Post by klep on Jul 6, 2020 7:26:21 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 7/6: Return to Oz
FANTASY WEEK!
Note: This week's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor.
I've long been a fan of the original Oz books by L. Frank Baum. I don't know if most people read them these days; I think most people are considerably more familiar with Judy Garland. She's not a bad Dorothy, really, though she's miscast in several ways—not least that she was too old, which the producers knew and which led to her breasts being taped down so she could still appear prepubescent. This was not a problem with the casting of Fairuza Balk, who was eleven at the time—about the age of Book-Dorothy. It is only one of a number of ways that this movie, despite being of two of the books smashed together, is a more accurate portrayal of the story of Dorothy Gale.
It is a year since Dorothy went to Oz. Her Uncle Henry (Matt Clark) and Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) are worried; she doesn't sleep through the night, and she won't stop talking about this Oz place as though it's real. Em determines to take Dorothy to a doctor who claims to be able to cure mental health problems, and since this is around the turn of the last century, we know that's going to be scary. In this case, electroshock. When she is supposed to receive her treatment, there is an electrical storm, and the power in the building goes out. Dorothy runs away, events happen, and she ends up in Oz again.
Only it is not Oz as she remembers it, and this is one of the things that scares the bejeezus out of many young viewers. We see the ominous graffiti "Beware the Wheelers," and the Wheelers are pretty frightening. They are cruel gangsters, running rampant over Oz. Then we meet Princess Mombi (Jean Marsh, who was also the nurse in the asylum), who has thirty heads. She locks Dorothy up; Dorothy escapes with Jack Pumpkinhead (various puppetteers and the voice of Brian Henson), Billina the Hen (the voice of Denise Bryer), and a creature they make using the head of a Gump (Lyle Conway). And then, they end up in the Court of the Nome King (the voice of Nicol Williamson, who was also the doctor). And any number of people will tell you how much it scared them as a child.
I'm actually a couple of years younger than Fairuza Balk, but despite seeing this in the theatre, I'm pretty sure I'd already ready both the books it's based on. This is an amalgamation of the books The Marvelous Land of Oz—in which Dorothy doesn't even appear—and Ozma of Oz, the first book where Dorothy meets Ozma (in this movie Emma Ridley). I'd read several of the others, too, though I've yet to read through even just all the Baum books. (Plenty more have been written in the years since his death by various other authors.) This movie introduces several characters from each and conflates two together.
Because, yes, let us start with Mombi. Mombi the witch appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz as the witch who has taken charge of the infant Princess Ozma. At the end of that book, she's stripped of her powers. She only has one head. However, in Ozma of Oz, Princess Langwidere of Ev, a country across the desert from Oz, is the one with thirty heads—and one dress, a simple white one. Ev isn't mentioned in this movie, but its anarchy with Langwidere in charge is how we see Oz. Langwidere isn't a fan of the Nome King, but she also isn't a fan of the work of ruling a kingdom that isn't even hers; I don't remember exactly how she's related to the royal family of Ev, but she's only regent while the queen and her ten children are prisoners in the Nome King's palace.
There is an incredible amount of world-building in the books, and considerably more of it appears here than in the Garland movie. Sure, we've lost an entire country—the magic carpet Ozma uses in the third book to cross the desert actually makes a lot more sense than "there's suddenly an ocean and then there's not"—but there's still more to know about Oz here than you might realize. And even that's a pale imitation of what's in the books. I've been advocating for years for a good animated adaptation, for preference a series. This has work from Will Vinton and the Henson Creature Shop, which is a good second best to that, but still.
It is also a movie that lets us consider a few what-might-have-beens. Oh, Tim Curry or Christopher Lloyd as the Nome King, that's ordinary enough. Don Knotts as Billina is a little stranger—well, a lot stranger. Dick Van Dyke as Jack Pumpkinhead or the Scarecrow, whatever. The assorted choices for Mombi aren't terribly noteworthy—Louise Fletcher would have been an interesting choice, given the asylum bits, but still. What's fascinating, though, is who auditioned for Ozma. Drew Barrymore. Juliette Lewis. Elizabeth Berkley. And most fascinating of all, Alanis Morissette, who hadn't even been on You Can't Do That on Television yet. What a choice.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 7/13: A Trip to the Moon
SCIENCE FICTION WEEK!
Come join us next week for the birth of science fiction in cinema with the legendary George Méliès and his equally legendary short A Trip to the Moon. Be sure to join us next week for our discussion of our oldest Movie of the Week yet! A Trip to the Moon is readily available on YouTube.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 7/7: A Mighty Wind
The next edition of the Next Picture Show podcast pairs this Christopher Guest classic with the new David Dobkin film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of the older film, available on Hulu and for rent in the usual places.
FANTASY WEEK!
Note: This week's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor.
I've long been a fan of the original Oz books by L. Frank Baum. I don't know if most people read them these days; I think most people are considerably more familiar with Judy Garland. She's not a bad Dorothy, really, though she's miscast in several ways—not least that she was too old, which the producers knew and which led to her breasts being taped down so she could still appear prepubescent. This was not a problem with the casting of Fairuza Balk, who was eleven at the time—about the age of Book-Dorothy. It is only one of a number of ways that this movie, despite being of two of the books smashed together, is a more accurate portrayal of the story of Dorothy Gale.
It is a year since Dorothy went to Oz. Her Uncle Henry (Matt Clark) and Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) are worried; she doesn't sleep through the night, and she won't stop talking about this Oz place as though it's real. Em determines to take Dorothy to a doctor who claims to be able to cure mental health problems, and since this is around the turn of the last century, we know that's going to be scary. In this case, electroshock. When she is supposed to receive her treatment, there is an electrical storm, and the power in the building goes out. Dorothy runs away, events happen, and she ends up in Oz again.
Only it is not Oz as she remembers it, and this is one of the things that scares the bejeezus out of many young viewers. We see the ominous graffiti "Beware the Wheelers," and the Wheelers are pretty frightening. They are cruel gangsters, running rampant over Oz. Then we meet Princess Mombi (Jean Marsh, who was also the nurse in the asylum), who has thirty heads. She locks Dorothy up; Dorothy escapes with Jack Pumpkinhead (various puppetteers and the voice of Brian Henson), Billina the Hen (the voice of Denise Bryer), and a creature they make using the head of a Gump (Lyle Conway). And then, they end up in the Court of the Nome King (the voice of Nicol Williamson, who was also the doctor). And any number of people will tell you how much it scared them as a child.
I'm actually a couple of years younger than Fairuza Balk, but despite seeing this in the theatre, I'm pretty sure I'd already ready both the books it's based on. This is an amalgamation of the books The Marvelous Land of Oz—in which Dorothy doesn't even appear—and Ozma of Oz, the first book where Dorothy meets Ozma (in this movie Emma Ridley). I'd read several of the others, too, though I've yet to read through even just all the Baum books. (Plenty more have been written in the years since his death by various other authors.) This movie introduces several characters from each and conflates two together.
Because, yes, let us start with Mombi. Mombi the witch appears in The Marvelous Land of Oz as the witch who has taken charge of the infant Princess Ozma. At the end of that book, she's stripped of her powers. She only has one head. However, in Ozma of Oz, Princess Langwidere of Ev, a country across the desert from Oz, is the one with thirty heads—and one dress, a simple white one. Ev isn't mentioned in this movie, but its anarchy with Langwidere in charge is how we see Oz. Langwidere isn't a fan of the Nome King, but she also isn't a fan of the work of ruling a kingdom that isn't even hers; I don't remember exactly how she's related to the royal family of Ev, but she's only regent while the queen and her ten children are prisoners in the Nome King's palace.
There is an incredible amount of world-building in the books, and considerably more of it appears here than in the Garland movie. Sure, we've lost an entire country—the magic carpet Ozma uses in the third book to cross the desert actually makes a lot more sense than "there's suddenly an ocean and then there's not"—but there's still more to know about Oz here than you might realize. And even that's a pale imitation of what's in the books. I've been advocating for years for a good animated adaptation, for preference a series. This has work from Will Vinton and the Henson Creature Shop, which is a good second best to that, but still.
It is also a movie that lets us consider a few what-might-have-beens. Oh, Tim Curry or Christopher Lloyd as the Nome King, that's ordinary enough. Don Knotts as Billina is a little stranger—well, a lot stranger. Dick Van Dyke as Jack Pumpkinhead or the Scarecrow, whatever. The assorted choices for Mombi aren't terribly noteworthy—Louise Fletcher would have been an interesting choice, given the asylum bits, but still. What's fascinating, though, is who auditioned for Ozma. Drew Barrymore. Juliette Lewis. Elizabeth Berkley. And most fascinating of all, Alanis Morissette, who hadn't even been on You Can't Do That on Television yet. What a choice.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 7/13: A Trip to the Moon
SCIENCE FICTION WEEK!
Come join us next week for the birth of science fiction in cinema with the legendary George Méliès and his equally legendary short A Trip to the Moon. Be sure to join us next week for our discussion of our oldest Movie of the Week yet! A Trip to the Moon is readily available on YouTube.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 7/7: A Mighty Wind
The next edition of the Next Picture Show podcast pairs this Christopher Guest classic with the new David Dobkin film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of the older film, available on Hulu and for rent in the usual places.