Seventy years ago today saw the national release of one of the most beloved movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz. Based upon a series of books begun by L. Frank Baum in 1900, this MGM Technicolor musical fantasy was initially only a moderate success with audiences and critics. It took another two decades for it to become a holiday season tradition following annual television broadcasts starting in the 1950s. A recent restoration from its original camera negative has allowed eye-opening HDTV broadcasts of unbelievable visual clarity, which bodes well for its upcoming release on blu-ray disc.

I’ve had the pleasure to see The Wizard of Oz in re-release and repertory screenings three or four times over the past dozen years, most recently at the beautiful Louisville Palace, and I never tire of it. My favorite character is the hilarious Cowardly Lion, and I’m fascinated by the flying monkeys as well as the trees throwing their own apples at Dorothy and her friends. I love all the memorable songs, as well as familiar catchphrases this movie spawned such as “come out come out wherever you are”, “lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”, “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”, “there’s no place like home”, “… and your little dog, too!”

In retrospect, The Wizard of Oz may be considered the highlight for movies released in one of the greatest years for Hollywood movies, 1939. Gone With the Wind, also bearing Oz director Victor Fleming’s name, was released the same year -- a mere four months later. I first saw that here in Louisville at the dearly departed Vogue Theater. Other great 1939 films I’ve screened in cinemas several decades later include Gunga Din (in Chicago), Ninotchka (in Indianapolis), and three movies -- Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, and Renoir’s French classic The Rules of the Game – in a post-graduate film appreciation class. Many more undisputed classics from 1939 screened on video include: Destry Rides Again, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Women, Wuthering Heights… For lovers of classic movies, the year 1939 can’t be beat.