The Dreamer of Oz

I know I enjoyed it too. I was watching the Wizard of OZ on TV and then I remember watching the made for TV movie on the life of L.Frank Baum on TV with the late John Ritter as Baum. I enjoyed it because it told of the real Dorthy, his neice I believe, he wrote it about and for, since Baum himself did not have any daughters. I think it was on ABC when it was originally broadcast so they might be the best bet if you want a video copy of it.

The first time I saw this movie, I loved it right away, and here I always thought the Wizard of Oz was my favorite. I copied this movie off of TV the second time it aired. Then by accident, my husband taped over it. About 6 months later, I got lucky, I found a copy on ebay. I took a chance (never ordered off of ebay before) but I got it and low and behold it was the original Dreamer of Oz and it was wonderful. I probably watched it a dozen times. I went looking for that movie just before Christmas this year, but I found the CD case empty, OH MY the movie was gone. We searched high and low in every DVD case we have and I can't find that movie anywhere.

This was a great movie and if this website really has people from the movie industry as members why doesn't someone put this movie on DVD and sell it, they would make a fortune. But then again, I sometimes wonder if there are other forces at work here and I'm not meant to ever own this movie.

I would even be willing to just have a chance at watching this movie on TV (maybe once a year would be nice).

I remember this movie every time The Wizard of OZ is mentioned and was surprised to discover I was only six years old the one and only time I saw it. It is very clear in my mind still which is clearly a comment on the quality of the film. All of the performances were wonderful but I have one negative comment to make. I recently researched Dorothy Gage and discovered she died at only 5 months old, and although her name is the basis of Dorothy Gale's, the story was always meant to feature a girl not a little boy as the movie depicted.

The movie had the viewer believe that Baum had a strong attachment to a child when really Dorothy was an infant who his wife adored.

Even though the film is inaccurate the story is wonderful on it's own and I would recommend it to anyone as a partly non-fiction, partly fiction film.

This film deserves to available on video or DVD. As far as I know, this is one of the few versions of the life of Lionel Frank Baum, the author of the Oz series. The film, a made-for-TV film with John Ritter, treats the subject of L. Frank Baum's creating the Wizard of Oz book. The story is largely a fictionalized version of Baum's odyssey to creating the book and Baum purists (myself included) may be tempted to snort at the inclusion of issues that have been added into the mythology of the creation of the Oz books. However, this little slips are forgivable in the overall presentation of the life of a gentle man who truly loved children and whose works remain classics to this day. Baum was a complex individual whose works-- particularly the earlier ones-- were more complex than meets the eye. His themes touched on female voter issues (a hot issue in the turn of century, pre-feminist days), the ethics of creating life and the responsibility of science. This little movie does not go into these issues, nor should it have, for that matter. But, in any case, it should be available for those of us who would like to see it again.

I remember watching this movie when it first aired on television on NBC and I was fortunate enough to have it taped and I still have that tape today. The story is solid, as are the Oz fantasy sequences. This movie is certainly a classic in its own right.