Great sites

Anything Hollywood

Atomic Popcorn

Banned in Hollywood

Bits & Pieces

Blockbuster Buzz

Book mistakes

CanMag

CHUD

The Daily Column

Daily Stab

Defamer

Double Viking

The Evil Beet

Film Drunk

Filmofilia

Filmspotting

Foundry Music

Game mistakes

Geek Tyrant

Gone Hollywood

Hollyscoop

Hollywood Outbreak

I Am Bored

I Love Bacon

Joblo movie news

Movie Banter

Movie Buzz

Movie spoilers

Movie timeline

Other crap

Screenjunkies

Sky movie reviews

Something Really Funny

Tengossip

Trailer Addict

Unreality Magazine

Quotes

Dorothy: There's no place like home.

See more...

Mistakes

As they all stand at the door to Oz Dorothy reaches for the knocker and we hear the overdubbed knocking sound before she touches it. See more...

Picture

Movie Mistakes blog

Popular blog posts:

Top 15 biggest Harry Potter film mistakes

The biggest mistakes in the Harry Potter movies

10 Twilight mistakes in pictures

The 20 biggest Friends mistake pictures

10 Biggest mistakes in The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Mistakes
Trivia
Pictures
Quotes
Corrections
Questions
Submit
"Over the Rainbow", which the American Film Institute recently named the greatest movie song of all time, was nearly cut from the film.
Edit
⇑
⇓
The horses in Emerald City palace were colored with Jell-O crystals. The relevant scenes had to be shot quickly, before the horses started to lick it off.
Edit Submitted by rabid anarchist
⇑
⇓
In Frank L. Baum's books, Dorothy was actually about 11 years old. As Judy Garland was in her mid-teens when she was cast, MGM pulled out all the stops to make her look as young as possible. Already on a chicken soup-only diet and appetite suppressants (as she was a little too chubby for the studio's liking), MGM upped her dosage and had a corset made to flatten any signs of a womanly figure. Garland had to have special lessons on how to walk, talk and dance normally as the corset was so tight. The costume department dressed her in a childish pinafore dress and gave her little girl plaits too. Even with these efforts it's still clear to see that Garland looks older than 11 in the film.
Edit Submitted by Lucy Reeves
⇑
⇓
Margaret Hamilton, who plays the Wicked Witch of the West, was a kindergarten teacher before becoming an actress.
Edit Submitted by Krista
⇑
⇓
The "oil" that was used to lubricate the Tin Man was not really oil. It was discovered that oil would not photograph well, so they used chocolate syrup instead.
Edit Submitted by wizard_of_gore
⇑
⇓
The horse of a different color driver, the doorsman, the wizard's guard, and the wizard are all the same actor.
Edit
⇑
⇓
Liza Minelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, was once married to TV producer Jack Haley Jr., the son of the Tin Man.
Edit
⇑
⇓
The coat that Frank Morgan wears as Professor Marvel was bought second-hand for the film. It was only discovered later that it once belonged to L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Oz stories. The name sewn into the garment was shown to his widow, who confirmed that the coat did indeed once belong to the author.
Edit Submitted by Reformed Dispatcher
⇑
⇓
According to lead Munchkin Jerry Maren, the "little people" on the set were paid $50 per week for a 6-day work week, while Toto received $125 per week.
Edit Submitted by rabid anarchist
⇑
⇓
The "tornado" was a thirty-five foot long muslin stocking, photographed with miniatures of a Kansas farm and fields.
Edit Submitted by rabid anarchist
⇑
⇓
Buddy Ebson, the original actor hired to play the Tin Man, became very ill from the metallic makeup and was not able to appear in the movie, but his voice can still be heard singing "We're off to see the wizard," when Dorothy and her friends are dancing down the yellow brick road after the forest scene.
Edit
⇑
⇓
In the original book by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy's slippers were not Ruby but Silver. The color was changed in the movie for Technicolor purposes.
Edit
⇑
⇓
Margaret Hamilton proved too authentic as the wicked witch as it was reported that mothers throughout the country had to carry their children out of movie theaters because the children were horrified by her make up.
Edit Submitted by Leonard Hassen
⇑
⇓
The Scarecrow was unable to say the correct Pythagorean Theorem (right after he got his brains), so after multiple attempts, the director simply selected the best take and used it.
Edit
⇑
⇓
The method used to make the house fall: Paint the sky on the floor, hold a toy house up against the camera which is elevated over the floor, film the house falling, then reverse the film. Voila.
Edit
⇑
⇓
The Cowardly Lion's facial makeup included a brown paper bag.
Edit Submitted by rabid anarchist
⇑
⇓
Some of the more minor mistakes in the film may have been left in because there was no time to shoot more accurate takes. This picture wasn't expected to be as big of a hit as it was, and when it went over-budget and took longer than expected to shoot, a lot of pressure was put on the crew and director to finish it. MGM wanted to put Judy Garland in a film with Mickey Rooney, as he was a bigger star than she was (and the studio thought starring with him would help her career), so the crew of the film had to rush to get it all shot and edited so Garland could be released.
Edit Submitted by Lucy Reeves
⇑
⇓
I have to post this to refute the comment that denied the existence of an alternate ending. I was overjoyed to find a comment here from someone else who remembered seeing a different ending just one time in the 1960s. I've spent my whole life trying to find someone else who remembered this. In the 1960s the annual broadcast of the film had hosts. I, and two of my friends, ever since childhood always remembered that one year the movie had a different ending. I've always sensed it was the year that the hosts were Liza Minnelli and Lorna and Joey Luft. We never could remember what the different ending was, but we recalled that it was black and white and that our reaction was: It wasn't just a dream that time. Now that I've read this other person's memory of the camera's panning to the ruby slippers under the bed, in black and white, I remember that's what I saw. Another commenter says that there's no evidence that the scene ever existed. I am here to verify that someone else has never stopped wondering for over 40 years about a vague memory of a different ending from one airing in the 1960s.
Edit Submitted by moondrift
⇑
⇓
Originally, the Wicked Witch of the West recorded a lot more scenes. Most of these scenes were cut because the director thought it would scare the children too much. You can see evidence of this when the foursome are surrounded by her guards and the witch comes and says something like Ring around the Rosie and it cuts to a different scene with her in it.
Edit Time
⇑
⇓
A Russian writer adapted "The Wizard of Oz" for Russian children. Dorothy was re-named Allie, and Toto could talk. He later wrote 5 more books about the adventures of Allie, her sister Annie, Toto, Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion. As far as I know, this book was never translated back into English.
Edit

1 2 • Next page • Show all