THE WIZARD OF OZ

The Wizard of Oz 'was my very first literary influence,' writes Salman Rushdie in his account of the great MGM children's classic. A t the age of ten he had written a story, 'Over the Rainbow', about a colourful fantasy world. But for Rushdie The Wizard of Oz is mo re than a children's film, and more than a fantasy. It's a story whose driving force is the inadequacy of adults, in which 'the weak ness of grown-ups forces children to take control of their own destinies'.