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Fiona Morris

Todd Austin

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The True Story

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

28/04/2011

BBC Four - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The True Story

Film using archive footage and interviews to tell the story of the creator of Oz.

Film using rare footage from the Baum family archives plus interviews with family members, literary experts and historians to tell the story of the creator of Oz, Frank L Baum.

This iconic American story was written in 1900 by L Frank Baum, a Chicago businessman, journalist, chicken breeder, actor, boutique owner, Hollywood movie director and lifelong fan of all things innovative and technological. His life spanned an era of remarkable invention and achievement in America and many of these developments helped to fuel this great storyteller's imagination. 

His ambition was to create the first genuine American fairytale and the story continues to fascinate, inspire and engage millions of fans of all ages from all over the world. This documentary explores how The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has come to symbolise the American Dream and includes previously unseen footage from the Baum family archives, still photographs and clips from the early Oz films, as well as interviews with family members, literary experts and American historians as it tells the story of one man's life in parallel to the development of modern America.

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