Book vs. Movie: The Wizard of Oz

[@forrestdupre87]

In every other film adaptation Oz is always real. The Muppet version even ends with Dorothy’s aunt and uncle mentioning their house being blown away and asking her where she was all this time.

[@Sate12]

Originally, the 1939 film was "real'' but the first test audience didn't like the idea. Return to Oz is treated as ''maybe a dream''

[@forrestdupre87]

@ why not?

[@KyleMUC]

@@forrestdupre87The film was released near the end of the Great Depression, and just before WWII, so audiences were sad and broke. Sadly the attitude towards fantasy at the time was that it was silly, far-fetched and for small children (remember children were working at age ten or so in these days). So making it a dream sequence not only made the nonsensical acceptable, but it also made it an attainable adventure for anyone.

[@forrestdupre87]

@ except for those who grew up with the books.

[@Sate12]

@forrestdupre87 That was pretty much everyone back then.

[@scotthewitt258]

That opening monologue summed up my day scrolling through KZbin eerily well.....

[@KyleMUC]

Yeah, the MGM film is a classic but it cut the story down by about half. I love the book; it’s so much darker. I think if a miniseries based on the first Oz book were made today (a film would be too long to feature all the adventures), it would blow folks away.

[@missanne2908]

I've been reading two or three of the sequels every year for the past few years. In The Emerald City of Oz, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em are heading for financial ruin, so they and Dorothy move permanently to Oz, where they can live a happy and comfortable life. The (inadvertently) funniest part of the Oz books is in The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Dorothy and friends find the underground city of the Horners, who are radium miners. Everything is made out of radium, which is considered a health-building element. This was actually believed in Baum's time, where people would put radium in their water to drink it, considering it a health drink.

[@alanr4447a]

Drinking radium water would give you that "healthy glow"!

[@tomboughan2718]

Star Wars even borrowed from Oz. I think it was Glinda of Oz, where Glinda visited an underwater city that looked much like the one in Star Wars.

[@williampetersen9915]

Speaking of movie firsts involving color; the 1st outdoor movie filmed in color was The Trail Of The Lonsome Pine from 1936. I always appreciated the inside joke that Dorothy's last name was Gale, a synonym for tornado.

[@tomboughan2718]

That was in the book, also. Baum loved puns and inside jokes.

[@kevinjdoherty2940]

The movie is Very different from the book. It is quite tame and only scratches the surface of characters and plot of the book.

[@melenatorr]

What a lovely summary and comparison - thanks! I'd add that the carnival huckster in Kansas fulfills the role of the Wizard (and a few other characters in Oz ... when you have an actor like Frank Morgan, you use him!). Also, in movie Dorothy's defense, she is running away for a reason: Miss Gulch/Witch has a writ to take Toto and have him destroyed. Toto escapes from the basket he's been put into and when he runs back to Dorothy, her instinct spurs her to run away because it seems the only way to protect Toto.

[@harveyabel1354]

Miss Gulch needs to be spayed or neutered!

[@TheBubbaclaw]

Dear Aunt Emily, I hate you, I hate Kansas, and I'm taking the dog. -D

[@WolfkingSybren]

Wow, this was a very nice comparison to a great story! Thank you for doing this, I'm curious about your other video's. And by the way, I also have more love The Wiz even more than the 39 Wizard movie ( although it still is something very special) Born in 1978, The Wiz was the one movie imprinted in my early years as a fan of the story. Also there was a great cartoon series I watched every week and that cartoon was very close to the book by Baum. Thanks again

[@MichaelAarons1701]

Funny you mention an Oz cartoon because I remembered watching one in the 90’s influenced heavily by the 1939 MGM film.

[@anniefinch6843]

I remembered watching this movie on television and I love this movie. It's also my favorite movie.

[@ranuelthebard3751]

My favorite of the sequels is the second book, The Marvelous Land of OZ. I was disappointed the first time I read it because it doesn't feature Dorothy but I really came to like it. A little boy named Tip escapes from an evil witch and has an adventure with the Scarecrow and Tin Man that leads to a twist ending that would get it banned in a lot of schools these days if any of the book banners ever remembered it existed.

[@evanbao93]

Hehehehe... The best part is what happens afterwards. Dorothy Gale returns to Oz in the future books, and becomes very, very best friends with the person once known as Tip. "Dorothy threw her arms around her little friend and hugged and kissed her rapturously." - The Road to Oz.

[@tomboughan2718]

Yes, it had feminist view of Oz, a ode to his mother-in-law Matilda Gage, a well-known feminist, even helped wrote Women's Bible a feminist takes on Bible. Remember it is 1902, so never expect the twist at the end and Tip saying never felt any different.

[@tomboughan2718]

Shirley Temple did adopt the Land of Oz on her Shirley Temple Storybook show, with her as Tip, believe it or not, I think it is on KZbin.

[@jb888888888]

@@tomboughan2718OTOH General Jinjur's all-girl army takes over the Emerald City and loots all the gems, because girls like pretty rocks. Then when Jinjur gets overthrown and the rightful ruler returns to the throne, all the menfolk (who were forced to do the cooking and cleaning and child rearing) give cheer because they don't have to do women's work any more -- and so do the women, who *get to* go back to doing women's work.

[@jabberdouche]

I have a DVD of all these movies about Wizard of Oz before the big movie was made. Some are silent. They are very weird.

[@RoseColoredMovies]

Baum was a very strong supporter of film from the very earliest days, he make some OZ films himself. The silent one might have been from his movie studio.

[@user-TheEngineer]

Those are the Baum films that he sanctioned. He made 4 films when he was alive. He changed his stories drastically for film.

[@philip2010]

There's alot more to the story than the movie portrayed it's quite complex but are the other 13 books it would seem that Tolkien was not the first to write about giant spiders

[@tacotoosday42]

Love to see analysis of Return to Oz in that even though it's loosely based on two books it tries to get the book series tone much better.

[@DaddyOfTheSugarVariety]

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes did a great cover of Over The Rainbow in the end credits of one of the episodes of Queer As Folk (US version).

[@marcschirmeister9821]

Two things I’d like to point out about both the book and the movie- Baum did something unusual when he wrote “The Wizard of Oz’; In an era when so-called children’s literature was written in very ornate, even purple prose, Baum wrote “The Wizard” in what was for the time a stripped down, plain style. In a sense, he was the Ernest Hemingway of children’s authors. This simple writing style made his story and characters more believable, but also made the situations they were caught in more frightening, which wasn’t Baum’s intention. Baum was trying to avoid what he considered the cruel, horrific things in classic fairy tales, things like the original fate of Cinderella’s evil Stepmother, who had red hot iron shoes clamped on her feet, and was forced to dance in agony until she died, or the version of Red Hiding Hood where the Wolf eats both her and her Grandmother and gets away with it. Just the same, in spite of Baum’s good intentions, how Nick Chopper became the Tin Woodsman, the fights with various monsters , or that for all it’s beauty, Oz wasn’t a safe place, Baum’s simple prose style made these things seem even more dire and disturbing than the usual patronizing lets pretend fairy tale story to the children reading about them, causing these incidents seem a little too “realistic" for a kid’s fantasy world. Yet it also made his characters real, with believable personalities and desires, and even though the Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and the Lion aren’t human, children loved them along with Dorothy and the Wizard, a carnival con man with an astute understanding of psychology, Think about it... “For Oz didn’t give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have...” All he did was to convince him, and the others, that they had the virtues they so thought they lacked. Baum had a gift for characterization, and that gift carried through the Oz books he wrote, making strange people, weird creatures, and inanimate objects come to life friendly and likable, even though it sometimes seemed like he was also trying to deliberately creep-out the kids reading them. But Oz also had a humorous thread running through it. For example, The Wicked Witch of the West is scary, but also with a ridiculous side to her. After the flying monkey’s capture the Lion and Dorothy, they're both locked together in a dungeon. The Witch can’t just take the Silver Slippers away from Dorothy, because the lion threatens to bite her if she tries. The obvious thing would be to wait until nightfall and steal the Sliver Slippers while Dorothy and the Lion were asleep; Only the Witch is scared of the dark, and when the sun sets, she hid in her bed under the blankets, shivering in fear, until the drawn breaks. Baum’s Oz books were a successful combination of humor (and satire), imagination, characterization, adventure, excitement, and creepiness that kids loved, and the Oz books would stay in print up until the 1940s, when they were phased out because, except for the original novel, they were considered obsolete. During the filming of the MGM “Wizard”, for the scene where he’s going to fly Dorothy back to Kansas by balloon, they needed a certain kind of frowzy turn-of-the-century coat for him to wear. There was nothing in the costume department that would do, so they gave an intern a few bucks and Frank Morgan’s measurements and sent him out to the local charity and junk shops to see what he could turn up. In one of them he found what seemed to be the perfect coat, bought it for about one dollar, and brought it back to the studio. When trying it on, Frank Morgan put his hands in the pockets, and out of one of them pulled out a old I.D. tag identifying the coat as the property of L. Frank Baum. MGM was in Culver City, but Baum’s widow lived in nearby Hollywood proper, and when contacted, confirmed the coat coat had belonged to her husband, given to charity along with Baum’s wardrobe after he died in 1919. That really is Baum’s coat Frank Morgan is wearing when the balloon flies away with him, but MGM never made a publicity point out of it. It was just too weird, too unbelievable, too impossible a coincidence not to have been dreamed up by some MGM publicity flack. Yet it happened. Coincidence? Some times I wonder... Something I just remembered- Baum and Edgar Rice Burroughs were friends. It’s possible that the creator of Tarzan suggested ideas to Baum for the Oz books, and that Baum reciprocated by suggesting ideas for Burroughs' Mars novels. If you think about it, there are things in those novels that would seem to be more at home in Oz than Burroughs Barsoom. Thanks for reading. I go now.

[@forrestdupre87]

The Muppet and Little Fox versions use the most source material.

[@David-yw2lv]

Another movie that strayed far from the book was A Clockwork Orange. In the books, Dorothy was about nine or so,not a teenager.

[@melissacooper8724]

I recall that in the book A Clockwork Orange, Alex was supposed to be fifteen. In the movie, Alex was older. Mostly because Malcolm McDowell was in his twenties when he played the role.

[@David-yw2lv]

@melissacooper8724 True.The book was not as centered on Beethoven's 9th symphony as the movie was.He stayed with the writer for several days in the book.

[@tomboughan2718]

Zardoz was a science fiction movie with references to Oz. Spoiler alert: Zardoz was contraction of Wizard of Oz.

[@David-yw2lv]

@tomboughan2718 I never saw the movie,but always figured that was the case.

[@johncronin9540]

Well, MGM’s first choice for Dorothy was Shirley Temple, but she was under contract to another studio, which refused to release her. Thankfully for us, MGM cast Judy Garland. Interestingly, every other attempt to adapt the Wizard of Oz, or any of its sequels, has been unsuccessful. Nothing has come close to the iconic nature of MGM’s The Wizard of Oz. Not even L. Frank Baum’s silent movie attempts, which all failed. And the story of how that came about is subject for a movie all its own. In my opinion, that 1939 movie was one rare time that the movie was better than the book.

[@donatogressbautista4843]

Good video. BTW, are you going to do the same comparison video with "Return to Oz"? Since it's one of the few movie sequels to "The wizard of Oz (1939)" that adapts the sequel books and is an underrated movie.

[@lukesmith720]

You should do “The Fox and the Hound” book vs movie

[@thomaspowers1375]

Technicolor processes go back a lot farther than 1935. Becky Sharp may mave been the first three-strip technicolor film, but two-strip technicolor goes back to the 1920s. The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks came out in color in 1926.

[@renesiagrandison9246]

I had a very large green pop up books with pictures like this, i just cant find it anywhere, dont remember which version it was it had the story book in the pouch of the pop up book and stand up board figures

[@markbills4122]

Excellent work Rose.... One of the greatest movies of all time. Also one of my personal favorite book series....

[@ianlyons7689]

The movie from 1939 is different from the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum

[@Adriana-bf4sf]

Please dont use AI imagines. All AI art is stolen art

[@RLucas3000]

Untrue, do your research in that you can pay a monthly fee for the ownership to the art created by AI

[@jesseleeward2359]

​@@RLucas3000 it literally finds the art from the internet

[@AntiFaGoat]

AI is a great tool FOR REAL ARTISTS. We already search for reference images and ideas, and sometimes sample the works of others. AI just makes those processes faster, but unlike artists, AI takes the credit for that work as "original content." So yes, AI is theft when not used by responsible creators. It does not have to be theft, and that is the current tragedy.

[@jesseleeward2359]

@@AntiFaGoat That's very diplomatic of you

[@jesseward568]

It really is. I don't get how it is said to 'interpret' an image. Like... What? Like a camera interpreting?

[@CrimsonNineTail]

Nice video, it waa nice to revisit the book. I had to read it for a class in college. I too prefer the book over the movie. The book is more exciting and adventurous. Judy Garland (poor girl) was a great actress, so it is me, not the movie. Great job, again.

[@forrestdupre87]

You should Pinocchio or Peter Pan.

[@donbillie1883]

Well presented video. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was coincidentally the Wicked Witch's favorite childhood book as detailed in"Margaret Hamilton From Cleveland Ohio to the Land of Oz " about her journey from kindergarten teacher to becoming the Wicked Witch!

[@anonygent]

Someone did an amazing analysis of the book and revealed that the book was based on the silver coinage movement, with Dorothy based on a woman named Dot. She travels to the Emerald City, a barely disguised New York, where she discovers the Wizard of Oz (the Wizard of Wall Street) is actually a humbug who manipulates the stock market using smoke and mirrors. She returns to Kansas (part of the area demanding the end of only gold coin) using silver slippers. So what's the yellow brick road? Kind of obvious, isn't it? Oz, of course, is the abbreviation for "ounce".

[@ll7868]

Spider don't have necks, their head and torso are fused and called a cephalothorax, the thin part the Lion broke off was the pedicel, the hip joint between the cephalothorax and abdomen, basically he cut it off at the waist not the neck.

[@gbiol]

The book is a authentic RPG

[@JENNIFAFAA]

23:50 it’s not that it was THE first, but the first for many, like my mom who didn’t have a color TV until the late 1950’s

[@mightisright]

The Wizard of Oz: the power is within you.

[@philip2010]

In the book Dorothy never went to the witches castle

[@marcusoterholm4969]

24:51 - thats the Norwegian flag😅❤

[@RoseColoredMovies]

My apologies to the Danes, I don't know how I managed to mess this up. I'll post a correction, but unfortunately I can't edit the video once it's up.

[@marcusoterholm4969]

@ 🫶🫶🫶

[@garyjust.johnson1436]

Hi! Great video!

[@johnburnside7828]

Great video! By the way, in the movie the Wicked Witch of the West refers to the Jitterbugs as she's sending the Winged Monkeys out to grab Dorothy.

[@viggianoj]

Great job!

[@Serai3]

Don't use AI for your images. For gods' sakes, the Tin Man has no hands, Dorothy has stumps for arms, the Lion has only 2 legs, and the Scarecrow is a nightmare. AI is lazy and produces horrorshows. Don't use it.

[@AntiFaGoat]

Use AI as a fine starting point, but get a real artist to work from there.

[@Blueparle]

I hope that in the future thar we’ll be a book like

[@michaelwatson3059]

Can you please do Christine Stephen King's novel

[@patrickstewart3446]

There’s an anime series that ran from 1986-87 and adapts 4 of the books. Jinjur is one of the more entertaining characters. 😁

[@MichaelAarons1701]

I think you got your East and your West confused going by that graphic on screen towards the end. Also you say the Gillikins are the red South yet the aforementioned map graphic shows them as the purple North. Also, would/could you ever do a similar video to this for 1985’s _Return to Oz_ from Disney?

[@RoseColoredMovies]

Believe it or not, that graphic is the original map illustration from Baum's book. I don't know why East is West, except that it's OZ. And maybe I'll come back for Return to Oz, though tbh I was terrified by that movie as a kid.

[@scotthewitt258]

But, isn't Oz inverted? Our West is their East? Or, is my old brain remembering wrong?

[@tomboughan2718]

@@RoseColoredMovies I got to meet Gary Kurtz, who worked on the movie. He even brought out the copper helmet of the copper machine man in the movie. I even got to touch it!

[@jb888888888]

That was a graphic-o (as opposed to a typo) from the original book. For some reason west is east and east is west in Oz.

[@tomboughan2718]

@@jb888888888 Yes, it was.

[@donaldreynolds6857]

Try comparing the book to the 1925 version of The Wizard of Oz if you dare! It's so bad it's nearly unwatchable.

[@melissacooper8724]

Was that the one where Oliver Hardy played the Tin Woodsman?

[@donaldreynolds6857]

@@melissacooper8724 Yes it was. One thing the two movies had in common was that the actors who played the farmhands also played the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion. The main difference was that they were the actual farmhands who were blown into Oz on the tornado and put on the costumes very briefly as disguises Oliver Hardy played the Tin Woodsman, Larry Semon played the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion was played by a black actor named Spencer Bell who was credited as G. Howe Black .

[@JEFFIE-jp6kj]

The movie is much better, though, there's a LOT more to the book that was left out

[@athemioszed2233]

Because of the movie, I, like probably many kids, believed that things used to really be black and white lol

[@harveyabel1354]

I'm reminded of a Calvin and Hobbes story line here!

[@kcsollers8552]

I work with a girl who’s never seen the movie.

[@isaiahwilliams7150]

I love the Oz movies. The Tin Man is my favorite character.

[@tomboughan2718]

There was a Tin Man mini series on HBO, very dark take on Oz.

[@Kishla-f4o]

This about wizards of Oz is lost to history and time

[@arlichar11]

I recently rewatched and realize it’s not that great , and so much doesn’t make sense or is very odd,, the dream actually helps but having the wizard be a fake in real place with supernatural makes no sense and in a dream it’s even more bizarre , the good witch wasn’t really good if she didn’t know the wizard was fake and sends her for no reason when she already knew the answer , having the slippers was useless and pointless as she didn’t use them untill going home , also odd that witch melted with water wich could have took her out without Dorothy , again Glenda could have saved munchkins long ago , or even the winkys saved them selves, also the story has no substance and progressed so quick , she went to munchinkinland immediately leaves , quickly meets 3 very unrealistic friends , gets to the wizard , kills witch , goes back home ! Again being a dream can make it more believable , the book sounds better but still not great

[@forrestdupre87]

The 2015 version of THE WIZ is better.

[@ll7868]

That opening monologue is spot on, I feel the need to rant, 'ahem': Every day I scroll through YT Recommendations, always the same videos day after day, week after week, month after month until I click "Not Interested" or "Don't Recommend Channel", sometimes I'll delete a couple dozen, refresh, delete a couple dozen more, repeat ad nauseum until YT gives up and just recommends everything I watched over the past couple weeks because apparently there are only 100 or so videos on the platform at any given time. This video was on "New To You" because I watch comparisons of Hollywood movies to actual history like Braveheart, Oppenheimer and Goodfellas. Stay in school kids, movie theatres are no place for a quality education.

[@billymoon8718]

That's the Norwegian flag, not Danish

[@powerofk]

Honestly, the Wizard of Oz book is one of my favorite books of all time. I can’t stand the movie.

[@user-TheEngineer]

The shoes are not clicked. They are stepped. The Silver Slippers are really the magical traveling shoes. They take a person anywhere in creation in 3 steps. That 1939 movie is unwatchable to me after the book. They condensed, cut out, and just overall butchered too much of the story.