The Wizard of Oz

Erm I dunno if you noticed but the scarecrow has a fucking gun on him.

Here I am watching this old gem mainly just to plug holes in my Wicked¹ knowledge. I forgot that the witch who gets squished by the house at the start is Elphaba’s sister.

It’s easy to forget that this really is a bloody good film. A heartfelt piece of work teeming with magical expressionism in every shot. The technicolor pierces through your very soul and melts the coldest of hearts. Wicked seems cold, overly long and convoluted compared to this.

Wicked also wants to tap into that goody-two-shoes-ness of Glinda, who here appears at the end only to tell Dorothy that she had the solution to getting home right in front of her all along. It’s a pretty funny little thread to pull on that launches a whole musical franchise thing.

Anyway if this is on at Christmas and you’ve not seen it, give the OG a chance or the scarecrow will find you.