Join Dorothy and her friends on the yellow brick road for the most wonderful of adventures – special shows of this much-loved classic on the big screen, for schools, access audiences and those that like to sing along!
In a little farm in Kansas, a young girl dreams of growing up, spreading her wings and discovering what life holds over the rainbow. Little does she know that the most amazing adventure is coming to find her right where she is, when a tornado picks up her world, spins it around, and drops her into the wonderful world of Oz.
The extraordinary and much-loved tale of Dorothy and the magical and at the same time very human friends and foes she meets is told in awe-inspiring Technicolor with dazzling sets and costumes, plus some of the most glorious musical numbers ever written for the screen! The Palace is delighted to screen THE WIZARD OF OZ to commemorate it having been the very first film shown here, as ‘York Gate Hall’, on Sunday 11 July 1965.
We’ll be showing THE WIZARD OF OZ in a ‘60s-style film programme, with a short film before the feature and an usherette with a tray, plus 1965 ticket prices: Stalls 2 shillings (£2 now), Circle 3 shillings & sixpence (£3 now). Special screenings for everyone:
· Schools’ screenings – Mornings Mon 7 – Fri 11 July (Free 60 YEARS A CINEMA KS2 Teaching Resource)
· Accessible screening – Saturday 12 July at 2pm (subtitles on screen, auditorium lights up slightly) – book tickets below!
· Sing-a-long screening – Sunday 13 July at 2pm (“Weeeeeee’re OFF to see the Wizard…” etc etc!) – book tickets below!
For anyone wondering why a film released in 1939 was chosen in 1965, there are a couple of reasons! It was first released at the beginning of the war, when audiences loved it and it won a couple of Oscars but then disappeared as other films, and more important things, took over the public imagination. What made it the sensation it is today was after it was shown on TV in the US in 1956 – millions saw it on the small screen, many in black in white, and fell in love with it, especially as by then Judy Garland had become a superstar in hits including MEET ME IN ST LOUIS (1944) and A STAR IS BORN (1954). It was really a film for the big screen and MGM re-released it in cinemas the mid-1950s to huge success. Look out at the Palace for the (reproduction) original cinema poster from the 1950s British re-release.
