The Wizard of Oz

Corrected entry: When you see the Horse of a Different color, [the horse that changes from purple to orange, and keeps changing colors] you can see that all the horses are totally different. One will be stocky and have its head low, and the other will have its head all collected. [For you non-horse people, that means when the head is higher and tucked in, so the nose is near the chest.] Then the next is smaller. They are all different horses.

Correction: I've noticed that too. But if this is a world where the horses are colors that real horses aren't and they can change color anytime, it wouldn't surprise me if the horse could also change shape.

Corrected entry: After the Wicked Witch melts, Dorothy asks the Winged Monkey guards if she may have the broom. One of the Monkey guards replies by saying, "Yes, and take it with you." Well, what else is she going to do with it? Of course she's going to take it with her, that's why she asked. (01:23:45)

Correction: The monkey's line is illogical, but that doesn't make it a mistake.

Correction: Well, whoever says it, the point of the dialogue phrase is to emphasize that the former subjects of the wicked witch want nothing more to do with her and no reminders of her.

Correction: The guard with the green face speaks, not the monkey, and he says to Dorothy after she asks for the broomstick, "Yes, and take it with you."

Correction: The fact that a flying monkey can talk does not necessarily mean it's logical in its thought processes.

Corrected entry: As the Lion spots the guards sneaking up behind them his mouth is moving and he's saying a lot more than we hear, that has been edited out. (01:22:00)

????

Correction: Not necessarily. That is an old movie tactic for demonstrating great fear; a character moves their mouth but are so terrified they cannot actually speak.

Corrected entry: When the Lion is running out of the Wizard's chamber down the long green hallway, take a close look at the face of the Lion as he is running, just before he leaps into the glass window - it is clearly NOT Bert Lahr, but a younger, thinner stand-in. (01:12:35)

Correction: That probably was his stunt double, but I'm sorry it is impossible to tell. His entire costume was heavily padded, there's no way to tell his weight. His face was a mask except for his mouth, there's no way to tell it's a younger guy. My only explanation for you is you're so convinced it's obvious as you know it's the stunt double.

Correction: Dorothy sticks her hand in front of the bubble, not into it.

Correction: It isn't until later when they get to the apple trees that he calls her "Dorothy." They could have been walking for miles after the song and dance before they reached the apple trees. Dorothy even remarks that they've been walking a long way.

Corrected entry: After the severe injuries that she received earlier in the production Margret Hamilton closes her eyes in anticipation of the orange smoke that engulfs her as she disappears from the roof after she throws the ball of fire at the scarecrow. (00:46:25)

????

Correction: Why exactly isn't the witch allowed to close her eyes? I haven't gotten severe injuries and I would've shut my eyes if smoke was about to engulf me. There's no reason for her not to close her eyes.

It also should be noted that the Tin Woodsman scenes were actually filmed before Margaret Hamilton was severely burned from fire. She had not yet had a bad experience with it. After she was burned, she refused to have anything to do with smoke/fire for the remainder of the film and a stunt double was used from then on for any fire scenes needed. Her closing her eyes was simply a natural response as human eyes have trouble staying open when smoke is around.

Corrected entry: It seems strange that when Glinda sends the snow to break the wicked witch's 'poppies' spell, the snow falls on the flower fields alone. After Dorothy and her friends 'wake up' and make their way back down to the yellow brick road, notice that there is no snow on the road in front of them. You can also see this as they gaze off into the distance at the Emerald City - the painted backdrop shows snow drifts in the fields but none whatsoever on the YBR.

JustJudy

Correction: It's not strange at all. If she can make it snow, she can certainly make it snow in a particualar location and not another. She's a witch.

Sheridan Whiteside

Corrected entry: In the scene where Glinda meets Dorothy for the first time, Glinda asks Dorothy 'Are you a good witch or a bad witch?' Dorothy says that she is not a witch at all, announcing that witches are 'mean and ugly'. Glinda states that only bad witches are ugly. If that's the case, why did she have to ask?

Correction: Glinda states "no, only bad witches are ugly." This does not describe the set of all bad witches, only the set of ugly witches: all ugly witches are bad. This does NOT imply that all bad witches are ugly. In fact, it cannot even imply that some bad witches are ugly, as Glinda's statement remains true if there are NO ugly witches (the set of ugly witches is empty). Thus beautiful witches can be either bad or good, and Glinda's answer is no answer at all.

Correction: Ugly is as ugly does. Perhaps "mean and ugly" could be about demeanor and not physical appearance at all.

Corrected entry: 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.

moondrift

Correction: https://criticsrant.com/mythbusters-dorothys-ruby-slippers/ This website gives some confirmation, it's one of those myths that get mixed up in people's memories to being convinced they have seen it. The WoZ original footage has been carefully preserved, it's not lost, if this footage made it to the final film for view; somebody would have posted it by now as the footage would still exist somewhere. It's possible you saw a skit or parody though that you mistook for the actual film. That would make sense.

Correction: This is called the "Mandela Effect" (aka 'collective false memory').

It's not a false memory, when I have never forgotten that night, only to find that someone else also remembered it. We may all be connected by our subconscious, but that's going a bit too far. Just because you don't remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

moondrift

But the nature of a collective false memory means just because two people remember something happening, doesn't mean it did! :-).

Jon Sandys

It's also possible you saw a parody or a different adaption of WoZ one time and it mixed up in your memory as being a part of the 1939 movie. There is no evidence of this ending ever being in the 1939 version. It's not in the script, there is no surviving imagery of it, and no other record of it whether through cast/crew memories or having been noted as a cut scene. Since we do have records of cut/altered scenes from WoZ, more than likely there would be record of this ending somewhere.

That's the exact definition of The Mandela Effect...multiple people having the same memory of something, even though it never happened. There are people who swear that the line in "Snow White" is "Mirror, mirror on the wall," when in fact it is, "Magic mirror on the wall." Just as there are people who are absolutely convinced that Sinbad was in a movie called "Shazaam."

wizard_of_gore

I also remember this ending and it has driven me crazy over the years! I would stake my life on seeing the slippers under her bed. You are not alone, and I am glad I am not either.

Correction: I do remember seeing a different ending where the camera pans down and slippers are under the bed after Dorothy says, "there's no place like home." I saw it in the 80's at a classmates house, we were watching a rented VHS of the film at her birthday party. I even remember her mother saying she had never seen that part before.

Hi everyone, I would also like to include that I too, in the '60s, saw The Wizard of Oz with the ruby slippers under the bed. I told people for years about this, and no one else could remember the ending. So, I decided since we have the internet today, I would see if anyone else saw this alternative ending and am pleased to see that you have.

Correction: Have you ever watched the 1925 "Wizard of Oz" film? I haven't watched it and I don't know its history of being aired on TV. But it was shot in B&W and perhaps that's the version you watched (I'm not claiming it is or isn't though).

Bishop73

I'd say it can't be, if you peek at it (it's available on Youtube), the ending is completely different and wouldn't fit. Fascinating discussion, anyway! To the original poster; nobody means to disparage your memory, in fact we're trying to come up with possible explanations; it's pretty certain though that it can't be an official alternate ending, because we're talking about one of the most iconic and analyzed movies ever. Now it's all about figuring out what sort of clip did they play during that TV broadcast you seem to remember. And there's a gigantic wikipedia page just about the telecast alone. Perhaps it was a wraparound credits sequence?

Sammo

It's not a pseudo memory at all. I remembered the same thing from the late sixties and have tried to find out for decades why it was just the one year as well and I saw it and remembered it before I ever saw others were trying to find out about it. Very strange but I have to agree that there should be a lot more people that remember it. I'm watching the movie again now and the memory came back again. When I searched I just now saw that others DO remember that different ending.

Thank you. I appreciate your saying that you're not trying to disparage my memory, but that is exactly what the responders are doing. Instead of trying to come up with explanations, maybe people should accept that they cannot prove a negative, and that just because they don't recall it and can't find a record doesn't mean I'm wrong. I don't want to keep repeating myself, I know what I saw, and my best friend (whom I did not meet until several years after) remembers it too.

moondrift

No. I've never seen it.

moondrift

Corrected entry: While singing the "If I Were King" song, the Lion asks, "What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder?" The Sphinx is not one of the Seven Wonders of the World; its neighbour the Great Pyramid of Giza is. Besides, how would the residents of Oz know about our Seven Wonders of the World? (01:07:00)

Correction: There are many points in the movie where we know Dorothy and her friends are traveling, but we don't hear what they say, because we are focusing either on the Witch spying on them, or there is a cut where they've traveled some distance that we didn't see. Dorothy could have told her friends about the land she came from during that time, especially since the Scarecrow would curious about things he didn't know about. The Lion would have been witness to these conversations during the travel, and heard Dorothy talk about those things, and it's not impossible that Dorothy would have mentioned the Seven Wonders during that time. It would be completely in character for the Lion to afterwards get the "Seventh Wonder" wrong, since he only heard about it recently. It is a common mistake for anybody to get details wrong about something they've only just heard about, and it doesn't make it an error in the film itself for the Lion to be wrong about something.

Corrected entry: The winds during the tornado were so strong that it ripped a tree clean from the ground but 2 seconds later proceeds to barely blow over whatever she set down. How is she not getting blown away?

Correction: Tornadoes are strange like that. They'll blow one house to destruction completely and then not damage the one right next to it at all. It has to do with how the clouds are formed, the direction the wind blows, and the temperature of where it's sucking up air. It's actually a pretty fascinating study if you'd like to check out how strange tornadoes behave in the sense of what they blow away and what they don't. They're not quite as black and white as they seemingly should be.

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.

mirtom

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.

dodgersfan7800

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: 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: When the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion are watching the guards marching around the witch's castle, the three guards who sneak up on them throw away their spears and attempt to subdue them in hand-to-hand combat. Why would anyone throw away a spear in a fight?

Correction: Because they've been ordered to capture them alive rather than stab them repeatedly?

Gary O'Reilly

Corrected entry: It has been said in some published works that the "Wizard of Oz" would never been remade as it is, because there are not that many little people qualified to assume the role of the Munchkins today as it was in the late 1930s. This is in part due to the availability of growth hormone treatment and an improved diet in today's people.

megamii

Correction: I don't know the exact numbers but I suspect there were no more than a hundred little people used in The Wizard of Oz. In a country of almost three hundred million people, I'm sure that several thousand dwarves could be found despite improved diets or growth hormone.

Corrected entry: When the Tin Man is singing "If I Only had a Heart" it takes a close up of Dorothy. You can see a man messing with the bottom of a tree in the background.

Correction: I looked and I looked and I looked and I didn't see a stagehand in this shot.

cinecena

Corrected entry: The TIN man is made of TIN. If he was made of some other metal he would be called the Iron Man or the Titanium Man or the Aluminum Man. Because he is made of TIN he will not RUST! Rust is Iron Oxide. In addition, Tin will not form oxides at normal atmospheric temperatures and pressure. If he cannot rust, then the scenes with him rusted/rusting and the oil can are totally unnecessary and factually wrong.

Correction: In its day 'tins' that contained food were in fact iron (or mild steel) coated with a thin layer of tin to stop corrosion. The tin coating would wear away with time and the iron (or mild steel) underneath would rust. This makes a rusting Tin Man completely correct.

Corrected entry: When Dorothy is entering her house in Kansas at the peak of the tornado, she opens the screen door and it flies off the hinges and into the air but you can also see a hanging plant right in front of her ever so slightly swinging from side to side. The storm takes a door off its hinges but can't knock a hanging plant off its hook?

Correction: In a tornado, anything is likely. A roof blown off a house and a hay rake deposited by the wind onto the floor of an upstairs bedroom while not disturbing the made bed, furniture or anything in the room speaks to the fact that a tornado can knock a door off it's hinges but not disturb the hanging plant or nearby lighter in weight objects. It depends on how the energy (force) is concentrated and such acts (tornado) are even more likely to do something like this.

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: There's no place like home.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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

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