![]() The quintessentially American quality of these tales has struck many readers. She then swept it all out the door.'' This is entirely characteristic of the unsentimental tone of Baum's 14 Oz books, their emphasis on the homely American virtues of self-reliance and practicality. Instead, she simply ''drew another bucket of water and threw it over the mess. And Baum's Dorothy, having accidentally melted the witch, is not overcome by emotion and remorse as is Judy Garland's tenderhearted celluloid Dorothy. In short, she is human, with pathetic little human weaknesses and foibles, and not a figure of pure evil Baum did not believe in pure evil. Baum's witch is afraid of the blustering Cowardly Lion and even of the dark. Take, for example, the Wicked Witch of the West as she is treated by Baum and subsequently by the creators of the film. But the MGM movie and the novel differ in fundamental ways, and it is too bad that the eccentric, attractive world Baum imagined remains unfamiliar to so many readers. In this case, unlike so many others, the film is a great one, the equal of the book. ![]() ![]() Frank Baum's ''Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) has been eclipsed by the film it inspired. ![]()
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