''The Wonderful Land of Oz'' is a 1969 film directed by

Barry Mahon Barry Mahon, born Jackson Barrett Mahon (February 5, 1921 – December 4, 1999) was an American film director, cinematographer and producer. Early years Mahon was born in Bakersfield, California and attended the Page Military Academy (now Page ...

. It is a

low budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

but faithful

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

of the 1904 novel ''

The Marvelous Land of Oz ''The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman'', commonly shortened to ''The Land of Oz'', published in July 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and th ...

'' by L. Frank Baum.

Cast

* Chandos Castle Mahon (credited as Channy Mahon) as Tip * Zisca Baum as

Mombi Mombi is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's classic children's series of Oz Books. She is the most significant antagonist in the second Oz book ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904), and is alluded to in other works. Mombi plays a very impor ...

* Caroline Berner as General Jinjur * George Wadsworth as

Jack Pumpkinhead Jack Pumpkinhead is a fictional character from the Land of Oz and appears in several of the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. The Classic Oz Books Jack first appeared as a main character in the second Oz ...

* Gil Fields as H. M. Woggle-bug T. E. * Michael R. Thomas as the

Scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesle ...

* Al Joseph as the

Tin Woodman Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, also known as the Tin Man or—mistakenly—the "Tin Woodsman," is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book '' ...

* Joy Webb as Ozma * Hilary Lee Gaess as

Glinda Glinda is a fictional character created by L. Frank Baum for his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's 1900 children's classic ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', and is the most powerful sorceress in the Land of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Coun ...

* Ray Menard as

The Gump This is a list of characters in the original Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. The majority of characters listed here unless noted otherwise have appeared in multiple books under various plotlines. '' Oz'' is made up of four divisions t ...

(voice)

Jellia Jamb Jellia Jamb is a fictional character from the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. She is first introduced in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), as the head maid who works in the royal palace of the Emerald ...

and Omby Amby also appear but are uncredited.

Differences from the novel

Characters and incidents difficult to stage are left out, including the

Sawhorse In woodworking, a saw-horse or sawhorse (saw-buck, trestle, buck) is a trestle structure used to support a board or plank for sawing. A pair of sawhorses can support a plank, forming a scaffold. In certain circles, it is also known as a ' ...

, the river crossing, the Jackdaws, the Wishing Pills, the Sunflowers, and the

Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon ( Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and ...

. The Field Mice are represented by a single white rat who does not speak.

appears but its screen time is minimal. Omby Amby and the Guardian of the Gates are combined into a single unnamed character. This conflation was originally done by Jack Snow in the novel '' The Magical Mimics in Oz'' (1946), in which case it was a continuity error, and has been done deliberately by some more recent film adaptations, including ''

Oz the Great and Powerful ''Oz the Great and Powerful'' is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner from a story by Kapner. Based on L. Frank Baum's early 20th century ''Oz'' novels and set 20 y ...

''. In an apparent plot hole, Jack Pumpkinhead, speaking shortly after his "birth," knows that although Mombi enlivened him, Tip built him, and thus he considers Tip his father. By this point in the story, neither Tip nor Mombi had told him about his origin. The Emerald City appears to have a population of exactly three (The Scarecrow, Omby Amby, and Jellia Jamb) prior to Jack Pumpkinhead's arrival. The younger female characters, such as Jinjur and Jellia Jamb, wear 1960s miniskirts and go-go boots, and have then-fashionable haircuts. The "girlish" grievances of the Army of Revolt, set in the context of

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

s in the 1904 novel, have been updated to include "homework" and "babysitting," and they are played as typical "rebellious teenage" stock characters of 1969. The most radical departure comes at the end, when Tip's spiritual essence flies away to indwell all the boys in the land, leaving an amnesiac Ozma who has no memory of the whole adventure. The idea that Tip and Ozma could exist as separate entities originated in Jack Snow's short piece "A Murder in Oz," published posthumously in 1958, and has been recycled by other authors.

Production

Mahon told ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' that he was planning to get

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

to narrate, but eventually she did not. A popular rumor is that Jinjur's Army of Revolt is composed of actors who had previously appeared in Mahon's nudie films. This is, however, not the case. The nudie films were made in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, while the children's films were made in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. Mahon did not bring any of his former performers to appear in the film. According to Michael R. Thomas, Hilary Lee Gaess, the actress who played Glinda, had extreme bouts of

stage fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

. Mahon and songwriters Linsenmann and Falco re-teamed for ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' and ''Thumbelina'', both released in 1970. All three films are owned by Jeffrey C. Hogue.

Music

*"The Land of Oz" - Chorus *"The Powder of Life" - Mombi and Tip *"I Don't Want to Be a Statue" - Tip *"Try to Touch a Star" - Glinda *"On This Great Take Over Day" - Jinjur and Army *"I've Watched Over You" - Glinda *"The Land of Oz" (reprise) - Chorus Another oft-repeated error is the claim that the songs are by Loonis McGlohan and

Alec Wilder Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four Corners") b ...

. This is derived from the fact that they wrote music for the Land of Oz theme park in

Banner Elk, North Carolina Banner Elk is a town in Avery County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,028 at the 2010 census. Banner Elk is home to Lees–McRae College. History The area surrounding the Elk River was inhabited by the Cherokee before weste ...

, released on a

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts ne ...

titled ''The Land of Oz''. Their songs were inspired by ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

'', not ''

''. The songs for the film were composed by George Linsenmann with lyrics by Ralph Falco.

Release

''The Wonderful Land of Oz'' played in Saturday "kiddie matinee" venues, but was not released on VHS until after it had been issued on DVD, making it something of a lost and often misreported legend. Some sources, such as Allan Eyles's 1985 book, ''The World of Oz'', claim that

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of it ...

accompanied Tip on his journey in this film, but this is not the case. (It is, coincidentally, the case in '' Ozu no Mahōtsukai'' from 1986.) The film was released on VHS in 2001 and DVD in 2002, as a double feature with ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', by

Something Weird Video Something Weird Video is an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. They specialize in exploitation B to Z films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis. I ...

. That it remained unavailable on any home media until the 21st century may explain the rumors published by Eyles and others. It was also commented by

RiffTrax RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...

External links

*
Internet Archive

Full movie on YouTube

Official RiffTrax treatment also on YouTube

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wonderful Land of Oz, The 1969 films 1960s fantasy films 1960s musical films 1960s rediscovered films American musical fantasy films Films based on The Wizard of Oz Films shot in Florida Rediscovered American films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films