The Wizard of Oz (BFI Film Classics)

I am so happy a friend turned me on to this read. Truly enjoyable and a great way to re-visit the story and the art of character and story development from a different angle. Really wonderful.

One of the first long pieces Salman Rushdie wrote after the fatwa issued against him by the Ayatollah Khomeini, this charming little 1992 study of THE WIZARD OF OZ is one of their most charming in the BFI catalogue, and tells us perhaps more about the workings of one of the most important living novelists (himself a kind of wizard exiled from home) as it does about the 1939 MGM classic. The monograph consists of two halves: an extended essay on THE WIZARD OF OZ itself, and Rushdie's by-now famous short story "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers," a fantasia on the famous early 70s purchase of one of the many pairs of slippers crafted for the film for what was then the unbelievable price of $15,000. The essay on the film brings up all kinds of intriguing departure points for Rushdie: he emphasizes its importance to his own imaginative work (the depiction of the Widow in MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN, he now realizes, owes much to the unforgettable appearance of Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West), offers surprising analyses of the film's treatments of exile and return, and compares it to the musicals of Bollywood. The essay disappoints only by being too short: you wish it would go on longer and tell you even more.

Salman Rushdie is pure genius - one of the greatest writers of the modern age. A brilliant take on The Wizard of Oz - a good read.

Rushdie takes an iconic classic film and synthesizes it to its core. The author of Imaginary Homelands provides his reader with a wonderful lesson in how to analyze film.

Over rated. Skip.

I don't give five stars very often, but this one deserves the rating because it's a perfect little gem. It's brief, but packed full of insight, capturing a great writer writing about a great film. But to add a dollop of whipped cream to this dessert, the writer saw the film as a child and the power of that experience helped to form the very imagination that is now being brought to bear on the movie's mysteries. Delicious.

A great book for Rushdie -- one can feel the limitations perhaps set by the editors on him -- usually Rushdie runs on, but here all of his insight and enthusiasm is pared down into an economical essay one can enjoy in less than an afternoon. Oh, it's a wonderful book on the Wizard movie, too.Rushdie, as outsider/insider, helps one return to the joy of first seeing the movie; he also provides some of the more delicious gossip and facts about this movie -- unlikely as I am to ever read a full book the film, Rushdie captures surely some of its best behind-the-scenes stories (yes: midgets, sweating, original actors, and the slippers).This book is a great read: the author is able to remind us how so many good elements (the visual storytelling, Garland's voice, the lyrics, the political incorrectness) bleed together into this wonderful movie.

I really enjoyed this book. I had to read it for a film analysis and aesthetics class, along with many other BFI books, and it was my favorite one. I would have read it even if I weren't in the class -- Rushdie offers a personal take on a classic movie, and his reading (one that says youth is constantly looking for a technicolor world far away from their grounding, drab home life) is one easily relatable. I recommend it to any fan of Rushdie's, The Wizard of Oz and/or film.

I thoroughly enjoyed this analysis of The Wizard Of Oz movie. Rushdie speaks of losing one's home, exile, being in a strange land & customs and of learning to believe in oneself. This is an entertaining and interesting look at the movie and more.At the end, Rushdie adds a short story about the auctioning of the ruby slippers in a futuristic world. It's interesting but not as much so as the essay on the movie.

I first came across this book a year and read it in one sitting. I thought it was fascinating to look through a different prism at such a well known story. It was also interesting to see how the story, character and associations had had an impact on Rushdie's childhood and into adulthood. I lent my copy out several times. In the end I had to buy another! This way it's always there on my bookshelf to consult, browse and re-read. Certainly worth reading and would make a great stocking filler for Wizard of Oz fans of any age and gender.

Goods received.