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Film: The Wizard of Oz

Oh, does she even need to say it?

Oh, we're off to see the wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

The 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. To many people, more familiar than the original book, and — largely thanks to becoming an annual broadcast television staple in The Fifties — one of the most famous movies ever made.

The film changed the silver shoes to ruby slippers (depending on this source, this was either to show off the new color technology of the time, or because silver shoes didn't show up well), merged the two good witches, cut out several incidents, including all of Dorothy's (admittedly anticlimactic) journey from the Emerald City to Glinda's palace, and added the All Just a Dream ending—the studio heads thought the audience was too sophisticated to accept a "real" fantasyland.

This movie has proven so popular that it has had several stage adaptations written and produced over the years. Professional productions have included a touring ice show in the 1990s, an All-Star Cast concert staging in New York City in 1995, another N.Y.C. production that ran seasonally at Madison Square Garden later in the decade, and a 2011 London production produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber that added several new songs by Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The 2011 Tom And Jerry Direct-to-Video movie Tom and Jerry and The Wizard of Oz is a Twice Told Tale version.

Disney has made two films that effectively serve as (unofficial) bookends to this one. 1985's Return to Oz is a semi-sequel that's substantially Darker and Edgier, but also more faithful to the original Oz novels. 2013's Oz The Great And Powerful is a spiritual prequel to this film, an origin story following the Wizard (played by James Franco) as he first arrives in Oz, as well as the Start of Darkness of the Wicked Witch of the West (played by Mila Kunis).

The Stock Parody Off to See the Wizard is almost invariably derived from this version of the story.

The Wizard of Oz provides examples of:

Adaptational Attractiveness: In the book, the Good Witch of the North was older and really plain looking. In the movie, she's glamorous and rather beautiful.
- Albeit it should be pointed out that the movie's Glinda is an amalgam of two witches from the book: the unnamed Good Witch of the North (the older, plain one), and Glinda the Good Witch of the South, who is explicitly stated to be agelessly beautiful.
- Oddly, the Wicked Witch of the West counts as well. While she's definitely not attractive in the movie, in the book she was a withered old woman with an eyepatch over one eye. An early idea was for her to be extremely glamorous, essentially a clone of Snow White's Evil Queen.
Adaptation Distillation: The movie cuts out Dorothy's trip into Quadling Country and Glinda just appears in the Emerald City.
Adaptation Induced Plothole: An infamous example. There were two Good Witches in the book, of which Glinda was the second. The first one, the unnamed Good Witch of the North, met Dorothy when she first arrived in Oz and gave her the slippers, but Glinda (the Good Witch of the South, who didn't meet Dorothy until the end) was the only one who knew that their magic could help Dorothy get back to Kansas. The movie combines them into one character, leading many viewers to wonder why Glinda didn't just tell her how to get back home at the start of the movie.
- The only possible explanation for her behavior being that's simply how the magic of the Ruby Slippers works. Her explanation to Dorothy in the end kind of hints at this, but it's also worded like an Ice Cream Koan.
- Or she did it to force Dorothy to go on a quest that would ultimately lead to her killing the Wicked Witch...
Added Alliterative Appeal: The Wicked Witch of the West.
All Just a Dream: Unlike in the original books. The reason why it was changed for the film was because MGM felt that 1930's audiences were too sophisticated to accept Oz as a straight ahead fantasy, so they made it as a lengthy, elaborate dream, instead. Though some could argue Dorothy's slippers MADE everybody else think it was a dream.
- Return to Oz may complicate this a bit, though its canonicity in relation to the MGM film is a bit debatable.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: The scene where everyone panics on the farm and rushes to Dorothy's aid when she falls in the pig pen. Most these days see it as unintentional hilarity but those who've raised pigs on a farm would know the notorious risk of pigs killing and trying to eat small children.
An Aesop: Delivered by Dorothy at the end of the movie.
If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, l won't look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn't there I never really lost it to begin with. [big snip] There's no place like home!
And I Must Scream: Dorothy saves the Tin Man from this fate.
And There Was Much Rejoicing: The Wicked Witch of the East is one of the most famous examples.
And Your Little Dog Too: The Trope Namer.
Armor-Piercing Slap: Dorothy hitting the Cowardly Lion. Apparently it hurt so much that he thought his nose was bleeding.
Beauty Equals Goodness: Shamelessly: "Only bad witches are ugly." Of course you could say it's a case of a persons "inside matching their outside".
- Or that it could be a case of the person's "outsides matching their insides". Two possible theories are that either she became evil because she was ugly (and possibly shunned by those around her), or she started out pretty but turned ugly because she was evil... Some leaked details about the official prequel's script seem to confirm that the latter is the case.
Bootstrapped Theme: The music heard during the MGM logo opening this movie also played during the MGM/UA Home Video logo used from 1995-1999.
Boss Arena Idiocy: Why exactly does the wicked witch allow buckets of water within a mile of her castle, let alone right on a handy shelf? Granted, there's all those torches, but is she really the type to worry about fire safety?
- The webcomic Cheshire Crossing offered a bit of Fridge Brilliance on this. If water works on *all* witches and not just the witch of the West, then this is her way of making sure the others never try an attack.
But You Were There, and You, and You: Trope Namer. The film's ending is also possibly the most famous example of this trope.
Cameo Prop: L. Frank Baum died before the film was made, making a Creator Cameo impossible. But, in a remarkable coincidence, Frank Morgan as Professor Marvel wore a secondhand coat that turned out to have belonged to the author. (It's true; Snopes confirms it.) Ironically, Margaret Hamilton initially refused to believe that the coat belonged to Baum when she first heard about it, claiming it was nothing more than a stunt by MGM to drum up publicity for the movie.
Cartoon Bug Sprayer: The Cowardly Lion arms himself against the Wicked Witch with one of these.
The Chessmaster: To modern audiences, who are a tad more cynical, it's often suggested that Glinda was simply manipulating Dorothy, turning her into an accidental assassin that could kill the Witches and remove the Wizard; thus leaving Glinda poised to seize control of Oz in the aftermath.
Chickification: Compare the book's practical, plucky little girl with the movie's frightened, helpless damsel. Of course this may be a bit of a subversion. She's only a frightened, helpless damsel when protecting herself. But if you try to so much as mess with her dog or her friends, well you'd better watch yourself.
Clingy MacGuffin: The ruby slippers won't come off Dorothy's feet, and shock the Witch when she tries to remove them. In the original book, however, Dorothy could and did frequently remove the silver shoes.
Crosscast Role: Toto was played by a female Cairn terrier, named Terry.
Curtain Camouflage
Cute Clumsy Man: The Scarecrow is afflicted with the weakest legs you ever saw. Several times throughout the film he trips and has to pick himself back up again, and is practically half-dragged along whenever all four of them skip on the Yellow Brick Road. Justified in that he's made of straw.
Cut Song: "The Jitterbug" and the sad reprise of "Over the Rainbow", though both are usually performed in stage adaptations of the movie. Averted with the main "Over the Rainbow" song itself, which the filmmakers almost cut out of concern that it would slow down the plot.
Darker and Edgier: While it doesn't seem like this to the average viewer, some parts are considerably darker than the book. When writing the book, Baum explicitly said that he wanted to make a story with all the wonder of a classic fairy tale but none of the horror and tragedy. By contrast, the movie features Toto getting sentenced to death, as well as Dorothy and her friends nearly getting killed by the Witch and her minions several times. Instead of the book's comical Witch, the movie's Witch is a genuinely scary villain with obvious sadistic tendencies. And instead of being neutral creatures answering to the Witch's three wishes, the movie's flying monkeys are eerily silent monstrosities who serve the Witch as mindless slaves.
- Then again, there are moments when the movie is Lighter and Softer than the book. The book explicitly had Dorothy's companions kill the creatures sent by the Wicked Witch and the origin of the Tin Woodsman is considerably horrific.
- The biggest change in this regard is that, in the book, the Good Witch of the North put a charm on Dorothy that prevented anyone in Oz from hurting her, so throughout the entire story she's never actually in any physical danger.
Death's Hourglass
Debut Queue: The order Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion became one of the most iconic and well-remembered examples of this trope.
Deliberately Monochrome: In the 1939 movie, the real world scenes are black and white tinted in a sepia tone and the Oz scenes are in color.
- Based on the trailers, this will be repeated in the prequel, Oz The Great And Powerful
Disneyfication: The books contain a surprising amount of casual and sometimes decidedly un-PC violence: in the first one alone — besides the wholesale witchicide — the Scarecrow twists the necks of crows sent to attack them, the Tin Woodsman chops the heads off vicious wolves, and the Cowardly Lion swats the head off a giant spider with his paw. And, of course, the Tin Woodsman became tin by gradually having all his bits cut off and replaced — up to and including his head.
Dramatic Curtain Toss: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
Dream Land: Dorothy's adventure may have only been a dream. Arguably foreshadowed by the cyclone scene, in which Dorothy hallucinates Miss Gulch, carried aloft on her bicycle, transforming into the Wicked Witch (both portrayed by the same actress), and in which Dorothy suffers a blow to the head and passes out on the bed as everything spins around her.
- Though that still dosen't explain everything that happend...
Dungeon Master: Glinda made Dorothy trek through Oz on her quest to get home, only to tell Dorothy that she already knew the ruby shoes could get her home. Of course she never abandoned her, she simply knew the only way Dorothy could learn to work the shoes was through first-hand experience.
Everything's Better with Sparkles: The sequins on Glinda's dress.
Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: The slippers being changed from silver to ruby.
Evil Counterpart: The Wicked Witch to Glinda.
Evil Is Hammy: Guess who?
Evil Laugh: One of the most iconic examples.
Falling Chandelier of Doom
The Film of the Book
Fireballs: "Here, Scarecrow! Wanna play ball?"
Five-Man Band: Dorothy and her friends form one.
- The Hero: Dorothy
- The Lancer / The Smart Guy: The Scarecrow
- The Heart: The Tin Man
- The Big Guy: The Cowardly Lion
- Team Pet: Toto
Forced To Watch: What the Wicked Witch attempts at the climax. "The last one to go will see the first three go before her, and her mangy little dog too."
Giant Poofy Sleeves: Glinda's dress
Grass Is Greener
Happy Place: The entire Land of Oz is this for Dorothy, a place where there isn't any trouble (for the first two acts, at least) and bathed in color.
Hostage for MacGuffin: Subverted in that the Wicked Witch demands the ruby slippers in return for Toto, but the slippers are stuck to Dorothy's feet and won't come off. Although Dorothy agrees to hand over the slippers, the Witch gets a nasty shock when she tries to remove them.
Huge Holographic Head
Iconic Outfit: Dorothy is mostly remembered as wearing a blue-and-white checkered dress and the ruby slippers with brunette hair braided in pigtails.
Implausible Deniability: The Wizard is caught as just a man, but tries a last ditch save with the line "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Dorothy and Friends are really bright and very sweet characters to contrast the Wicked Witch of the West.
Inelegant Blubbering: Mostly by the Cowardly Lion.
It Was With You All Along
"I Want" Song: "Over the Rainbow", perhaps one of the best examples of an "I Want" song. Also, "If I Only Had a Brain/a Heart/the Nerve".
Kick the Dog: The Wicked Witch gets a good number of these:
- Threatening Dorothy's dog Toto in the Trope Namer for And Your Little Dog Too.
- Ordering her mooks to drown Toto anyway after Dorothy had already agreed to do what the Witch asked.
- Trapping Dorothy in a room with an evil hourglass, making Aunt Em appear in her crystal ball, and then sadistically mocking her once she's completely broken down.
- The above-mentioned Forced To Watch attempt at the climax.
Kill It with Water: The Wicked Witch of the West.
Large Ham: They all have their moments, but The Wicked Witch Of The West takes the cake. That woman was having fun.
Lighter and Softer: In some regards, though a few elements are also noticeably darker than in the book. In particular, Dorothy and her companions come off as a bit more innocent here, whereas the book featured them occasionally having to use violence to overcome the odds against them (the book has them outright killing the animals that the Witch sends against them, and it includes a scene where the Cowardly Lion proves his courage by killing a monster in its sleep). The Tin Man's grisly origin, where he got his metal body after a magic spell cursed him to hack off his limbs, is also never brought up in the movie.
Little People Are Surreal
The Makeover: In "The Merry Old Land of Oz".
The Man Behind the Curtain: Trope Namer.
Mean Character, Nice Actor: Margaret Hamilton, aka, The Wicked Witch, used to be a Kindergarten teacher.
- And years later would appear on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood specifically to teach children about this trope.
- Though she still liked to sign letters with "WWW" for the rest of her life.
Melodrama
Mood Whiplash: The movie cuts right from "Over the Rainbow" to Miss Gulch riding in on her bicycle, complete with that music.
- After first blowing the audience's mind by going from sepia to technicolor and giving one cheerful Ear Worm after another, everything comes crashing down when the Wicked Witch of the West appears in a flash of fire.
The Musical
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The villain is named The Wicked Witch of the West
Notable Original Music: Practically all of the songs count, but "Over the Rainbow" is the most famous; it not only won the Oscar for Best Song, but also became Judy Garland's Signature Song and has even become a Bootstrapped Theme for MGM itself.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Uncle Henry. Just looking at him you can tell he's just playing dumb to avoid trouble from Miss Gulch, like the way he asks if Dorothy was the one who bit her right before slamming the gate on her ass.
- Also, the Scarecrow is a possibility, in that he professes himself as brainless while coming up with solutions to predicaments. It may be more of a case of self-deception. The Scarecrow's even more like that in the original book.
Offstage Villainy
Oh Crap: The Wicked Witch before melting.
Pan and Scan: Inverted. The movie was filmed in 4:3, but the theatrical re-releases from 1955 and 1999 presented the movie with the top and bottom missing for widescreen projection.
Paper Tiger: When the Cowardly Lion first appears he acts in an aggressive manner, charging the group and challenging them to a fight. When he tries to attack Toto, Dorothy smacks him on the nose and he starts crying. Granted, the Cowardly Lion also turns out to be a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass later on.
Parental Bonus: Many lines, especially the Wizard's.
Pimped-Out Dress: Glinda's super frilly dress.
Pink Means Feminine: Glinda's dress, wings, and crown-like hat.
Plucky Girl: Dorothy is a bit more subdued, but the pluck is still there.
Pragmatic Adaptation: The movie. It can, at times, be difficult to find someone who knows that there are two good witches, let alone the rest of the stuff cut from the book.
Punch Clock Villain: The Wicked Witch's guards, judging by how they react to the heroes killing her.
Reality Is Unrealistic: The Cowardly Lion's costume looks like something whipped up from old plush and yak fur. It was actually made from a real lion, complete with paws and tail.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The evil owls and vultures in the Haunted Forest.
Real Is Brown: For the first part of the film the colouring is a sepiatoned brown, right up until Dorothy steps out into Munchkin Land. Even after all these years, the effect can be quite shocking upon a first viewing.
Remaster: In 1989, the Kansas portions of the movie had the sepia color scheme restored. Audiences for the theatrical re-releases and TV broadcasts from the previous 40 years had only seen them in plain black and white.
- The DVD era saw this movie receive four restorations and counting, each in a progressively higher resolution. (The 2009 and 2013 restorations also have Blu-Ray releases.)
Royal Decree: The Wizard gives one at the end, telling the people to follow Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man in his stead.
Self Guarding Phlebotinum: When the Wicked Witch of the West tries to take the Ruby Slippers from Dorothy's feet, they generate an electric shock field that prevents their removal.
Skip of Innocence
Standard Snippet: During the escape sequence at the Witch's castle, between the breaking of the door and the Witch's arrival with the hourglass, the soundtrack uses some of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain.
Sugar Bowl
True Blue Femininity: Dorothy wears a blue and white dress while traveling through Oz.
Urban Legends
- For a long time, people thought that a crowned crane in the scene where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man resume their journey was a guy hanging himself. You can blame the bad image quality.
- And of course the Pink Floyd The Dark Side Of The Moon soundtrack synching legend. Vigorously denied by the band, who have pointed out that the audio technology, necessary to make the film soundtrack and rock album synch this precisely with each other, didn't exist in 1973.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show:In this version of the story the Land of Oz is portrayed as a Sugar Bowl, but the Wicked Witch remains being just as mean (if not meaner) than her literary counterpart.
We Do The Impossible: The Wizard's reputation, entirely undeserved. Arguably, Dorothy gains this reputation through her adventures.
Welcoming Song: After the Munchkins have finished singing about how happy they are that Dorothy has killed the Witch, they sing "We Welcome You to Munchkin Land".
What Could Have Been: Buddy Ebsen was originally cast as The Scarecrow, and Ray Bolger was to play the Tin Woodsman. However, Bolger convinced the studio that his style of dancing was completely wrong for that character(just try to picture the Woodsman dancing like the Scarecrow), so Ebsen agreed to switch roles with him. In an unforeseen complication, however, Ebsen had an extreme allergic reaction to the aluminum dust used in the Tin Man's makeup, and was forced to quit the film.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite kicking off the events of the plot, Miss Gulch's plan to have Toto put down is never even mentioned again when Dorothy gets back to Kansas. It's possible that the tornado simply gave Miss Gulch more important things to worry about, but this is never stated; another theory is that when we saw Miss Gulch swept up in the tornado (before she became the Wicked Witch,) that actually happened and she died in the aftermath.
Wicked Witch: To be fair, the movie (and the books) are early examples that good witches can exist too; as opposed to Always Chaotic Evil.
You Have No Chance to Survive: The Wicked Witch of the West, when pointing at Death's Hourglass to Dorothy: "This is how long you'll live. And it isn't long, my pretty! It isn't long!"
You Imagined It: Maybe, maybe not?
Your Little Dismissive Diminutive:
Wicked Witch of the West: I'll get you, my pretty! And Your Little Dog Too!