The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 musical film about a young Kansas girl cast into a fantasy world. Her efforts to return home are aided by three unusual companions, each with a quest of his own.

Directed by Victor Fleming. Written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Music by Harold Arlen, Lyrics by Yip Harburg.

The Greatest Picture in the History of Entertainment Taglines

Dedication

For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart; and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion.

To those of you who have been faithful to it in return ...and to the Young in Heart – we dedicate this picture.

Dorothy

• (first lines) She isn't coming yet, Toto. Did she hurt you? She tried to, didn't she? Come on – we'll go tell Uncle Henry and Auntie Em. Come on, Toto!

• Someplace where there isn't any trouble... (tossing a piece of her cruller to Toto) ...do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat or train. It's far, far away... beyond the moon... beyond the rain.
  (singing) Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,
  There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
  Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue,
  And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

• Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!
  • (Note: This line is ranked #4 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.)

• My! People come and go so quickly here!

• There's Emerald City! Oh, we're almost there at last! At last! It's beautiful, isn't it? Just like I knew it would be! He really must be a wonderful wizard to live in a city like that!

• Well, I... I think that it... that it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em... and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard; because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.

• There's no place like home; there's no place like home; there's no place like home...

• [last lines] Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home – home! And this is my room – and you're all here – and I'm not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all! And... oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home!

Hunk/Scarecrow

• Now lookit, Dorothy – you ain't using your head about Miss Gulch. Think you didn't have any brains at all!

• You see, I can't even scare a crow! They come from miles around just to eat my fields and... and laugh in my face. Oh, I'm a failure, because I haven't got a brain!

• Why, if I had a brain I could...
  (singing) I could while away the hours,
  Conferrin' with the flowers,
  Consultin' with the rain.
  And my head I'd be scratchin'
  While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
  If I only had a brain.

• The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh, joy, rapture! I've got a brain!

Hickory/Tin Man

• (almost inaudibly) Oil can! Oil can!

• (singing) When a man's an empty kettle,
  He should be on his mettle,
  And yet I'm torn apart.
  Just because I'm presumin'
  That I could be kind-a human
  If I only had a heart.

• Now I know I've got a heart... 'Cause it's breaking.

Zeke/Cowardly Lion

• Listen, kid – are you going to let that old Gulch heifer try and buffalo ya? She ain't nothing to be afraid of. Have a little courage, that's all.

• It's a twister... it's a twister!

• (to Tin Man) How long can ya stay fresh in that can? (Laughs.) Come on! Get up and fight, ya shiverin' junkyard. (to Scarecrow) Put ya hands up, ya lopsided bag of hay!

• Well, wouldn't you feel degraded to be seen in the company of a cowardly lion? I would. (sobbing)

• (singing) Yeah, it's sad, believe me, Missy,
  When you're born to be a sissy,
  Without the vim and verve.
  But I could show my prowess,
  Be a lion, not a "mowess,"
  If I only had the nerve.

• Trapped! Trapped like mice – (correcting himself) – er – rats!

• (after being awarded the Triple Cross) Hah, hah, shucks, folks, I'm speechless!

Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch

• That dog's a menace to the community. I'm taking him to the Sheriff and make sure he's destroyed.

• [to Glinda] Very well – I'll bide my time. [to Dorothy] And as for you, my fine lady, it's true I can't attend to you here and now as I'd like; but just try to stay out of my way – just try! I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too! [With a burst of laughter, she whirls around and vanishes in a burst of smoke and fire and a clap of thunder.]

• When I gain those ruby slippers, my power will be the greatest in Oz!

• [to Nikko, leader of the winged monkeys] Take your army to the Haunted Forest and bring me that girl and her dog. Do what you like with the others, but I want her alive and unharmed! They'll give you no trouble, I promise you that. I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Take special care of those ruby slippers – I want those most of all! Now fly – fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!

• [last words] Ohhh! You cursed brat! Look what you've done! I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness! Ohhh! Look out! Look out! I'm going! Ohhhh – Ohhhhhhhhhh!

Aunt Em

• Almira Gulch... just because you own half the county doesn't mean you have the power to run the rest of us! For twenty-three years I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you... and now... well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!

• (calling wildly into the storm) Dorothy! Dorothy!

Professor Marvel/The Wizard

• Professor Marvel never guesses – he knows!

• [after Toto grabs a wienie off his fork] Ha, ha, ha! He's perfectly welcome! Heh, heh! There's one dog to another, huh?

• This is the same, genuine, magic, authentic crystal used by the priests of Isis and Osiris in the days of the Pharaohs of Egypt... in which Cleopatra first saw the approach of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony... and... and so on and so on.

• [to his horse] Better get under cover, Sylvester! There's a storm "blowin' up a whopper," to speak in the vernacular of the peasantry. [worried as he gazes after Dorothy] Poor little kid! I hope she gets home all right.

• Come forward!

• The beneficent Oz has every intention of granting your requests! ...But first you must prove yourselves worthy by performing a very small task. Bring me the broomstick of the Witch of the West!

• Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great Oz has spoken!

• [after the Scarecrow accuses him for not keeping his promise about giving him a brain] Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain!

• [to Scarecrow] Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitatus Committeeatum e pluribus unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of Th.D.

• [to Lion] As for you, my fine friend, you're a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You're confusing courage with wisdom.

• [to Tin Man] As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart! You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.

• [to Tin Man] Back where I come from, there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phil... er... phil... er... [trying to say "philanthropists"] yes... er... good-deed-doers. And their hearts are no bigger than yours – But! they have one thing you haven't got. A testimonial. Therefore, in consideration of your kindness, I take pleasure at this time in presenting you with a small token of our esteem and affection. And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.

• I can't come back! I don't know how it works! [waving to the crowd] Good-bye, folks!

Glinda

• [to Dorothy when she first meets her] Are you a good witch – or a bad witch?

• Well, I'm a little muddled. The Munchkins called me because a new witch has just dropped a house on the Wicked Witch of the East. And there's the house – and here you are – and that's all that's left of the Wicked Witch of the East.

• Let the joyous news be spread – the wicked old witch at last is dead!

• Just follow the Yellow Brick Road.

• [to Dorothy] You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.

The Munchkins

• (singing) Ding Dong, the witch is dead,
  Which old witch?
  The wicked witch.
  Ding Dong, the wicked witch is dead!

• (singing) You're off to see the Wizard,
  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
  You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz
  If ever a Wiz there was.
  If ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was
  The Wizard of Oz is one because
  Because, because, because, because, because...
  Because of the wonderful things he does.

Dialogue

Dorothy: Oh, I'd give anything to get out of Oz altogether; but which is the way back to Kansas? I can't go the way I came!

The Munchkins shake their heads regretfully.

Glinda: No, that's true. The only person who might know would be the great and wonderful Wizard of Oz himself.

All the Munchkins bow reverently at the name.

Dorothy: (noticing the Munchkins' reaction) The Wizard of Oz? Is he good or is he wicked?

Glinda: Oh, very good; but very mysterious. He lives in the Emerald City, and that's a long journey from here.

----

Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?

Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?

----

Dorothy: Do – do you suppose we'll meet any wild animals?

Tin Man: Mmm, we might.

Dorothy: Oh!

Scarecrow: Animals that – that eat straw?

Tin Man: (nonchalantly) Uh, some. But mostly lions and tigers and bears.

Dorothy: Lions?

Scarecrow: And tigers?

Tin Man: (nodding) And bears.

Dorothy: Oh! Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my!

----

Dorothy: What kind of a horse is that? I've never seen a horse like that before!

Cabby: No, and never will again, I fancy! There's only one of him, and he's it. He's the Horse of a Different Color you've heard tell about! (Laughs.)

----

Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy – Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch – guards or no guards – I'll tear 'em apart – Woof! I may not come out alive, but I'm goin' in there! There's only one thing I want you fellas to do.

Scarecrow and Tin Man: What's That?

Lion: Talk me out of it!

----

Dorothy: Oh, you're a very bad man!

Wizard: Oh, no, my dear, I – I'm, a very good man. I'm just a very bad wizard.

----

Dorothy: Weren't you frightened?

Wizard: Frightened? You are talking to a man who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe. I was petrified!

Taglines

• The Greatest Picture In The History Of Entertainment!

• Gaiety! Glory! Glamour!

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Technicolor Triumph!

• Biggest Screen Sensation Since "Snow White"!

• The Mighty Miracle Show That Is The Talk Of America!

• Amazing Sights To See ! The Tornado . . . Munchkinland . . . Horse Of A Different Color . . . Startling Balloon Ascent . . . Flying Monkeys . . . Trees That Talk And Throw Apples

• Mighty Miracle Show Of 1000 Delights!

Cast

• Judy Garland - Dorothy Gale
• Frank Morgan - Professor Marvel/Emerald City Doorman/Cabbie/The Wizard's Guard/The Wizard of Oz
• Ray Bolger - Hunk/The Scarecrow
• Bert Lahr - Zeke/The Cowardly Lion
• Jack Haley - Hickory/The Tin Man
• Billie Burke - Glinda, the Good Witch of the North
• Margaret Hamilton - Miss Almira Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West
• Charley Grapewin - Uncle Henry Gale
• Pat Walshe - Nikko, the Wicked Witch's Head Winged Monkey
• Clara Blandick - Aunt Emily 'Auntie Em' Gale
• Terry (credited as Toto) - Toto the Dog