Tag Archive: Wizard of Oz


The 3D magic of The Wizard Of Oz

Filed under: Movies, Music — 1 Comment
December 16, 2016

THE WIZARD OF OZ directed by Victor Fleming (USA, 1939)

the-wizard-of-oz-posterI first saw The Wizard Of Oz in a fleapit cinema in my home town in the English Midlands when I was around 10 years old. The contrast between the rundown movie house and the glimmering images on-screen were striking.

Seeing it now for the umpteenth time in a lovingly restored 3D version brought back all the magic.

As a pre-teen in the 1960s, Disney was the dominant force for young adult films. The Love Bug, Jungle Book and Blackbeard’s Ghost were among my favorites at that time. I expected Oz to be a cartoon so it was a big shock to be confronted by a live action musical. And how was I supposed to categorize this movie?

On one hand it’s in the classic fairy tale tradition but the good versus evil themes were presented in a manner I hadn’t seen before and have rarely encountered since. Continue reading →

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FIVE MOVIE-GOING FIRSTS

Filed under: Italy, Movies, Parenting — Leave a comment
July 17, 2013

popcornDo you remember the first film you saw at the cinema?

This was the question asked by a pair of vox-pop reporters for a series of short videos shown during a film festival in my home town of Cesena.

Most young respondents recalled Disney or Pixar animations; one older guy remembered seeing The Wizard Of Oz, another recounted how he was dragged reluctantly to see Visconti’s The Leopard when his parents couldn’t find a babysitter.

Hearing these experience got me thinking about my own ‘firsts’ at the movies.

Dad was sound asleep during this scene from Where Eagles Dare.

Dad was sound asleep during this scene from Where Eagles Dare.

The first film I saw with my parents was Where Eagles Dare – a WWII drama based on Alistair McLean’s novel with the unlikely pairing of Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton as Nazi impersonators undertaking a mission impossible task of freeing prisoners held in a Colditz-like fortress.

This movie was memorable not for the action packed set pieces but for the fact that my Dad fell asleep half way through and had to be prodded awake by my Mom when he began snoring. Continue reading →

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BLOG TAG GAME – I’M IT

Filed under: Blogging, Books, Good causes, Italy, Movies, Music — 4 Comments
July 30, 2012

tagI was tagged byKina Diaz DeLeon who is a Human in Recovery inviting me to a game of blog tag.

An offer I couldn’t refuse!

Here are  the  rules:-

  • You must post the rules
  • Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post
  • Create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged (or use the existing ones)
  • Tag (eleven) people with a link to your post
Let them know they’ve been tagged

These are my answers to Kina’s Questions:

1. Q- What is the thing that makes you want to get out of bed each day?

 A – Breakfast +  The thing that makes me have to get out of bed is the family cat (Von) who is normally awake at least two hours before anyone else and wants us to know.

2. What do you tell yourself to get through painful, difficult, or challenging times?

“No matter – try again – fail again – fail better” Samuel Beckett got it right. Continue reading →

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WELCOMING IRENE

Filed under: Italy, Movies — Leave a comment
August 27, 2011

I have never witnessed a hurricane first hand so all my experiences come from the movies.

This starts with The Wizard Of Oz, the effects for which were apparently achieved by the creative use of a nylon stocking.

While Americans are boarding up and fleeing the path of the latest twister; I’ve been welcoming my mother named Irene who has to use nylon stockings to prevent swollen ankles as temperatures in Italy remain very high.

I’ve also been idling on the net surfing twisters in the movie sites of which these are a short list:
Study guide to Wizard of Oz hurricane sequence
How a twister was made from a nylon stocking in Oz
Movies featuring twisters
Rating movie tornadoes

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MALATESTIANA LIBRARY

Filed under: Italy — Leave a comment
July 21, 2008

I’ve been living in Cesena, Italy for over ten years now but to my shame it took the visit of my good friend Pauline from Ireland to prompt a visit to one of the town’s jewels – the Biblioteca Malatestiana .

In 2005 the collection was added the prestigious ‘Memory of the world register’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This honour is given every two years to individuals or institutions that have “made significant contributions to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage”. To date, this is the only entry for Italy.

The full register includes a wide variety of ‘documents’ from around the world from the Bayeux Tapestry to The Wizard of Oz (the original 1939 movie negatives and soundtrack).

The building in Cesena takes its name from Malatesta Novello – “the last lord of Cesena” . It is a perfectly preserved 15th century monastic humanist library; a unique space housing 343 original books (codices) which are attached to the 58 desks by wrought iron chains. These keep the texts in order (and also stop anyone sneaking away with the precious tomes!).

The space is a marvel of harmonious design. Rows of windows on either side are designed to provide just the right amount of natural light for the scholars. On the one side are books on ‘difficult’ topics like science and mathematics. The morning light – up to midday – falls on these while ,in the afternoon, light in shed on ‘lighter’ topics like the arts and humanities. There’s a real sense of meditative calm within the library.

Well worth a day trip to any vsitors to Emilia Romagna.

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