<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Wizard of Oz, which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer premiered in 1939, went on to become a classic fantasy film that continues to enchant new audiences more than 60 years later. Directing credit went to Victor Fleming, although other directors participated at various stages. The screenplay credits were shared by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, although other writers also participated. Credit for the film's original music went to Harold Arlen, and lyrics to E. Y. Harburg. The inspiration for it all lay with L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.

Judy Garland starred as Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farmgirl who, along with her pet dog Toto, is swept away by a tornado to the magical land of Oz. There, under the tutelage of Glinda the Good (Billie Burke), she quickly gains allies—Ray Bolger as The Scarecrow, Jack Haley as The Tin Man, and Bert Lahr as The Cowardly Lion. Each of them has a quest in mind, which takes them all on a journey along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City in search of the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan). Dorothy's quest is to return home to Kansas, but first she must accomplish a task at the Wizard's behest—to bring back the broomstick of the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton). In order to accomplish this, Dorothy must confront the Witch in her fearsome castle.

But her triumphant return to the Emerald City, broomstick in hand, leads to disillusionment: The Wizard is not a magical being after all, just "a man behind a curtain." Luckily, Dorothy's return to Kansas was in her power all along—by clicking the heels of her ruby slippers together and repeating the words, "There's no place like home," Dorothy reawakens in Kansas.

The movie won Academy Awards for Best Original Score and for Best Song, for "Over the Rainbow."