Under the Rainbow

In 1938 Kansas, Rollo Sweet climbs onto a roof to repair the radio antenna as townsfolk listen for Roosevelt's address. He loses his footing and falls, a mishap that seeds the dreamlike journey toward Hollywood. The accident anchors his longing for a different life beyond the shelter.

A mixed gathering arrives at a hotel near MGM Studios, including Annie Clark, her assistant Homer, an Austrian duke and duchess with their Secret Service escort, Nazi agent Otto Kriegling, his Japanese contact Nakomuri, and hundreds of Munchkins for The Wizard of Oz. The hotel is left in the hands of Henry, the owner's incompetent nephew, while the boss is away. The stage is set for tangled identities and conflicting agendas.

Kriegling assumes his Tokyo contact is among the photographers, while Nakomuri suspects the Nazi contact must be hidden among the Munchkins. These mistaken identifications pull several guests into a web of suspicion. The mood tightens as uncertainty grows among the hotel crowd.

Nazi military maps are smuggled into Annie's copy of The Wizard of Oz screenplay, turning a routine script into a secretive blueprint for pursuit. The maps draw disparate characters closer together in a dangerous game. The discovery ups the stakes for everyone involved.

An assassin on the trail of the Duke and Duchess strikes, killing Akido and injecting lethal tension into the hotel crisis. The murder amplifies paranoia and prompts rapid shifts in allegiances. Security frays as fear and ambition collide.

Believing Kriegling is one of the Munchkins, Homer carries him to the studio's costume and makeup shop. The mix-up blurs lines between real danger and theatrical illusion, deepening the sense that nothing in this hotel is as it seems. Kriegling capitalizes on the confusion to maneuver within the hotel’s secrets.

The Munchkins' constant drunken antics disrupt the hotel's routine, making life chaotic for staff and guests alike. The farce provides comic relief but also masks the growing danger around the maps and the missing contacts. Disorder underscores the precarious balance of power in the hotel.

Kriegling and Nakomuri corner Annie, Thorpe, the Duke and the Duchess in a hotel room as danger closes in. The assassin makes one last attempt on the Duke's life, and Nakomuri aims his camera at the would-be killer. A shot from the camera ends the assassin's threat, though it leaves a tense aftermath for everyone involved.

Kriegling demands the map, and Thorpe reveals that it is hidden in a locket on the Duchess's dog's collar. The revelation shifts the chase from the hotel to the studio lot as pursuit intensifies. The precious item becomes the prize everyone is willing to risk everything for.

The pursuit carries Kriegling onto the MGM studio lot, where the chase disrupts the filming of Gone with the Wind. The chaos blurs the line between movie magic and real danger. The crowd grows as more participants join the pursuit of the locket.

Kriegling seizes the locket and escapes in a vintage bus, while Sweet pursues him in a horse-drawn carriage. The two vehicles race through the studio lot toward an inevitable collision. The clash brings the spectacular chase to its dramatic climax.

Sweet wakes up back in Kansas, realizing the entire sequence was a dream populated by the shelter residents. A bus full of little people arrives, signaling that Sweet is indeed headed toward Hollywood. The dream serves as a wish-fulfillment doorway into his real future.