The Wizard of Oz, 1939

Show is watchable because of the good acting. And great effects (for the time, 1939). The story is horribly incomplete, childish, and lame. Who hasn't seen this classic?

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5 stars for the film. 2 1/2 for the alternate soundtrack "experience" (read on...) In honor of the Wizard of Oz's 70th Anniversary, I decided to investigate the myth of it's synchronicity to the Pink Floyd album, The Dark Side of the Moon. Sadly, I have to say that it did not blow my mind. To be fair, I was not under the influence of any unusual substances. I suppose that those who do enough of the right drugs can probably find connections in any DVD/CD pairing. I concede there's quite a few points of apparent synchronicity between the two. They can complement each other to an extent. But the band has repeatedly denied any intentional connections, and I believe them. What accounts for the seeming connection? Both deal heavily with Freudian aspects of the psyche. That's been a hallmark of Floyd's music from the beginning. Baum, for his part wrote the story as a modern update of age-old fairy tales deeply rooted in the human psyche, and the characters are concerned with primary desires of the id; home (shelter) for Dorothy, courage for the lion, etc. This Freudian connection was deepened by the filmmakers who took an Oz as dream approach. Then too The Wizard of Oz is, a musical. One needn't have more brains than the Scarecrow to figure out a film based around music is likely to sync up pretty well with another piece of music. Many of the alleged match up points are song and dance routines. I wouldn't be surprised if a pairing with, say, Sgt. Peppers wouldn't provide an equally interesting result. And, on the subject of myths, I also looked for the other big Oz myth, that a hanged man can be seen in one scene. Maybe it would be different if I saw it on the big screen, but all I saw was an amorphous shape in the deep background that could have been... well... literally anything! Both of these two artworks are masterpieces, and deserve undivided attention. I couldn't help but wish I were fully focused on enjoying one or the other.

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