NOTE: THIS AND ALL FUTURE SCREENINGS WILL BE AT THE BEACON ARTS VILLAGE, THE OLD TOWN HALL, ONE, THE QUADRANT, HOYLAKE CH47 2EE

DOORS OPEN 6.30pm. BAR AND FOOD AVAILABLE FROM 6.30 – 11.30 pm. FILM STARTS 7.30pm.

Celebrating the 80th Anniversary

Year: 1939
Country: UK
Directed by:
Victor Fleming, King Vidor, Richard Thorpe, George Cukor, Norman Taurog

Cast:
Judy Garland (Dorothy Gale)
Ray Bolger (Hunk / the Scarecrow)
Jack Haley (Hickory / the Tin Man)
Bert Lahr (Zeke / the Cowardly Lion)
Frank Morgan (Professor Marvel / The Wizard)
Billie Burke (The Good Witch)
Margaret Hamilton (Miss Gulch / The Wicked Witch)
Clara Blandick (Auntie Em)

Widely considered to be one of the greatest films in cinematic history, The Wizard of Oz is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over direction of Gone with the Wind.

Legendary for its use of advanced Technicolor filming techniques, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters, it was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning in two categories; Best Original Song for “Over the Rainbow” and Best Original Score. While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939, it failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release. It was MGM’s most expensive production at the time.

It is one of the few films on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14. Celebrated film critic Roger Ebert chose it as one of his Great Films, writing that “The Wizard of Oz has a wonderful surface of comedy and music, special effects and excitement, but we still watch it six decades later because its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them.”

101 mins Cert U