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The Wizard of Oz, a movie (1939) by U.S. producer David O. Selznick and director Victor Fleming. This enchanting musical, based on a novel by L. Frank Baum (1900), tells the story of Dorothy, a young Kansas girl who dreams she is transported to the magical world of Oz, a utopian place without disease, poverty, or political discussion "except in the outlying districts." Evading the Wicked Witch of the West, she sets off along the yellow brick road in search of the mysterious Wizard. The words Oz (a magical, unreal, even bizarre place or situation), Wicked Witch of the West (evil person), and munchkin (from the elflike Munchkins in the movie, now meaning also an elflike person, a young child, or a minor government official) have established a place in the English language.
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