The Wizard of Oz

Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie Dorothy comes running into the farm and starts to, but doesn't completely unfasten the strap around her books. In the next shot the strap is in her hand. (00:02:20)

????

Continuity mistake: As he escapes Toto runs up the drawbridge and moves a foot to the left between shots than back again. (01:17:30)

????

Continuity mistake: When they first meet the Tin Man, the Scarecrow is holding an apple in each hand. He drops the one in his right hand but the other one disappears when he reaches for the oil can. Later when they all walk away both apples, and the one that Dorothy dropped before, are gone. (00:44:05)

????

Continuity mistake: The Munchkin Mayor's watch keeps changing time, from nearly to the hour, to twenty after the hour.

Continuity mistake: When we first meet the three farmhands Hunk is leaning on the wagon's break pad. In the next shot he's not. (00:03:05)

????

Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, when Dorothy sits up, from the side shot her hair is shown going down her back, but in the front shot, her hair is in the front.

Continuity mistake: When the companions are walking down the corridor to the wizard's room, Toto is on their left side. Then, the camera view suddenly cuts to being behind them, and in which case, Toto is suddenly on their right side.

Continuity mistake: As they all leave the poppy field the artificial snow has been neatly swept off the Yellow Brick road, and all traces of the snow on the ground are gone in the next shot. (00:57:30)

????

Continuity mistake: As Dorothy walks on the pigsty there are two grown pigs and about eight piglets in there. When she falls in more than 12 grown pigs now appear in the sty. (00:03:55)

????

Continuity mistake: As the Tin Man crowns the Cowardly Lion watch closely as he flings his ax behind him and it falls off the edge of stage. Two shots later its back again resting on the steps. (01:06:00)

????

Continuity mistake: When the Tin Man is telling his story, as he says "I was chopping that tree," Dorothy starts to look at the tree he's referring to, but in the next shot, she's looking right at the Tin Man again.

Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie Dorothy comes running into the farm and there's an old tire hanging from a tree. Two shots later as she walks away from Aunt Em and Uncle Henry the tire has been moved. The angle at which it hangs has been changed and the piece of rope hanging on the bottom of it is now three or four inches closer to dead center than it was before. (00:03:00)

????

Continuity mistake: Just before Aunt Em and the others go into the storm cellar there are two glass jugs on top of the shelf on the right of their back door. When we see the spot again a few seconds later as Dorothy stands there the jugs are gone. They're not on the floor either. (00:16:40)

????

Continuity mistake: As Toto escapes from the Wicked Witch there's a mortar and pestle to the left of the hourglass. In a close-up Dorothy looks at the hourglass after the Wicked Witch turns it over and we see the pestle has been moved to the other side of the mortar. There will be no confusion about this if you look at the direction of the shadow cast by the hour glass. (01:18:20)

????

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Inside the Emerald City, when they are at the palace entrance, the guard's mustache is turned up in the first shot, and is turned down in his next shot. (01:04:45)

violets69

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Toto escapes, he runs up to the three putting the Scarecrow back together and the Tin Man has nothing in his left hand. In the next shot the ax appears in his hand. (01:19:40)

????

Continuity mistake: As the Wicked Witch is melting the peak of her hat stays intact. In the very next shot it has been flattened. (01:26:45)

????

Continuity mistake: In the very beginning of the film, as Dorothy and Toto are running down the road towards the farm, you can see a small grease spot on Dorothy's apron when she reaches down to pick Toto up. When they reach the farm, somehow the spot has vanished.

Continuity mistake: In the poppy field, when Dorothy points at the Emerald City, the Lion is standing more than a meter away from her. In the close-up he stands very close to her.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the haunted forest, when the Tin Man is lifted up in the air, the Lion crouches and covers his face with his paws. A frame later he is standing up in a totally different position.

Sacha

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When the Wicked Witch scares the Munchkins in Munchkinland, where Dorothy lands, she disappears into a cloud of smoke she creates. But you can see her sneak down into a trap door below. [As a sidenote to this entry, Margaret Hamilton was hospitalized for severe burns after a take of this shot (not the final one used) when the stage elevator got stuck and the explosion went off.] (00:30:45)

More mistakes in The Wizard of Oz

Wicked Witch: Ohhh... You cursed brat! Look what you've DONE! I'm melting! Melting! Oh... What a world, what a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?!

More quotes from The Wizard of Oz
More trivia for The Wizard of Oz

Question: At the very end of the movie after Dorothy says "Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home," normally, it fades out to the credits, but once - and only once - when I was very young, I thought I remembered seeing the camera pan away from her face and down to the foot of the bed where you see the ruby slippers tucked underneath the bed, then a fade to the credits. It is obviously a black-and-white shot, but there were the glittering shoes. Has anyone else seen this version of the ending?

Macalou

Answer: Another fine example of the Mandela Effect. None of the "making of" books reference this alternate ending. The original book ends with Dorothy losing the slippers on her journey back to Kansas.

wizard_of_gore

I also remember this scene; however, I remember it in a television movie, and it was at the beginning, not the end, of an entirely different movie.

Chosen answer: Yes. I'm sure I've seen that version. It shows that Dorothy didn't just dream about Oz and makes for a more satisfying conclusion. This version was original but edited out because it didn't follow the book's storyline for "Return to Oz" and the other long series of Oz books. The sequel pertains that she loses the slippers in transit back to her home and falls to the gnome king who destroys Oz which in turn causes Dorothy to return. So seeing the slippers at the end of the bed, while more satisfying, wouldn't really stay true to the Oz series.

I absolutely remember that version with the shoes at her bedside, but nobody I know remembers it.

Thank you! I remember that too but everyone I know thinks I'm nuts.

I remember that version and after that I expected to see the same ending but no I never saw that ending again. I got the response that no-one I know saw that ending of the movie where the ruby slippers being on her feet in her bed. Thank you for that answer. This was a long time mystery.

I absolutely remember that scene.

I remember that too - and I've asked so many people and they said no, I must have dreamed it. Thank you.

I saw that version once when I was a little kid too! I remember it vividly. Now I know I'm not crazy.

Answer: This seems to be one of those mass examples of people remembering something that never happened. There are also other variations, like people claiming to remember the film switching to color as the shot pans down to her slipper-clad feet, or the slippers being in color against the sepia-toned B&W footage. But sadly, it seems no officially released version of the film has had such an ending. It's similar to how everyone thinks Darth Vader says "Luke, I am your father," or how everyone thinks Humphrey Bogart says "Play it again, Sam!", even though neither of those lines are real, and people are merely incorrectly remembering them. The film is so ingrained in pop-culture, that people think they know it forwards-and-back, and false memories are created.

TedStixon

I agree that people think they remember things that never happened, but usually for things like this, remembering a scene wrong misquoting a movie lines, it comes from parody versions and people are (correctly) remembering the parody. I've never seen "Silence of the Lambs", but I know the line "Hello, Clarice" from films like "Cable Guy" and not from a false memory of the film.

Bishop73

Answer: https://criticsrant.com/mythbusters-dorothys-ruby-slippers/ This website gives some confirmation it's one of those myths that spread around and get mixed up in people's memories to being convinced they have seen it despite no evidence of it existing. In a film as big as the Wizard of Oz where die hard fans have collected original scripts, notes, and "lost" imagery over the years; we certainly would have something to back this up other than eye witness memory. Especially if it supposedly made it to the final print for viewing audiences as the original Wizard of Oz footage has been carefully preserved, as it's considered one of the most important films of all time. This footage wouldn't be completely lost if it made it to final showing print. Surely somebody would have posted it by now on YouTube. It is possible somebody made a skit or parody of this though contributing to the idea that it was actually in a print of the real movie.

Answer: I remember this being part of a special that was hosted by Angela Lansbury in 1990 and they showed that this ending was considered for the movie. For many years I couldn't remember why I remembered that ending and Angela Lansbury until I looked it up. I wish that it had been left like that. Kids always want their dreams to come true.

Answer: I and a friend of mine remember seeing the ruby slippers under Dorthy's bed at the end of the movie. Glad to know we didn't imagine it.

More questions & answers from The Wizard of Oz

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.