The Wizard of Oz

Continuity mistake: When the four are at the end of the hallway to see the Wizard, Toto is near the lion's feet. As it switches shots, he is behind The Tin Man.

Continuity mistake: Not only does Dorothy's hair change length during the film, it also changes shade. (00:19:40 - 00:22:15)

Continuity mistake: The Wicked Witch looks over at Dorothy and says, "I can't wait forever to get those shoes" and the metal hand she uses as a book mark rotates 90 degrees in her direction without being touched. (01:18:00)

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Continuity mistake: Dorothy says, "Oh, now I'll never get home" and her dress is clean. Several shots later the Tin Man asks, "What have you learned, Dorothy?" and there are now spots all over the front of it that last for the rest of the scene. (01:35:25)

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The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the start of the "lions and tigers and bears, oh my" sequence, Dorothy, the Scarecrow and Tin Man are all standing separately, then the shot cuts and they're suddenly arm in arm. (00:48:45)

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Continuity mistake: As Dorothy throws the water on the Wicked Witch the Tin Man goes from holding his ax in front of him to holding it close to his chest with the ax head sideways between shots. (01:26:20)

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Continuity mistake: We see the top of the house before the Wicked Witch appears and the right half and chimney are dark. After she appears the lighting has changed and the top of the house is all lit up. (00:45:55)

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Continuity mistake: When Dorothy first enters Munchkinland she steps out and in a front view we see her holding her hands close to herself, but when we look from behind, her hand is way out to the side. (00:18:50)

Continuity mistake: When the mayor of the Munchkin City comes out of the doorway his over sized watch reads 5:30. In the next shot it reads 5:00. (00:25:40)

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Continuity mistake: Dorothy is standing against a tree stump when the Wicked Witch throws the fire down at them. In the next shot she's nowhere near the stump. (00:46:20)

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Continuity mistake: Throughout the film, if you look at the Wicked Witch's nose, you can see that in some scenes the prosthetic nose is barely longer than Margaret Hamilton's real nose. In other scenes, the tip of her fake nose hooks almost all the way down to her mouth.

Continuity mistake: When Glinda sings, "And Kansas she says is the name of her star" you can see the black manhole cover behind her and none of the Munchkins that are around it in the next shot are there. (00:23:15)

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The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Just before the Wicked Witch leaves Munchkinland she says to Dorothy, "just try to stay out of my way" and her broomstick is facing upwards. In the next shot it's facing downwards. (00:30:35)

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The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Glinda tells Dorothy, "Their magic must be very powerfulÂ…" and Dorothy has her left hand around Toto. In the next shot she's holding the flowers in front of her. (00:30:20)

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Continuity mistake: Inside the cyclone, looking out the window the wind is blowing left to right. In the room the wind is blowing in the window from the right. (00:18:05)

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Continuity mistake: Prof. Marvel reaches to open the door of his wagon as he walks Dorothy in. In the next shot the door is already open. (00:12:45)

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Continuity mistake: After they first meet him when Dorothy pulls the Tin Man's arm down we see her dress and there's nothing on it. In the next shot there are several wet spots on the front of it. (00:41:55)

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Continuity mistake: The Cowardly Lion says, "I'll fight you with one paw tied behind my back, I'll fight you standing on one foot." as he proceeds to put his arm behind his back and lift up his left leg. In the next shot his arm is out in front of him and his leg is on the ground. (00:49:35)

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Continuity mistake: Before he is crowned, the Cowardly Lion has a blue flower next to his left ear. In the next shot it's gone. (01:06:00)

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The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: There are two actresses playing Dorothy (and two dogs playing Toto) as she opens the door to Oz. The first is a stand-in wearing a dull colored dress in order to make it look black and white. After she opens the door and moves out of the way, Judy Garland is who we actually see walking through. Look at the different pleats on the two dresses. (00:19:25)

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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

Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?

More quotes from The Wizard of Oz

Trivia: The "tornado" was a thirty-five foot long muslin stocking, photographed with miniatures of a Kansas farm and fields.

rabid anarchist

More trivia for The Wizard of Oz

Question: It is implied strongly in this movie that water makes witches melt, and this is spoofed in other media. I've only ever seen this referenced to wicked witches. Does water make good witches, such as Glinda, melt too?

Answer: In all likelihood, probably not. Water is often depicted and represents purity, and cleansing. It flows smoothly, is beautiful, clear, and responsible for life on Earth. Everything the Wicked Witch is not. Where as the good Witch is pure and of a true heart. So it makes sense that something so evil and impure as the evil witch would be effected by the purest substance there is, yet not harm the good witch because she is good.

Quantom X

Answer: In the original book, water caused the wicked witches to melt away because they were so old and shriveled that all the fluid in their bodies had long since dried away. Meanwhile, the film Oz: The Great and Powerful instead implies that the Wicked Witch of the West is weak against water due to being a fire-elemental witch, which could also be the case for this incarnation, meaning it wouldn't apply to other witches like Glinda (whose element in both films appears to be ice) or even the Wicked Witch of the East (whose powers are never shown in this film, but were electricity-based in Oz the Great and Powerful).

More questions & answers from The Wizard of Oz

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