The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind. The screenplay is credited to Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, but includes contributions from other writers. The film stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Edgar "Yip" Harburg.
The film is celebrated for its use of three-strip Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters. It was a critical success and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow" and Best Original Score for Stothart; an Academy Juvenile Award was presented to Judy Garland. It was on a preliminary list of submissions from the studios for an Academy Award for Cinematography (Color) but was not nominated. While it was sufficiently popular at the box office, it failed to make a profit until its 1949 re-release, earning only $3 million on a $2.7 million budget, making it MGM's most expensive production at the time.
The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on CBS reintroduced it to the public. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, it is the most seen film in cinematic history. In the inaugural class of 1989, it was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is also one of the few films on UNESCO's Memory of the World international register. It was ranked second in Variety's inaugural 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list published in 2022. It was among the top ten in the 2005 British Film Institute (BFI) list of 50 Films to be Seen by the Age of 14 and is on the BFI's updated list of 50 Films to be Seen by the Age of 15 released in May 2020. It has become the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture. It frequently ranks on critics' lists of the greatest films in history and is the most commercially successful adaptation of Baum's work.
Dorothy Gale lives on a Kansas farm with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Her dog Toto is seized by neighbor Almira Gulch, who has obtained a sheriff's order after being bitten by him. Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who runs away to protect him. Professor Marvel, a charlatan fortune teller, leads Dorothy to believe that Aunt Em is sick with heartbreak, which prompts Dorothy to return home. She returns just as a tornado approaches the farm. Unable to get into the locked storm cellar, she takes cover in the farmhouse and is knocked unconscious by a blown out window while inside. She seemingly awakens to find the house moving through the air, with her and Toto still inside it. Various figures float by, including Gulch, who morphs into a witch.
The house comes down in an unknown land, which turns out to be Munchkinland in the Land of Oz. Dorothy is greeted by a good witch named Glinda, who comes down in a bubble and informs her that the house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her. The Munchkins celebrate the witch's death, until her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, shows up. Before she can seize her deceased sister's ruby slippers, Glinda magically transports them onto Dorothy's feet and tells her to keep them on. The wicked witch leaves, but swears vengeance upon Dorothy and Toto. Glinda, before vanishing out of sight in another bubble, tells Dorothy that the Wizard in the Emerald City is the only one who might be able to help her return home. Dorothy sets out down the yellow brick road to see him.
Along the way, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain; the Tin Man, who wants a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, who wants courage. They join Dorothy, hoping that the Wizard can help them as well. They reach the Emerald City, despite the efforts of the Wicked Witch. The Wizard appears as a giant ghostly head and tells them he will grant their wishes if they bring him the Wicked Witch's broom.
During their quest, Dorothy and Toto are captured by flying monkeys and taken to the Wicked Witch's castle. Toto escapes, and leads the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion to the castle. They free Dorothy, but are pursued and finally cornered by the Witch and her guards, the Winkies. She taunts them and sets fire to the Scarecrow's arm. When Dorothy throws a bucket of water onto him, she inadvertently splashes the Witch, causing her to melt away. The Winkies gratefully give Dorothy the Witch's broom, and the group returns to the Wizard, but he tells them to come back the next day. They protest, and Toto pulls back a curtain, revealing the "Wizard" to be an ordinary man operating machinery. When they confront him, he confesses to being a humbug, but "grants" Dorothy's friends' wishes by giving them tokens to confirm that they had the qualities they sought.
The Wizard reveals that he, like Dorothy, is from Kansas and accidentally arrived in Oz in a hot air balloon. He attempts to take her back to Kansas aboard it, but when Toto jumps out and Dorothy goes after him, the balloon lifts off with just the Wizard aboard. Glinda then reappears and tells Dorothy she always had the power to return to Kansas using the ruby slippers, but had to find that out for herself. After sharing a tearful farewell with her friends, Dorothy clicks her heels three times and repeats, "There's no place like home."
Dorothy awakens in her own bed in Kansas. She recounts her adventures, but Aunt Em says that she just had a bad dream. Dorothy tells Professor Marvel and the farmhands that they were in Oz also, and they smile, humoring her. As she hugs Toto, she gratefully exclaims, "Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home!"
In order of appearance on the film's closing credits list. Whenever a Kansas character has a counterpart in Oz, only that Kansas character is listed in the film's credits. For example, Frank Morgan is listed as playing Professor Marvel, but not the Wizard of Oz. The only Oz characters listed in the credits are Glinda, Nikko, and the Munchkins.
Frank Morgan as Professor Marvel/Wizard of Oz/Gatekeeper/Carriage Driver/Wizard's Guard
Bert Lahr as Zeke/Cowardly Lion
Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch of the North
Margaret Hamilton as Almira Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West
Charley Grapewin as Uncle Henry
Pat Walshe as Nikko (leader of the Winged Monkeys)
The Singer Midgets as the Munchkins (See Munchkin § Actors and actresses)
Mitchell Lewis as Winkie Guard Captain