Since it was filmed way before concepts like workplace safety and not drinking on the job were invented, a lot of strange things went on during filming. People got hurt. Movie history was made. Worth it? Let's see!
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Weird Stuff We Can't Just Ignore About The Wizard Of Oz
No movie proves just how terrifying childhood can be quite like The Wizard of Oz. Flying monkeys, murder, witches and wizards, and a young girl being threatened with euthanizing her little dog ... ah, childhood! It's a classic and one that doesn't get any less nightmare-inducing with age.
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Workplace health and safety standards were pretty much nonexistent in the early 20th century, especially in Hollywood. There are few films where this was more apparent than during the 1939 production of The Wizard of Oz. The film's director, Victor Fleming, was known for being a stickler, as well as a bit of a bully, and he didn't seem to be concerned about letting a minor thing like safety stop him from making the hit movie he envisioned. From the very beginning of filming, The Wizard of Oz was the site of all kinds of dangerous accidents and unsafe working conditions.
"The Wizard of Oz," which IMDb reports was released in 1939, remains one of the most popular and beloved films of all time. The film's star, Judy Garland, who was only 16 years old at the time, mesmerized audiences with her incredible acting and singing talent. In the film, Garland's character Dorothy is swept away from her home in rural Kansas to the magical land of Oz during a tornado. While in Oz, Dorothy meets a variety of fascinating characters as she tries to find her way back home. Although she faces adversity along the way, the film has a happy ending, and Dorothy concludes her adventure unscathed.
L. Frank Baum wrote 14 Wizard of Oz books, but his biggest home run was 1900's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which MGM turned into a wonderful Wizard of Oz movie. Both versions tell the story of Dorothy Gale and her adorable dog Toto getting stranded in a fantastical land by a tornado, and both include the iconic characters of the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, Glinda the Good Witch, and the wizard of fraud, Oz. But unlike the movie, the book features creatures like a giant lion-eating spider and tiny people made of china. Moreover, Dorothy's shoes aren't ruby, and the journey isn't a dream despite nightmarish sequences.
"The Wizard of Oz" is a classic Hollywood film based on the book of the same name and tells the story of Dorothy and her dog Toto trying to get back to Kansas. After getting caught in a tornado, Dorothy ends up in a magical place called Oz, where she meets different characters in her attempt to get back home. Some of these iconic characters are the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Just as she wished to be back home, the three individuals she met wished for a brain, heart, and courage, respectively (via Britannica). The trio accompanies Dorothy on her long journey to meet a wizard who can potentially give them what they're asking for, but they encounter obstacles set by the Wicked Witch of the West en route on the yellow brick road. The 1939 film would become one of the most popular book-to-film adaptations in Hollywood (per Entertainment Weekly).
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