FOF #1757 – Does this Wicked Witch Costume Make Me Look Fat?
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Everyone loves the Wizard of Oz. More people have seen the 1939 musical than any other film ever. Now 74 years after Dorothy clicked her ruby slippers, Disney is revisiting the story, billing Oz, the Great and Powerful as a prequel.
Today we journey to Oz and take a look at why it’s so hard to make a good movie version of the L Frank Baum stories and our review on the new Oz- the Great and disappointing film.
Bonus: Silence Equals Death
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Comments
I am ready for the back-lash against CGI. Bring back the freaky puppets from the 80s (Never Ending Story, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, etc.)! Those truly scared children and still give me nightmares!! Movies that are shot entirely in front of a green screen fail to really transport me (thinking of the recent Alice in Wonderland), and they actually just feel lazy.
Also, when I was in 5th and 6th grade I read most of the books in the Wizard of Oz series. Although L. Frank Baum was definitely creative, he really wasn’t a very good storyteller. I always got the sense he didn’t have a plan or outline before beginning a story. He would often write himself into a corner and then use the power of magic to rescue the plot. It’s like, why did we just spend 200 pages traveling through this cave of monsters when you had a magic hand-mirror the whole time that can transport everyone back to the Emerald City? It’s the same device as the Ruby Slippers.
Not only did he keep finding new disasters (earthquake, hurricane) he eventually replaced Dorothy three or four times with different little girls from the “real world”.
The actor choices for the film where just way off. If I was too cast the film I would of gone with more actors with both Broadway and film experience or even character actors to assure that the actors would know how to fully embody the characters in the film. For the Wizard I would of picked someone older for sure Hugh Jackman or Robert Downey Jr. would of been great choices. For the wicked witch they should of put more of an effort into casting her because she is the most iconic character in the original film I would of chose Emmy Rossum or Anne Hathaway not have her in the film at all maybe a few mentions even a glimpse of her but nothing too much to take away from Margaret Hamilton back in 1939. And as for Glinda and Evanora I thought they where just okay nothing special but for Glinda I would of chose Elizabeth Banks or Anna Kendrick and for Evanora I loved Rachel Weisz but Helena Bonham Carter would of been bad ass in my opinion.
Miss Almira Gulch, rather than Elvira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton
You were right! Whooops It SOUNDED like Elvira in the movie, but the character name was Almira. Thanks!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0197761/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
The profile picture is me on the left and Dale Paulin (Wizard of OZ – Lollipop Guild) taken this February 28, 2013. He is very much alive still. Here is the IMDB for Dale Pauin aka Dale Paul
She looks lovely!
I know I don’t post very often – but I had to after listening to today’s show (am always saving it to listen to during the long drives I have).
Anyway, I have to say that when I watched The Wizard of Oz growing up, I was TERRIFIED of the witch, truly frightened. The running joke in my family was that I missed so much of the movie because I hid my eyes. It was just plain scary. I think, too, it was the music of the flying monkeys marching into the castle; that haunting, dark music sent me over the edge. Even to this day, when I watch it, I still get that odd, nervous feeling that I remember when I was a kid. (I so remember, like Marc, how you had to wait a whole year before the movie came on again. This was in the late 60s – when I was 4th-6th grade.)
You talked about favorite parts…I think for me it was when Dorothy is told to follow the yellow brick road. I loved the way she side stepped with the ruby slippers at the very beginning of the brick road and then walked around the spiral – the the song broke loose.
I want to see the new movie and was sad to hear all your comments about it. I’m guessing you’re probably right. I haven’t read any reviews yet but I’m guessing they’re similar to today’s show. Now I kind of want to see it even more just to compare it to your comments. I laughed out loud at Fausto’s suggestion to watch it free. Thanks for the show.
Shout-out back to you guys! Hmm, guess I’ll skip Oz in theatres. Still have hope for Warm Bodies coming out in April: it’s the logical conclusion to the teen horror romance trend kicked off by Twilight, by having a living girl and a zombie boy fall in hopeless love 😉
I’m soooo behind on shows! Thanks for the mention guys. A great show as always. You remain a shining example of excellence and trailblazers in your field. I was listening to another podcast the other day about film and a guest talked about how the subscription model is going to eventually become a standard in podcasting. Congratulations on your continued success.
Paid subscription models will only become the standard when Apple decides to implement them into the iTunes store natively and allows podcasters to access the technology.
Our success comes from the fact we have the Greatest Audience in the World, and you are a big part of that Curtis & Angela, Tim, Robert and everyone else!