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.

Plot

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 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.