The most difficult thing about reviewing The Wizard of Oz is finding something to say about it that doesn't begin with "the best." It's hard to argue that this isn't a strong contender for the greatest movie of all time. Navel-gazing dramas about the human condition are fine, and I know most critics' lists would give preference to those sorts of films, but this movie has a little bit of everything and is easily among the most perfect films ever made. It doesn't matter if you're a kid or a grown-up. The Wizard of Oz is a timeless classic that has appeal for every open-hearted person out there. It's full of iconic lines, songs, characters, and moments. It's had a cultural impact few films do. So many things from the film have made their way into our everyday lives and language. If I had to single out one thing about it I love more than the memorable characters played by an ideal cast, exuberant Arlen & Harburg songs, delightful story, and beautiful sets, costumes, and matte painting backdrops, it would be the vibrant and rich Technicolor. It's such a gorgeous looking movie. Funny, sentimental, sincere -- it's a masterpiece that I've been in love with since I was a little kid. I've never grown tired of it and I hope I never do.

THE WIZARD OF OZ is a great film, so please don't be offended and think I hate it--I don't, and have seen it perhaps a dozen times or more. It is truly a classic. However, the last time I saw it, I was surprised because now that I am middle-aged, I finally really listened to some of the songs. While some, such as "Over the Rainbow" were amazingly sublime, a few surprised me because they had great music but the lyrics were, well, nonsense. Try listening to some of the songs and you might notice that the lyrics, while memorable, are a bit silly. Really...and this is the only reason I can't give this film a 10.

However, despite this minor complaint, what else is there about the film that could be improved? Judy Garland is perfect and at her best. The cinematography, costumes, sets and everything about the film is first-rate--even if the story, at times, diverges greatly from Frank Baum's original tale.

A film that you must see if you haven't. Just try NOT to pay attention to lyrics in songs like "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "If I Only Had a Brain". It might give you a headache. Here are a couple examples:

"You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was. If ever oh ever a Wiz! there was The Wizard of Oz is one because..."

"I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry, If I only had a brain."

Oh, and one other problem. At the end of the film, there is no resolution with Miss Gulch and you can assume she STILL is going to have Toto put down!

When you've got a classic film that several generations of fans eagerly look forward to seeing televised every year, what critics say doesn't really matter. Several generations of the movie going public have made their voices heard loud and clear. It doesn't even matter that not one member of the cast is still with us to occasionally promote the film. It's reputation precedes it.

What lucky accidents for two performers in the celebrated cast. First Judy Garland got her break because Darryl Zanuck would not loan Shirley Temple out at any price. She was just making more money for hi studio than anyone else in Hollywood and he wasn't going to cut Louis. B. Mayer in for a dime.

However when MGM contract player Buddy Ebsen had a toxic allergic reaction to that Tin Man makeup paint, there was Zanuck happy to loan Jack Haley to MGM for what turned out to be his career role. In fact all seven of the stars, Judy Garland and her adult co-stars all got the roles they are most identified with. Tell me another film that can claim that?

Back at the turn of the last century L. Frank Baum adapted his Oz stories to the Broadway stage in 1903. Baum wrote the play and also most of the song lyrics, none of which had any staying power. The great vaudeville team of David Montgomery and Fred Stone starred on Broadway for 293 performances. Stone played the Scarecrow and I could see him doing it, though not quite the same as Ray Bolger, Stone played all kinds of rustics when he later went to Hollywood. Montgomery played a character name I had not heard of, in fact if you look down a cast list on the Internet Broadway Database, you'll see a ton of characters you wouldn't be familiar with unless you read all the Baum Oz stories.

MGM simplified and cut away a lot to bring what nearly all moviegoers on the planet are familiar with today. Included is new music which brought for The Wizard Of Oz it's two Oscars, for MGM house composer Herbert Stothart one for best musical scoring and for Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg for Over The Rainbow, Best Song of 1939.

That song almost didn't make the picture. In his infinite wisdom Louis B. Mayer pronounced the number as too much for a juvenile like Judy Garland, it belonged to someone like Nelson Eddy. Director Victor Fleming insisted it be kept in and the result was an Oscar and a song that Judy Garland could never do a live performance without. Though her voice and persona changed from winsome juvenile to the greatest female singing star ever, Over The Rainbow adapted itself over the years to her aging.

Judy's now over that rainbow for many years as are Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch. Margaret Hamilton who scares the waste product out anybody as the Wicked Witch of the West. Kids even now when first seeing her have nightmares, I can speak from first hand experience there. We can't leave out traveling medicine showman and the title character Frank Morgan. To think all these people in one film got their career roles.

For their time the special effects were breathtaking, from the tornado that took Dorothy Gale and her house over the rainbow to the mystical land of Oz. The camera work of Hal Rosson and the imagination of Buddy Gillespie in the MGM special effects department hold our rapt attention to this day.

Back when she was starting the terrible twos, my niece Tara got to see The Wizard Of Oz for the first time. At that point for the next three years it became her ultimate babysitting tool. You sat her in front of the television, plopped in The Wizard Of Oz and just left her alone. She wouldn't move, but it got so bad that her parents and both grandmothers just got totally Wizarded out and couldn't look at the film for years.

Knowing there's a Tara out there as I write this who is getting her first exposure to the Wizard Of Oz, this review is dedicated to her and all the youngsters like her and untold millions that will follow.