“Magnificently produced pantomime”: The Wizard of Oz reviewed in 1940

Spectacular fantasy, adapted from the forty-year-old American best-seller fairy story. Dorothy gets blown away in a cyclone from her home in Kansas where she lives with her uncle and aunt and her pet dog. She finds herself in the land of the midgets, where she is welcomed by Glinda, a beautiful and benevolent witch. 

Homesick, she goes in search of the Wizard of Oz to ask him how she can get back to Kansas. On the way she falls in with the Straw Man who longs for a brain; the Tin Woodman who desires a heart; and the Cowardly Lion who lacks courage. The secret of the Wizard of Oz is that there is no such person. There is only a kindly, bungling old fortune-teller. But he has for each a bit of homely counsel which gives them what most they desire. 

This magnificently produced pantomime is a feast of beauty for eye and ear. It has tuneful songs, graceful dances, and the rich pageantry of its settings lingers in the memory. The opening and closing sequences are in sepia; the remainder in technicolor which has never yet been more artistically or effectively used. 

The appeal will be quite definitely more to adults than to children. For the latter its outlook is too sophisticated and its humour too mature. It has none of the directness and simplicity which appeal to the child mind. Grown-ups will enjoy too its kindly, optimistic philosophy of life and its pleasant sentiment. 

The acting is admirable. Judy Garland is exactly right as Dorothy, and gives a striking performance. The adult actors owe much to the genius of the make-up man. They back up his efforts nobly, and are one and all outstandingly good, entering wholeheartedly into the spirit of fantasy in a world of make-believe.