The Wizard Of Oz And More Classics

For decades, great fantasy movies were often hard to find, but they did exist in the golden age, albeit usually categorized under a different genre. For years, fantasy movies were frequently perceived as lowbrow, leading Hollywood to invest little money in them or categorize them under other genres like horror, sci-fi, or musicals.

This began to change in the 1950s, when fantasy movies began to unabashedly show themselves in epics and sword-and-sorcery films to great effect. Through it all, some of the best fantasy movies can be found as early as the 1930s, with at least two releases that set the template for the genre in years to come.

Mysterious Island (1961)

Released in 1961, Mysterious Island is an adaptation loosely based on the 1874 Jules Verne novel of the same name. The story follows prisoners from the American Civil War who escape in a balloon and end up trapped on an island full of giant animals, where they have to find a way to survive.

There is a lot in this movie that ties into other fantasy stories, including a chest that washes ashore with a copy of Robinson Crusoe in it, as well as the fact that it might have come from Captain Nemo’s ship, the Nautilus. Captain Nemo even shows up at the end, along with his fantastical plan for the future.

However, other than these Easter eggs, the movie lives and dies by its giant animal creatures. Mysterious Island is notable for the stop-motion practical monster effects by the brilliant Ray Harryhausen and the incredible musical score by Bernard Herrmann. The movie has an 81% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

While many fantasy movies of the 1930s and 1940s hid their fantasy leanings behind horror or musical tags, The Thief of Bagdad chose to go all in on the fantastical elements of the genre. What resulted was a movie that Roger Ebert believed was as good as The Wizard of Oz, if not better.

This classic fantasy film from the Golden Age is a story similar to the Arabian Nights tales. It also isn’t the first time the story was brought to film, as Raoul Walsh directed a silent film version in 1924. The Thief of Bagdad follows the story of Ahmad, the rightful king of Bagdad, who had his throne usurped by the evil Jaffar.

With the genie in the bottle, the magic flying carpets, and the fantastic production design in Bagdad, this is a film that delivers everything fantasy fans could want in a movie. The Thief of Bagdad won three Oscars and has been influential on any movie featuring the Arabian Nights tales, especially the Disney animated film Aladdin.

Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

Released in 1932, Tarzan the Ape Man was marketed as an adventure movie, but it plays in the same arena as fantasy movies. Johnny Weissmuller stars as the titular character in the film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creations. This specific movie was loosely based on the 1912 novel, Tarzan and the Apes.

When the movie starts, Tarzan is already an adult and active in the jungles of Africa. At the start, he saves an expedition team from a hippopotamus and crocodile attack and then abducts Jane. When Tarzan returns Jane to her father, she asks him to return to her world to live with her, but he chooses to remain in his home.

This was Weissmuller’s first of 12 movies where he played Tarzan, and they remained one of the earlier successful franchises in Hollywood. Maureen O’Sullivan played Jane in six Tarzan films, from 1932 to 1942. Tarzan the Ape Man was the grandfather of fantasy franchises for the future of cinema.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

For anyone who wants to see some of the earliest stop-motion monster work by Ray Harryhausen, watch the 1958 fantasy movie The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Harryhausen had already made his name working on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and It Came from Beneath the Sea, and this movie was a step up from those.

Based on Sinbad the Sailor from the collection of Middle Eastern folktales titled One Thousand and One Nights, this was the first of three Sinbad feature films from Columbia, and Harryhausen conceptualized all three releases using Dynamation, which was a full-color, widescreen stop-motion animation technique he created.

Despite the name, the film follows the Sinbad stories from his third and fifth voyages, and it was a massive success for the movie studio. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2008, and it has a 100% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Mummy (1932)

The Mummy was one of the early Universal Horror movies featuring their classic monsters. While this is technically a horror movie, it is unlike its predecessors. Dracula is a gothic horror, and Frankenstein is sci-fi horror. However, The Mummy is pure fantasy-based horror and is just as much a fantasy movie as a horror tale.

Boris Karloff took on his second Universal Monster role after Frankenstein’s Monster with his role as Imhotep, the mummy from the film’s title. This Universal Horror movie uses Egyptian myths to make it as much fantasy as anything, as the ancient Egyptian mummy is raised from the dead and seeks to bring back his lost love as well.

While Brendan Fraser’s Mummy movies have a lot of fans, there is a good argument that the 1932 Mummy movie is still the best film version of the classic horror monster stories. While not as popular as Dracula and Frankenstein, The Mummy likely ranks in the top 5 for all Universal Horror Monsters, securing its legacy.

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

When most people think of Beauty and the Beast, it is the Disney animated movie from the 1990s that brought about the Disney Animation Renaissance. While that might be the best version of the Beauty and the Beast tale, the 1946 French film by John Cocteau is easily the best live-action movie adaptation.

This was the first movie that told the story, and it was a masterpiece of Avant-Garde cinema. The film feels much more dreamlike than most adaptations of the story, which plays well with the fairy-tale aspects of the plot. The Beast is full of self-loathing, and Belle doesn’t care for that nonsense, but still slowly falls in love with him.

What makes this fantasy movie stand out is that it never shows explicitly whether Belle prefers the Beast in his beastly form or as the Prince. This makes it something that viewers can discuss after the film ends, and makes it a lot more interesting than later versions.

King Kong (1933)

King Kong was marketed as a horror movie, but it’s pure fantasy. While his later enemy, Godzilla, was based on sci-fi storytelling techniques, Kong is the king of a mythical island with other giant creatures. This first movie in the King Kong franchise sees the great gorilla living peacefully on his island when men show up and capture him.

Humans then force Kong, a king on his island, to serve as a circus sideshow for people to pay to see, and the movie spirals into a tragedy. Kong was never a villain in the film, and it was the humans who were the monsters, with only the innocent Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) seeing the pain and suffering in his eyes.

This fantasy movie introduced the concept of giant monsters and animals, and Willis H. O’Brien’s stop-motion effects had a profound influence on the entire industry. Even Ray Harryhausen admitted that he fell in love with stop-motion animation thanks to O’Brien’s work.

Jason And The Argonauts (1963)

Jason And The Argonauts is so beloved and respected that Tom Hanks named the 1963 fantasy film the greatest movie ever made. This might be Ray Harryhausen’s masterpiece in the stop-motion animation techniques he helped develop, which became a significant part of fantasy filmmaking in the 1950s and 1960s.

Based on The Argonautica from the 3rd century BC, this tells the story of Jason, the child of a murdered king. He is taken into hiding for his protection, and a prophecy states that he will return one day to avenge his father’s death. The entire film is based on Greek myths, with Zeus, Hera, Hercules, and more making appearances.

However, the selling point for Jason And The Argonauts is the creature effects, with the sword battle with the seven skeleton warriors a highlight of the movie. The film has an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score and was listed as one of Harryhausen’s greatest accomplishments when he won a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars in 1992.

The Seventh Seal (1957)

There might not be a more contemplative fantasy movie from the golden age of cinema than Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. The film follows a disillusioned knight named Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) who returns from the Crusades with his squire Jöns, only to find his country ravaged by the plague.

He also finds Death waiting for him. In this case, Death is an actual character, played by Bengt Ekerot, in a design that numerous movies have copied since this film was released. Wanting to see his wife one last time before she dies, he challenges Death to a game of chess, which they play at stops along his travels home.

The Seventh Seal is a masterpiece and a perfect fantasy film. There is a lot of religious symbolism in the movie, and the title itself comes from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The film has a 93% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score and remains a great watch for fans of classic cinema.

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Released in 1939, MGM marketed The Wizard of Oz as a musical, but this is a movie that shows how the fantasy genre can tell a story for kids of all ages. Based on L. Frank Baum’s novel, director Victor Fleming took a story in the drab monochrome Kansas landscape and then transferred it to the bright, colorful Oz.

The Wizard of Oz used the new Technicolor technology and created a land that was as fantastical as anything seen in cinema at that time. The story of a young girl who wants to get back home with help from her friends was relatable, but the Wicked Witch and flying monkeys were terrifying additions.

While there were fantasy movies in Hollywood before this, The Wizard of Oz is the movie that showed that fans would flood into theaters to watch the fantasy genre, although it took a special story to sell it. Over 80 years later, this movie remains the landmark fantasy film against which all others are measured.