Corrected entry: Even though he left production due to serious health problems, Buddy Ebsen actually does appear twice in movie in two different roles. First time he appears as Scarecrow (role for which he was originally cast) in first scenes with Dorothy. He is shown couple of times from behind. Second time he appears when Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion come to Witch's castle to rescue Dorothy. He plays Tin Man in all shots which shows three heroes from behind, including shot of them marching into castle.
Corrected entry: When the Wicked Witch of the West is writing the message in the sky for Dorothy, she begins with one letter. Two shots later, the entire message is written, without enough time for her to have written it all.
Correction: They do this all the time in movies. There's no reason to make the audience sit through the Witch writing the entire message, so if they show a beginning and an end, the audience knows the message had been written.
Corrected entry: Regarding the Tin Man: tin doesn't rust.
Correction: "The Tin Man" is merely a name Dorothy gives him when she sees he's silver. What he's actually made of is never stated.
Corrected entry: During one of the times the cast sings "We're off to see the Wizard" (either after they meet the Tin Man or the Cowardly Lion), as they begin to walk off, above the main characters there is visible the sillhouette of a crew member swinging an arm projected onto the backdrop from behind it.
Correction: No, this is part of the infamous "hanging munchkin" scene. That is not the arm of a stagehand, it is one of the free-roaming birds extending it's wing. You can see it for yourself at the link given at the top of the main page for The Wizard of Oz.
Corrected entry: When Aunt Em is taking the chicks out of the incubator and putting them in Uncle Henry's hat, you can see that she is just pretending and there is nothing in her hands. (00:02:35)
Correction: She puts them in her apron and she actually has chicks in her hand.
Corrected entry: When the Cowardly Lion sings to Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, "If I only had the nerve", the three all look over to the Lion and listen to him sing. Each time after the Lion sings a line, he pauses and Dorothy looks over at the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. If you watch closely, she slightly nods her head, almost like she's giving them the cue to get ready to gallop, which they all do after each pause. Also, if you pay close attention, when Dorothy looks over to the Tin Man and the Scarecrow to give them the cue to gallop she looks unsure, like she may be doing something that's not in the script, and at one point bites her lip.
Correction: This is a stretch, and I don't see it.
Corrected entry: You can see the witch run across the set from the right to get behind the cottage just before she magically appears from the chimney (with smoke) when the gang are walking down the yellow brick road.
Correction: Of course you can see her. This is not a mistake as she is supposed to be seen to somewhat help set the scene.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Dorothy gets to the crossroads right before she meets Scarecrow, the camera shows the field where Scarecrow should be, but he is not there until the camera shows the field again.
Correction: Although it seems that the camera never moves, these two shots are actually from completely different angles. (The two shots show two backgrounds that are not at all alike). This indicates that not showing the Scarecrow the first time is correct.
Corrected entry: The Witch of the West refers to the Jitterbug dance number omitted from the final film: "I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them...." (01:14:30)
Correction: True she does. But just because we don't see it does not mean it didn't happen.
Corrected entry: All three farmhands have dialog which alludes to their Oz characters : Hunk (Scarecrow), "Your head ain't made of straw, ya know." Zeke (Lion), "She ain't nothin' to be afraid of, have a little courage." Hickory (Tinman), "Someday they're gonna erect a statue after me."
Correction: That is way too obvious to be trivia. It's part of the movie, for everyone to notice.
Corrected entry: When they are leaving the Haunted Forest, you can see a crew member with a can creating fog.
Correction: Where? I've watched it over and over, and can not see any such thing, it must be something else.
Corrected entry: When the foursome is about to leave the poppy field, the scarecrow begins to dance before any singing begins, then stops, looks around, and starts dancing again.
Correction: The scarecrow always walks that way when they're getting ready to go somewhere together. It's just the way he moves. That was intentional.
Corrected entry: Throughout the first Kansas sequence Aunt Em and Hickory make references to 'that contraption' which is the reason why, "They'll erect a statue to me one day." The explanation from this is from a cut scene where Hickory (Jack Haley) is trying to build a machine that will predict the weather.
Correction: This particular scene didn't really need to be in the film to make it fit. It answers the question to what the contraption was, but it's not a mistake the scene can flow just fine without the cut scene.
Corrected entry: The Lion's line "My life has been simply unbearable" comes out as "Mice life..." (00:49:45)
Correction: I'm pretty sure this was intentional. As Bert Laur was a comedian and wanted to put in a certain way the lion talks. So therefore making "My life" come out as "mice life"
Corrected entry: In the scene where Dorothy is at the door to see the Wizard, the doorman's moustache is pointed upwards, but shortly afterwards it is pointing downwards. I believe it was changed to reflect the mood (upwards=smile, downwards=frown/sad). If I remember correctly, when it is downward, he is crying about having an Aunt Em, also. Still a mistake, but there's an explanation.
Correction: If this is the way a character is in Oz then it is not a mistake, even if it is quite odd, but remember there is a lot of odd stuff in Oz. Not a mistake though, if that's how the character is.
Corrected entry: When Dorothy and the Scarecrow find the Tinman and oil him, they oil his mouth so he can talk, his arms so they can move but they don't oil his legs and yet he walks away.
Correction: He has considerable trouble "walking" away, and at this point, Dorothy oils his right leg and the scarecrow oils his left. Also, they were oiling him from the top down. So some oil could have dripped and made its way down to his legs, helping to free him.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Dorothy picks the apple from the tree and the tree scares her, Toto runs up towards the tree. Just before this you see an arm come out from behind the tree to prompt Toto to come to the tree.
Correction: Where? My kids and I have watched this over and over, and we never see an arm come out anywhere. Can you be more specific about when this happens?
Corrected entry: When Lion is singing "If I Were King" and the other three roll out the green carpet. They put the rug on Lion, when they're walking back towards the steps and Dorothy gets tripped up a bit by the carpet. You can see the carpet where it's flipped up. (01:05:50)
Correction: This isn't really a mistake. When the Lion walks back up the carpet, his 'robe' catches the end of it and flips it up. Since it doesn't jump back to being suddenly flat again, there's no continuity problem.
Corrected entry: In the scene in the beginning when Miss Gulch is trying to take Toto inside the house, Dorothy says: "Don't let HIM take toto," instead of "don't let HER take Toto."
Correction: Dorothy actually says "...Don't let 'EM take Toto..." and then goes on to say "Don't let her take him - please."
Corrected entry: At the end of the movie, when they melt the witch for her broom, notice the broom has metal bindings around it. Earlier, when the witch lights the broom to scare the scarecrow, the broom is fanned out.
Correction: The metal bands are always on the broom, below the fanned-out bristles. Now that the bristles have burnt away, it just looks like they are on the top holding it together. They're just there to bind the bristles onto the broomstick. Most old brooms are like that.
Correction: Not true. Ebsen was recast as the Tin Man before any footage was shot. And all of his scenes as the Tin Man were reshot after his departure. The hair, costumes, and makeup were all different from his time on the film so there would have been dramatic mis-matches.
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