"I wish. . .oh, I wish. . .we could go back again. Don't you?" - Dorothy (Liza Minnelli, channeling her mother) to her little dog, Toto
Journey Back to Oz: Special Edition DVD Review
By Christopher W. Czajka
Ever since L. Frank Baum first published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in May 1900, the story of Kansas farm girl Dorothy Gale and her trip via tornado to the amazing land of Oz has been a cultural juggernaut, with an emotional resonance and staying power unequaled by any other work of American fiction. Between 1900 and 1939, The Wizard of Oz spawned thirteen additional Oz novels penned by Baum, a smash-hit Broadway musical (that had no Toto or rainbows, but did feature a dancing cow), a series of silent films (including one starring Oliver Hardy-of Laurel and Hardy fame-as the Tin Man), and an animated short.
In 1939, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released their musical film of the novel, which is generally regarded as the most beloved and widely-seen movie in history. From the time of the MGM film's release, The Wizard of Oz has steadily made its way into the fabric of American culture. The film's repeated showings on television, beginning in 1956 and continuing to the present day, have cemented the characters, situations, songs, and dialogue into our collective consciousness. An intimate familiarity with The Wizard of Oz is an unspoken assumption of popular culture, as it is constantly alluded to in everything from political cartoons and greeting cards to television shows and popular songs. Judy Garland's ruby slippers are the most visited and most frequently-sought item at the Smithsonian Institution. "Over the Rainbow" was named the Greatest Song of the 20th Century by the Recording Industry Association of America. Over 65 years after its initial release, The Wizard of Oz remains as fresh and popular as ever: Oz festivals take place each summer in towns across the country, Oz products continue to roll onto store shelves by the score, and stage adaptations of the classic film are produced by the hundred each year. America's fascination with The Wizard of Oz is further evidenced by the countless filmmakers, novelists, songwriters, playwrights, and visual artists inspired by the story. The works inspired by Oz range from the sublime (Geoff Ryman's flawless adult novel Was, Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," the current Broadway smash-hit Wicked) to the decidedly mediocre (the 1978 film version of The Wiz), to the horrendous (Disney's 1985 electroshock-therapy extravaganza, Return to Oz). With the release of the 1974 animated film Journey Back to Oz on DVD, Oz fans can take a delightful-albeit flawed-trip back over the rainbow.
Journey Back to Oz had a dizzying production timeline with more twists, turns, and miles to it than the Yellow Brick Road itself. In the early 1960s, a fledgling Los Angeles-based production company began work on a feature-length animated sequel to The Wizard of Oz. The producers enlisted the talents of Oscar-winning songwriter Sammy Cahn ("Three Coins in the Fountain," "Love and Marriage," "High Hopes") and Jimmy Van Heusen ("Swinging on a Star"), and veteran composer Walter Scharf. Sammy Cahn's connections in the industry, in particular his friendship with Frank Sinatra, enabled him to recruit an absolutely jaw-dropping vocal cast for the project, comprised of a veritable who's who of mid-century Hollywood. Cahn's greatest coup was to sign Judy Garland's seventeen year-old daughter Liza Minnelli, in her first professional gig, for the voice of Dorothy Gale. Vocal tracks for the film were recorded in 1963-64, until the film's financing completely fell apart. The project then went into a state of total dormancy.
The production company behind the Journey Back to Oz, Filmation, was founded by radio host Norm Prescott, animator Lou Scheimer, and former Disney staff animator Hal Sutherland. In 1965, Filmation secured the rights to produce an animated Superman series, and soon greatly expanded to produce dozens of offbeat Saturday morning favorites, including the animated Star Trek, The Brady Kids, Gilligan's Planet, and later, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. By the late 1960s, finances had improved to a point that production on Journey Back to Oz resumed. The film had an extremely limited theatrical release in 1974, but reached its widest audience when it premiered on television in December 1976. Re-broadcasts of Journey Back to Oz continued as a part of the "SFM Holiday Network" syndicated film series during the late 70s and early 80s.
Journey Back to Oz begins as Dorothy (Minnelli) is reminiscing with Toto about the friends they left behind in Oz. Kindly Aunt Em (voiced by the legendary Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film) reassures her niece that her adventures in Oz were only a dream. Soon enough, another Kansas twister whips up, Dorothy gets conked on the head (yet again), and she and Toto are whisked away to Oz.
Shortly after their arrival, Dorothy and Toto befriend Pumpkinhead (Bewitched's Paul Lynde, the center square himself), a jack o'lantern brought to life and enslaved by the evil witch Mombi (the brilliantly cast Ethel Merman). Mombi, a distant cousin of the liquidated Wicked Witch of the West, is hell-bent on overthrowing the Scarecrow's rule of the Emerald City. Her weapon of choice? An army of magic green elephants that she's cooking up over her fire. Mombi's wisecracking sidekick is an irascible crow, voiced by the great Mel Blanc (Looney Tunes).
Naturally, when Dorothy hears about Mombi's plot, she and Pumpkinhead decide to dash off to the Emerald City to warn the Scarecrow. Along the way, they meet up with Woodenhead Stallion III (Peter Gunn's Herschel Bernardi), an unemployed merry-go-round horse. As is her wont, Dorothy invites the horse along for the trip to the Emerald City (hey, at least the girl's got the good sense to get a ride this time).
A joyous reunion with the Scarecrow (Mickey Rooney) goes a teeny bit sour when he reveals to Dorothy and her new traveling mates that he simply doesn't have it in him to face down another witch. Soon enough, Mombi and her green elephants come crashing through the gates of the palace, and take the Scarecrow and Toto hostage. Dorothy, Pumpkinhead, and Woodenhead make a pell-mell escape from the decimated Emerald City, and set off in search of help.
Their search leads them to "Tinland," where the Tin Man (Make Room for Daddy's Danny Thomas) also sorrowfully tells them that despite his enormous heart, he doesn't feel like he's up to the chore of battling another witch. The friends get similar news when they journey into the forest and seek help from the (theoretically no longer) Cowardly Lion (Mr. Television himself, Milton Berle). Nearly (and understandably) at her wit's end, Dorothy finally gets some much-needed assistance from Glinda, the Good Witch (opera singer Rise Stevens). Glinda gives her a magic box and instructs her to open it only at a time of dire need.
Back in the Emerald City, Pumpkinhead, Dorothy, and Woodenhead have several close scrapes (those pesky fighting trees are still growing all over Oz, dontcha know), and Dorothy ultimately opens the magic box from Glinda. What do you use to get rid of magic elephants, you ask? Why, magic mice, of course. The elephants stampede, and inadvertently crush Mombi. With Mombi's death, the elephants are no more, the Emerald City returns to its former glory, and Dorothy once again longs to return home (with friends like hers in this movie, I'd want to go home, too). With the help of another twister (this one whipped up by Glinda's magic), she soon finds herself (and Toto too) home again on the broad Kansas prairie.
I remember watching the initial broadcast of Journey Back to Oz in 1976. I recall almost being sick with anticipation, and the goosebumps I got when the title emerged on screen, accompanied by a fanfare. I remember my soundtrack album, which you could only get by sending in proofs-of-purchase for dishwashing liquid. After not seeing the movie for thirty years (boy, do I feel elderly), I was hopeful that it would measure up to my memories. Did it? Yes. And no.
First off, the casting of the film is pretty darn glorious. Liza Minnelli's portrayal of Dorothy is beyond pitch-perfect. There are a few lines of dialogue ("Why don't you come along with us? We're on our way to the Emerald City!" and "You wicked old witch!" in particular) that literally make the hair on the back of your neck stand up because her performance is so spot-on. Apparently, in the years when the film lay dormant, Minnelli wanted to re-record her dialogue because she thought her work was too close of an impersonation. The producers wouldn't let her. For die-hard fans of Judy Garland and the 1939 film, Minnelli's work on Journey Back to Oz induces the heebie-jeebies.
Supporting cast members also provide terrific performances. Paul Lynde's nervous nellie Pumpkinhead is a riot. Herschel Bernardi gives Woodenhead a world-weary, down-and-out charm. And Ethel Merman as a wicked witch in Oz? What really can be said about that? It's a camp fantasy come true.
The songs and music by Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Walter Scharf are also excellent. There are probably a few too many songs (the film is less than 90 minutes long and there are almost a dozen), but the majority are pretty catchy and well-crafted. Of particular note is Woodenhead's groaning lament about the life of a merry-go-round horse ("Around and round/and up and down/from village to village/and town to town/pity the horse that must dwell/on the carousel") and Mombi's two songs (one of which references putting an entire town into a coma, and the other of which manages to work in an allusion to Tennessee Williams) are also winners. The fleeting full-orchestral version of Minnelli's "Over the Rainbow" equivalent, "A Faraway Land," is also quite beautiful. The songs reserved for the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion ("B-R-A-N-E," "H-E-A-R-T," and "N-E-R-V-E") are the weakest links in the score (and are sung by the weakest characters in the story. More on that later).
Journey Back to Oz's animation is often visually striking. While nowhere near as multi-dimensional and textured as a Disney feature film, it is much more lush and richer than standard Saturday morning or kiddie matinee animated fare. The backgrounds, in particular, are often highly stylized and charming. The entire look of the Emerald City appears to be an interesting bridge between the Art Deco and Disco schools of interior design. There are a few occasions-notably the stampeding elephants-where footage is recycled, and where sounds-notably Mombi's laugh-are looped over and over.
The biggest problem with Journey Back to Oz is its script. With such a talented cast and gifted composers, it's really a shame that the story didn't go through two or three more drafts. It's as though writers Fred Ladd and Norm Prescott threw the 1939 film script into a blender with a few random pages of Baum's later Oz books. Structurally, Journey Back to Oz mirrors The Wizard of Oz almost exactly. Dorothy is in Kansas and sings a song of yearning. Then, a tornado strikes. Then, she goes to Oz. Then, she must make her way to the Emerald City, with the help of some new-found friends. Then, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion each sing a song. Sure, it worked for the original film, but this is a sequel, and the plot often drags in service to the structure we know all too well.
Since we all do know the original film so well, the most disappointing element of the story is its portrayal of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. The beauty of The Wizard of Oz is its simple message of self-sufficiency that simultaneously values the power of friendship. Dorothy's "friends" from the original are, frankly, pansies in this film. Rather than rallying to her side, they sing clunky tunes and send the poor farm girl on her not-so- merry way. The "kindly philosophy" of The Wizard of Oz is jettisoned.
Still, Journey Back to Oz entertains. Fans of the original-young and old-will find something to like here. It's just unfortunate that with so many winning elements and talented hands involved, the overall quality of the film is undermined by its story and structure.
The film and the extras are presented on a single disc, adorned with an image of the Kansas farm. A standard keepcase slides into a cardboard sleeve, which features a "cast shot" of many of the characters.
The menus are charming and easy to navigate, and feature music from the film. The film is divided into chapters, and there is a scene selection menu.
