/fishing.  This makes our judgment seems weak, but at least we have rules for those types and it's much safer today than back then. Especially, when you consider that long ago, (and still today) many people thought that hunting was the greatest sport ever, despite the billions of animals, (and some random humans) that have died in it. (If a sport is deadly, don't say that it's the greatest thing ever. Otherwise, you'd be saying that Dick Cheney shot that guy in self-defense.)
       Maybe we like pain and torture when they,or we, hunted for food or for pointless trophies. But, whatever the case, be glad that you weren't playing with General Zaroff in Richard Connell's classic tale that makes us reconsider about what the hunted feels like. This tale is so well beloved that Hollywood seems to remake/spoof/remix this every single decade, and it all started with this 1932 chiller from the same guys that brought you the masterpiece, King Kong. That's right. M.C.Cooper produced, Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong starred,and Max Steiner composed this puppy just one year prior to that other masterpiece. Heck, even this was filmed on the same sound set and studio as Kong. Now, let's take a look at this one strange and crazy movie.
        On one dark and not-so-stormy night, Bob Rainsford (played by Joel McCrea) is traveling on board a cabin cruiser, and he's a famed hunter who believes that the hunted likes being hunted, and the hunters (like him) loves being the hunter. Yeah, right. However, before he can go on his merry little way, the ship sails through a channel near an island. This turns out to be a bad idea because it suddenly explodes and sinks. Yes! I'm a huge fan of shipwrecks, so I love this sequence even though there's no such thing in the story. :) Tragically, Rainsford is the only one left alive, and he washes upon the deserted island. Sadly, it's not populated by tourists and a hungry shark.
           However, he discovers that it is inhabited by a huge mansion with a strange door handle. I wished I had one. When he goes inside, he meets the owner, a charming yet cartoonish Russian hunter named General Zaroff, played by Lesile Banks. There, he learns that there have been other guests here as a result of numerous shipwrecks and there are some right now in the house. Later, he meets them-- a brother and sister which are played by the two main stars from King Kong. Does that mean that we will see the famed ape himself ? Sadly,not today. :(  Meanwhile, General Zaroff tells his guests that hunting has always been his number one thing in life, but after hunting every animal in existence, he got bored. So, he went to this forbidden island, and invented "the most dangerous game".

You look good-looking, Mr. Bob.

Even though he refuses to tell them what the beast is, Eve gets suspicious and whispers to Rainsford that several nights ago, the two sailors that saved them disappeared while with our nice host.
         Later that night, Eve's stupid drunk brother goes missing, and the couple decides to look for him in the secret trophy room. Much to their dismay/fright, they discover ....... okay, I'm not going to spoil it for you. Wait till you see it, because it's even more terrifying than the dogs in The Hunger Games! Oops, I've spoiled something. Well, skip the next paragraph if  you haven't seen this movie, or read the book.
         In there, they discover that Zaroff's game is to wreck ships, take the survivors in, hunt them on this creepy island, and once he has killed them, he brings them to be stuffed. Once they learn this, they demand that Zaroff to let them off. He agrees to do so, but only if they can survive his hunting expedition. Can they survive this psychopath's sport?
           This one is nothing like the story except for for some highlights. For instance, there was no woman accompanying Rainsford for the journey, there was no freaking shipwreck, and there's about a million of other details that I wished was in here/kicked out since I'm a fan of the story. Sadly, Hollywood in the 1930s had to publicize this story for release, since we were in the Great Depression. (Hollywood, I forgive you this time.)
             If the story's adaption bums me, why is it featured in The Criterion Collection of all places? It's because the mood and feel can give the viewers goosebumps, even nightmares. Come on, think about it. A man and his girlfriend are chased down by a crazed killer on a jungle-fested island with dogs on their tail has got to terrify everyone in some one's mind one time or another. This is also a great use of foreshadowing in the movies. All of the details in here point to something bad. A reoccurring "bad luck" card symbolizes a shipwreck, while a look on a man's face leads Eve to believe that General Zaroff had something to do with the men's demise. Even the music is foreshadowing doom as it plays like a twisted, devilish trumpet signaling the grand chase. The acting's great fun, and it always interested me how much King Kong and The Most Dangerous Game shared so much in common. Even the sailor's screams came straight from the former film.
            Parents, there are some concerns  here: there are severed heads in the trophy room, Robert Armstrong's character plays drinking as a comical matter, sharks are attacking sailors, the dogs are creepier than the Doberman in Hugo, the Russians are played stupidly, and the woman really is a damsel in distress. Since this is a Pre-Code film, there is violence, and minimal sexual references. The main concern is the entire mood as it's probably not for young kids at all. This can give them nightmares. Also, if your teen is a fan of the story, this is not for them for reasons above.

Do Not Run Into King Kong At All! 

           If you want to give your child a great introduction to foreshadowing and chills, show them this treat, as it has an anti-hunting message and asks us that infamous question that would bug us again in Planet Of The Apes; what is it like for the hunted animals? Do they enjoy it?