The Wizard of Oz

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Dorothy, Tin man, Lion and Scarecrow are in the haunted forest and are discussing whether or not to believe in spooks, Tin Man is lifted up into the air and then comes crashing to the ground. You can see his pants wrinkle up as he's trying to get up. Since when does tin wrinkle like that? (01:14:00)

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Revealing mistake: After the witch says "Hey scarecrow, wanna play ball" she throws a fireball at him. But you can see the ground catch on fire before the fireball hits the ground. (00:46:20)

Revealing mistake: Whenever Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion go off into the horizon you can see the line on the floor of the sound stage where the fake horizon is and the scene cuts off right as the four get to that point. (00:57:35)

Leonard Hassen

Revealing mistake: As they exit the Tin Man's scene singing, "We're off to see the Wizard", a bird stretching its wings is casting a shadow on the painted sound stage wall slightly to the right of the house, which reveals it to be a fake backdrop instead of an open area. (00:47:45)

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Revealing mistake: In the scene where the Lion sings his "If I Were King" song just before visiting the Wizard, if you watch closely above his moving tail, there is a string holding up and moving around the Lion's tail. (01:04:15)

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Toto reveals the Wizard by pulling the curtain aside, he doesn't use his mouth; the curtain is tied to the dog. Dorothy can even be seen later removing the rope.

moviefan2345

Revealing mistake: As the cyclone carries the farmhouse through the air, it is evident that the walls of Dorothy's bedroom are not solid walls, but fabric-covered flats. They flutter and vibrate in the wind. (00:17:50)

Revealing mistake: When Dorothy's bedroom is flying away to Oz, there's wind blowing everywhere and bits of hay falling. However, the hay is coming from inside the room, instead of outside, and the papers on the table next to the window don't blow away nor move an inch.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: You can see strings attached to the witches monkeys as they fly, and also strings from their bodies to their wings, to give the wings that flapping effect. (01:11:20)

Hamster

Revealing mistake: When it starts to snow in the poppy field, Dorothy falls asleep, followed by the lion. In many of the later shots, a thin wire attached to the lion is visible the entire time.

ryderpoints

Revealing mistake: When the house lands in Oz, it lands with a bump and Dorothy is laying on her bed with Toto. The objects in the room had moved about a lot due to the twister, and wires attached to the end of the bed and the chair, etc. are really quite clear. (00:18:12)

Hamster

Revealing mistake: After the Wicked Witch throws fire down at them the Scarecrow kicks the stump next to him and it moves several times. The one behind him also moves. (00:46:25)

????

Revealing mistake: The candles on the chandelier that fall on the guards are not real. If you look closely at them they're operated with gas. (01:24:50)

????

Revealing mistake: As the Wicked Witch throws the hour glass down at them the stone statue on the left of the monkey is shaking. (01:24:45)

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Suggested correction: It's the monkey that is shaking, not the statue.

zenee

Revealing mistake: As the Wicked Witch chases the four yelling "Seize them," they run around what looks like a concrete pillar. If you look closely it's covered with cloth that moves as they run by. (01:25:00)

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Revealing mistake: After the Wicked Witch exits Munchkinland in a puff of red smoke and flames, you can briefly see sulphur marks left on the trapdoor. (00:31:00)

Revealing mistake: After the doorman tells the four they can't go see the wizard he returns back into the palace and you can see his shadow where it shouldn't be against the painted backdrop wall inside the door on the left. (01:07:25)

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Suggested correction: I have the scene up right now, and the nail on the pole just looks like... a huge nail. Then Dorothy bends it, and the Scarecrow falls off. I'm not denying that it's a lever, because it's entirely possible that it is. The thing is, there is nothing in the scene that indicates that it absolutely has to be a lever, and it can't be a nail at all.

zenee

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Revealing mistake: In the Haunted Forest, when the Tin Man is lifted up then lands back on the ground, at Tin Man's lower back you can see his white T-shirt tucked into his pants. (01:14:10)

violets69

The Wizard of Oz mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Dorothy slaps Lion on the nose for chasing Toto and shouts, "Shame on you!" in the wide shot, we see Dorothy's right arm with no mark on her skin. It then cuts to the medium shots, and there's an inexplicable long, thin blue mark (it's not a loose thread) on Dorothy's arm near her elbow, while she's holding Toto. This blue mark vanishes in the wide shot when she puts Toto down, and Lion begins to sing. (00:50:25)

Super Grover

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: 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 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.

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.

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