Summary
A title card tells us that the "kindly philosophy" of this story has gone out of fashion, but that it is dedicated to those who have remained loyal to it, "and to the Young in Heart."
We see Dorothy Gale running down a long dirt road with her dog, Toto, in the middle of the grey fields of Kansas. The shots are in a sepia-toned black and white. Dorothy and Toto run to the house of Dorothy's Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Dorothy's relatives are counting eggs as Dorothy tries to tell them that their neighbor, Miss Elvira Gulch, hit Toto. Dorothy's relatives are more concerned with the eggs on their farm than they are with Dorothy's story, about how Ms. Gulch hit Toto with a rake. Dorothy gets more and more hysterical as she tells the story, until Aunt Em dismisses her.
Nearby, three farmhands, Zeke, Hunk, and Hickory, work on putting together a wagon. Dorothy asks Zeke for advice about what to do about Miss Gulch, but he is busy with the pigs. Hunk tells Dorothy to use her brains about Miss Gulch, and to avoid walking by her garden on her way home.
As Zeke tends to the pigs in their pen, he tells her to have a little courage, as Dorothy walks on the railing between two of the pens. In the middle of the fence, Dorothy falls into the pig pen. Zeke picks her up and pulls her out, but he seems nearly as afraid as she does, and the other farmhands laugh at him.
Aunt Em tells them to get back to work, and Dorothy tries yet again to tell her about what happened with Miss Gulch. Aunt Em has no time and rushes off, leaving Dorothy to think about how she can spend the day without getting into trouble. Left alone with Toto, Dorothy sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and dreams of a faraway place "behind the moon, beyond the rain."
Suddenly, Elvira Gulch comes riding down the road on her bicycle, telling Uncle Henry that she wants to talk to him and Aunt Em about Dorothy. Inside the house, Miss Gulch tells Aunt Em and Dorothy that she's talked to the sheriff about having Toto "destroyed." Upset, Dorothy offers to be punished in Toto's place, but Miss Gulch tells them that she will sue them if they don't hand over the dog. She hands over an order from the sheriff entitling her to take Toto and holds up a basket in which to put the dog.
Dorothy resists, calling Miss Gulch a "wicked old witch," but Henry takes Toto and puts him in the basket. After Dorothy runs from the room, Aunt Em scolds Miss Gulch for being so heartless.
Miss Gulch rides away with Toto in the basket, but the dog manages to jump out and run back to Dorothy's house, coming in through her bedroom window. Fearing that Miss Gulch will come back for him, Dorothy takes a suitcase out from under her bed and resolves to run away, She leaves the house, and after crossing a bridge, Dorothy notices a strange carriage advertising a psychic named Professor Marvel. He comes out of his trailer and greets her, guessing who she is and what she's doing.
"They don't understand you at home, they don't appreciate you," he guesses, correctly. As they talk, Toto eats a hot dog off of the stick that the Professor is using to roast it over a fire. Dorothy asks Professor Marvel if she and Toto can travel with him, but he tells her that they ought to consult his crystal ball.
Inside, Professor Marvel asks Dorothy to close her eyes, and as she does, he looks at a photograph of her with Aunt Em in her basket. As he gazes into the crystal ball, Professor Marvel tells Dorothy that he sees the farm and Aunt Em, and that Aunt Em is heartbroken about Dorothy having run away. When Professor Marvel suggests that she might be sick, Dorothy gets anxious, collecting her things and heading home.
As she runs home, a storm begins. We see the farm, and a tornado forming in the field nearby. Aunt Em calls for Dorothy, just as Dorothy is arriving back at the farm. Uncle Henry and the farmhands usher Aunt Em into the nearby cellar, even though they haven't found Dorothy yet. Dorothy runs into the house, just as the door flies off its hinges. She cannot find anyone in the house; next she tries the celler, but can't get the door open.
As she goes into her bedroom, Dorothy's window flies out of its frame and hits her in the head, knocking her unconscious. She falls onto the bed and enters a dream state. The house gets swept up in the tornado, flying through the air inside the cyclone. When Dorothy wakes up, she looks out the window and sees the chicken coop fly by, then a woman sewing in a rocking chair, then a cow, two men in a rowboat, and Miss Gulch on her bicycle. As she rides her bicycle, Miss Gulch turns into a witch on a broomstick.
Suddenly the house falls to the ground with a thud. Dorothy stands up tentatively, holding Toto, and opens the front door, where she finds a magical and colorful world, filled with exotic flowers and trees.
Analysis
From the first title card, the film labels itself as a story for "the Young in Heart" and says that it has a particularly "kindly philosophy." These labels suggest that its message, story, and morals are meant to make the viewer feel good, and are meant for viewers of all ages. While the film is a children's film, the dedication at the beginning tells us that viewers are encouraged to keep their loyalty to the story beyond childhood, as the story "has given faithful service to the Young in Heart."
Dorothy Gale, the protagonist of the film, is a big-hearted and earnest girl who lives on a farm in Kansas. She is fiercely protective of her best friend—a small dog named Toto—and she struggles to find friends and confidants on the working farm where she lives. Her caretakers, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, are always too busy to give her the time of day, and the farmhands who work there want to help, but they don't have much patience for her either. As a result, Dorothy is a misfit in her own home, feeling somewhat cut off and ignored by the people in her life.
Part of what makes Dorothy such a solitary character in her own home and community is the fact that her dreamy and imaginative tendencies do not mesh terribly well with the pragmatic concerns of a working farm. While her aunt and uncle count eggs, worrying about the well-being of their chicks, Dorothy worries about the well-being of her dog, Toto, and wants to spin dramatic tales about her run-ins with a cranky neighbor. Later, Aunt Em tells Dorothy that she makes a fuss out of nothing, because her imagination is too big, advising her to just focus on staying out of trouble.
In spite of Aunt Em's advice, Dorothy remains dreamy and sings a song about finding a faraway and magical place, the iconic "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." She feels incompatible with the grey plains surrounding her farm, and dreams of a colorful place, a place that only exists "behind the moon, beyond the rain." Dorothy's imagination is capable of taking her on a magical journey, of helping her escape the indifference of the people around her to find solace in the more mystical elements of the natural world. As she finishes the song, the camera shows a cloud above, with heavenly light shining down through it, which highlights Dorothy's connection with the natural world and with her own sense of possibility.
Dorothy's dreams of a magical elsewhere come true when her house is swept up in the tornado. The mundane world of Kansas transforms into a whimsical if momentarily terrifying adventure. Fixtures of her life spin past the window, and the evil Miss Gulch transforms from a prairie woman into a witch on a broom. Then, after the house has landed, Victor Fleming uses an astonishing photographic trick to fully transport the viewer from the world of Kansas to the magical world of Oz. As Dorothy opens the door, the colorless world turns to bright Technicolor, with all the colors of the rainbow.
