The Wizard of Oz

Continuity mistake: In the Haunted Forest, Toto comes to the Tin-man, Lion and Scarecrow, barking. In a wide shot he is standing on loads of leaves, then in a closeup, he's standing on hardly any leaves, but in the next wide shot, he's standing on lots of leaves again. (01:16:20)

Hamster

Visible crew/equipment: After we first meet the three farmhands, Dorothy asks Zeke what to do about Miss Gulch. As he walks off to feed the pigs he steps into the camera's shadow. (00:03:20)

????

Continuity mistake: During the tornado scene at the farm Dorothy runs to the back of the house and the bench is turned over - when she returns the bench is upright .

Continuity mistake: As Glinda's bubble appears Dorothy walks off camera but we still see her standing there as her shadow is on the yellow brick road. When we first see Glinda Dorothy's shadow just disappears. (00:21:30)

????

Continuity mistake: As she talks to the Scarecrow, Dorothy says to Toto, "Wasn't he pointing the other way?". In several of the close up shots wind is blowing her hair around and in others it isn't. (00:34:30)

????

Continuity mistake: As the Wicked Witch walks over to her sister a rocking chair is protruding through the broken window. In the next shot the window frame disappears and it's not a rocking chair anymore that's protruding from the window. (00:29:45)

????

Continuity mistake: As the Wicked Witch says, "It's so kind of you to visit me in my loneliness" a red penknife is on the ledge to their left. In the next shot it disappears. (01:16:10)

????

Continuity mistake: Dorothy's basket has been moved without anyone going near it after the Wicked Witch leaves the roof top. (00:46:20 - 00:47:30)

????

Continuity mistake: As they dance out of the poppy field, the snow that is on them disappears between shots. (00:57:35)

????

Continuity mistake: In the scene where the Scarecrow comes down off the pole and onto the yellow brick road, some of his stuffing falls out. You can then see Dorothy pick it up and put it back in. After Dorothy agrees to take the Scarecrow with her and they begin to skip away, you can see the straw that Dorothy supposedly picked up and put back inside the Scarecrow on the road again. (00:37:45)

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

Continuity mistake: When the Scarecrow sings, " In trouble or in pain" Dorothy grabs him and is holding her basket with her left hand. In the next shot the basket is on her forearm. (00:36:55)

????

Continuity mistake: After the Wicked Witch leaves Munchkinland Dorothy is standing in front of Glinda one step below the top. In the next shot from behind she's two steps below Glinda. (00:30:55)

????

Continuity mistake: When Dorothy starts singing, "It really was no miracle…" we see two Munchkins on the bridge. One in a red and white bonnet and the other has a distinctive blue hat. In the previous shot they are together on the other side of the stage on Dorothy's left. (00:23:40)

????

Visible crew/equipment: After they meet the cowardly lion and all four go off dancing and singing "We're Off to See the Wizard" a stage light flickers in the upper left background. (00:52:55)

????

Plot hole: In the scene where the Wicked Witch is furious because Dorothy and pals have been saved from the poppy field, the Flying Monkey hands her a golden cap. She then dashes the cap across the room. The golden cap is used in the book to summon the Flying Monkeys. They shot scenes involving use of the cap, edited them out, but left this one with the cap inexplicably being tossed about. (00:57:05)

Continuity mistake: When they first meet the Tin Man a purple bird with a red beak appears and disappears several times near the house behind them. (00:41:20 - 00:42:20)

????

Continuity mistake: As she holds Toto in her left hand, Dorothy looks around Munchkinland and says, "We must be over the rainbow". In the next shot she's holding him in both hands. (00:21:00)

????

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
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 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

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.