The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The film is known for its use of 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. While the film was sufficiently popular at the box office, it failed to make a profit for MGM 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.
Plot
In rural Kansas, Dorothy Gale lives on a farm owned by her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Dorothy's neighbor, Almira Gulch, who had been bitten by Dorothy's dog, Toto, obtains a sheriff's order authorizing her to seize Toto. Toto escapes and returns to Dorothy, who runs away to protect him. Professor Marvel, a charlatan fortune-teller, persuades Dorothy to go home because Aunt Em is heartbroken. She returns just as a tornado approaches the farm. Unable to get into the locked storm cellar, Dorothy takes cover in the farmhouse and is knocked unconscious as the tornado lifts the house and drops it intact onto an unknown land.