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The Wonderful Land of Oz

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The Wonderful Land of Oz
Directed byBarry Mahon
Written byBarry Mahon
Based onThe Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Produced byBarry Mahon
StarringChanny Mahon
Zisca Baum
Caroline Berner
George Wadsworth
CinematographyBarry Mahon
Edited bySteve Cuiffo
Music byGeorge Linsenmann
Production
companies
Childhood Productions
Cinetron
Distributed byChildhood Productions
Release date
  • October 31, 1969 (1969-10-31)
Running time
71 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Wonderful Land of Oz is a 1969 film directed by Barry Mahon.[1] It is a low budget but faithful adaptation of the 1904 novel The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Cast

Jellia Jamb and Omby Amby also appear but are uncredited.

Production

Mahon told Variety that he was planning to get Judy Garland to narrate, but eventually she did not.[2] 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, while the children's films were made in Florida. Mahon did not bring any of his former performers to appear in the film.[3]

According to Michael R. Thomas, Hilary Lee Gaess, the actress who played Glinda, had extreme bouts of stage fright.

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.[4] This is derived from the fact that they wrote music for the Land of Oz theme park in Banner Elk, North Carolina, released on a vinyl record titled The Land of Oz.[5] Their songs were inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, not The Marvelous Land of Oz. 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"[6][7] 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 accompanied Tip on his journey in this film, but this is not the case. (It is, however, the case in Ozu no Mahōtsukai.)

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.[8][9] 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.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969)". BFI.
  2. ^ "The Wonderful Land of Oz". www.tcm.com.
  3. ^ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com.
  4. ^ "The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969) - Barry Mahon | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie" – via www.allmovie.com.
  5. ^ "Alec Wilder, Loonis McGlohon – Land Of Oz (Vinyl)" – via www.discogs.com.
  6. ^ The Annotated Wizard of Oz - Google Books (pg.lixxi)
  7. ^ A Brief Guide To OZ - Google Books (Chapter 3 Return to Oz)
  8. ^ "The Wonderful Land of OZ/Jack and the Beanstalk". www.dvddrive-in.com.
  9. ^ WorldCat.org
  10. ^ "The Wonderful Land of Oz". February 3, 2017 – via www.rifftrax.com.
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