The Wizard of Oz

Synopsis
One of the oldest classic films ever, it's about Dorothy who lives on a farm with her aunt and uncle. One day, a woman named Almira Gulch comes over to take Dorothy's dog, Toto, to the sheriff, because she thinks he's a menace to the community. After he manages to escape from her bicycle's basket, he and Dorothy run away. Before that, they meet Professor Marvel, and as Dorothy sees her aunt dying in the crystal ball, she runs back home. While that occurs, a twister (er, cyclone) lifts the house up that Dorothy's in, and it lands on the Wicked Witch of the East... in Munchkinland, which is far over the rainbow, changing the screen from Sepia Tone to Color. Dorothy first meets the Good Witch of the North, Glinda. All over the place are tiny people called Munchkins. They thank Dorothy for killing the Wicked Witch... until the other Wicked Witch appears, who's from the West. As she reaches for the ruby slippers that her sister has, they disappear, and are now on Dorothy's feet. Glinda tells Dorothy that in order to find the Wizard of Oz, she must follow the yellow brick road. Along the way, she meets the Scarecrow, who is in need of a brain; the Tin Man, whom the tinsmith forgot to give a heart; and the Cowardly Lion, who has no courage. Before they reach Emerald City, they have to cross a patch of poison flowers that puts them to sleep. Fortunately, they can be wiped out with snow. Before meeting the Wizard, the four are tidied up a bit. Then, the Wicked Witch writes smoking words "SURRENDER DOROTHY" in the sky. The Cowardly Lion disguises himself as king of the forest. And when the four finally meet the Wizard, they are first to prove themselves worthy of granting requests -- by bringing him the Wicked Witch's broomstick. First, they go through the Haunted Forest, and are caught by the Winged Monkeys. They also take Dorothy and Toto away to the Wicked Witch's castle, because she wanted the ruby slippers. But she couldn't touch them, so she had no choice but to make Dorothy stop living. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion run to rescue her, and the Witch ends up melting after trying to burn the Scarecrow. When they arrive back to Emerald City with the broomstick, the Wizard decides to let them come back tomorrow, but Dorothy wanted to go home now. The Wizard is revealed in his true form, and gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Cowardly Lion a medal that reads "Courage", and the Tin Man a testimonial. But as for Dorothy -- well, the Wizard has to take her home by a hot-air balloon. It comes loose, and he leaves on his own. Then Glinda arrives, and tells Dorothy to close her eyes, tap her heels three times and think to herself, "There's no place like home."

Production timeline
These facts were revealed online just before the film was re-released in theaters from Warner Bros. Pictures in 1998.
 * January 1938: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the rights to The Wizard of Oz, and Judy Garland was cast to play Dorothy. In addition, Ray Bolger was assigned to play the Tin Woodman, and Buddy Ebsen for the Scarecrow. Shortly afterwards, their roles were switched.
 * February 1938: On February 3, Mervyn LeRoy signed a contract for production of the film, and Samuel Goldwyn agreed to sell the rights to The Wizard of Oz on February 18.
 * April 5, 1938: The first draft of the script was written by Noel Langley.
 * July 25, 1938: Bert Lahr was assigned to play the Cowardly Lion.
 * August 12, 1938: Charley Grapewin was cast for the role of Uncle Henry.
 * September 22, 1938: Frank Morgan was cast to play the Wizard of Oz, and Terry the dog was Toto.
 * October 8, 1938: The final draft of the script was completed, following numerous rewrites during the rest of 1938 and in early 1939.
 * October 10, 1938: Margaret Hamilton was cast for the Wicked Witch of the West.
 * October 21, 1938: Although Buddy Ebsen's vocals for "If I Only Had a Heart" and "We're Off to See the Wizard" survived all the way to home video releases, the actor himself suffered an allergic reaction to the dust in his Tin Woodman makeup. Therefore, he was replaced by Jack Haley.
 * November 3, 1938: Victor Fleming became the permanent director for the film.
 * November 11, 1938: The Munchkinland scene began shooting, which took more than one month to complete, until December 18.
 * December 23, 1938: Margaret Hamilton suffered burns while filming her departure from Munchkinland, and she did not come back until February 11, 1939.
 * March 16, 1939: After a lot of revisions to the final script, which were completed by the end of February, principal filming of The Wizard of Oz was completed on this date.