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).

Question: Did Dorothy really go to Oz or was it a dream? Because, in return to Oz at the end, she sees Ozma (the good witch in her mirror) or was that just her imagination/a dream too?

Answer: In the film it's left ambiguous. At the end it's strongly implied that she was dreaming. The characters she meets all look like people she actually knows. In the original book, she actually went to Oz.

Answer: Return to Oz was not a direct sequel to the 1939 film. One was developed by Disney and the other by MGM. Return to Oz is actually an adaptation-fusion of the second and third Oz books, that contains elements from the 1939 film (like the Ruby slippers and the Oz/Kansas counterparts) because that's what people are most familiar.

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.

Question: More of an observation than a question, but it has occurred to me that the movie leaves a rather significant loose end unresolved. At the beginning of the film, Miss Gulch is going to have Toto destroyed. Nothing happens to change that. Dorothy's adventure/dream in Oz didn't get rid of the real woman back in Kansas who wants her dog dead. Am I missing something, or are we just to assume that because Toto got free from the basket, Miss Gulch didn't notice?

Answer: It is highly assumed that Miss Gulch died in the tornado - she was riding her bike at the time the tornado hit. Many sites online support this theory.Other than that it is never mentioned.

MasterOfAll

Question: I've read all 4 books in the series of The Wizard of Oz. But I'm confused on the shadow puppet. A character? Or a story telling method?

SueW

Chosen answer: First off, there's fourteen Oz books written by Baum (the last two published posthumously). And secondly, what shadow puppet are you referring to?

Garlonuss

Question: Does anyone know what Dorothy's last name was? As far as I know I haven't seen it mentioned in the movie.

Answer: It's 'Gale', and it is mentioned in the movie when Dorothy tells the Good Witch 'I'm Dorothy Gale, from Kansas'.

Blibbetyblip

Chosen answer: You are no doubt referring to the old "urban legend" that a Munchkin actor who, despondent over a failed love affair with a Munchkin actress, committed suicide on the movie set, and his lifeless body can be seen hanging in the background trees. This never happened, of course, but there have been countless rumors as to just what people think they are seeing. The most plausible explanation is that this is probably one of the many live birds that were used to add realism to the set, and it may have been one of the larger birds, such as an emu or a crane, that was standing in the background. It has also been pointed out (see Snopes.com) that this particular scene was filmed "before" any of the Munchkin actors were working on the sound stage, and it would be impossible for there to have been a dead body on a movie set without the many crew noticing it. Also, the idea that the filmmakers would use a scene in which a dead body appeared in their finished film or that a suspended body could go undetected while filming is underway is beyond belief.

raywest

Question: I saw a question about where the Red Brick road leads to. Someone answered it by saying that it lead to the Sapphire City. Is this true? If so, is there a movie where I would see it?

Answer: While there is a Sapphire City in Oz, there's no evidence to suggest that the Red Brick Road leads there. The Red Brick Road does not appear in any of Baum's books and appears to be entirely an invention for the movie. As such, it's quite likely that it was created purely for aesthetic purposes and no specific destination was ever decided upon, as it bore no relevance to the plot. The Sapphire City appears in only one book in the series (The Giant Horse of Oz) and has never been seen in a movie.

Tailkinker

Question: According to imdb.com, the woman who provided Snow White's voice in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs also provides the voice for a character named Juliet in this film. Does anyone know who this is supposed to be?

Answer: While Tin Man sings "If I Only Had a Heart" we hear a female voice ask, "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" and it is in fact Juliet who asks that question - as in "Romeo and Juliet." This is the voice of Adriana Caselotti.

Super Grover

Answer: The Scarecrow does not fall asleep as he does not have a real nose, the same for the Tin Man, although the latter rusts because he is crying.

Question: I've been wondering this since I was very little. When The Wizard of Oz was first released in theaters in 1939, was Oz in color or is that only for the televised version? This has been bugging me for years.

Answer: The Emerald City was, indeed, presented in color in the original 1939 film. In fact, even Kansas was not originally purely black-and-white. The Kansas scenes were initially sepia tinted. Later prints showed Kansas in black-and-white. The original sepia tones were returned in the 1989 restoration for the film's 50th anniversary.

Michael Albert

Question: Could someone tell me more about the scene in which a person is rumoured to be hanging themselves? I know its not true and all. I'm just curious about it.

Answer: According to snopes.com it's an emu or a crane that is flapping its wings in the background. Check it out here: http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/ozsuicid.htm.

Nikki

Question: When I was little I remember that Dorothy actually went into the log cabin behind him to get the oil can. I don't think I just made this up. Where did I get this idea?

Answer: In the 1982 animated version of the "The Wizard of Oz" Dorothy (voiced by Aileen Quinn) goes to the log cabin to get the oil can.

Super Grover

Question: There has been a rumor that in the Wizard of Oz that there was a ghost figure that just appeared for a split second right after Dorothy, the Tinman, and the Scarecrow left the area (The same scene that was rumored that there was a munchkin suicide was). Could someone please tell me what it was?

blonddude207

Chosen answer: The rumor was that you could see someone hanging from a tree in the background as they are in the forest. either just after they find the lion or the tin man. This is just a urban legend according to everything I have ever read. It was rumored to be either an extra killing himself over a lost love, and also a producer killing himself because the movie was way over budget. Neither confirmed at all.

Kimberly Mason

Question: In one of the previous questions answered, it mentioned the ending originally panned down to show the Ruby Slippers near Dorothy's bed and thus confirming she didn't dream the whole story. I was just wondering if there's a youtube link or movie clip of this scene?

Answer: Actually, all of the information points that the scene never existed. The movie deals with Oz as being an escape, a dream land. The book deals with Oz being a real place visited by Dorothy. Finding the shoes under the bed sounds like something from the book, but it isn't there either. The slippers are lost forever in the book.

Rlvlk

Question: When Dorothy is in Munchkinland and she starts off on the Yellow Brick Road, it spirals around with a Red Brick Road before splitting off toward the Emerald City. Where does the Red Brick Road lead to?

Answer: It is assumed that it goes towards the Sapphire City, but this is up for debate, as 1) it is never mentioned nor shown in a movie relating to Oz, and 2) the red road was not in the book series, and was purely added to the movie for aesthetics.

Question: After the witch is crushed by the house and confirmed by the coroner, a munchkin says, "This is a day of independence for all the munchkins and their descendants." After this, a different munchkin adds "If any." I have always wanted to know what is meant by "if any."

Answer: The one munchkin thinks they have been liberated by the wicked witch's death. The second munchkin, who says, "If any," apparently realises that the dead witch's more evil sister will probably seek revenge and kill everyone, which would mean there would be no descendants.

raywest

Question: What's the meaning of the text in the opening credits, starting with "For nearly forty years..."?

MikeH

Answer: The novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was published in 1900 and this film came out in 1939. Many adults that would be watching the movie would have read the book as children and remained "young in heart", meaning filled with childlike wonder and kindness that the story of Oz is filled with, etc. The story presents a philosophy of kindness that Time (i.e. growing older) has been powerless to make out of fashion (unpopular). The film is dedicated to those that have been faithful to the story of Oz and it's philosophy of kindness, and to the "young in heart."

Bishop73

Question: When Dorothy picked an apple off a tree, she was reproved by the tree himself. And the Scarecrow says, "It's just that she doesn't like little green worms." What does he mean by that?

Bunch Son

Chosen answer: He's insulting the tree by saying its apples are infested with worms.

Phaneron

Answer: He's tricking the tree by insulting it so that it will become angry and retaliate by throwing the apples at them, which it does, and Dorothy can then eat them, which was the intent all along.

raywest

Question: When is Nikko's name (leader of the flying monkeys) actually stated in the movie?

Answer: I don't believe it ever was mentioned. However, the character can still be credited in the cast list to differentiate him from the lesser flying monkeys. There could also have been a deleted scene where his name was mentioned.

raywest

Revealing mistake: When the Lion runs out of the Wizard's room, the group disappears because it is an obvious backdrop.

Sacha

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

Trivia: "Over the Rainbow", which the American Film Institute recently named the greatest movie song of all time, was nearly cut from the film.

More trivia for The Wizard of Oz

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