Original artwork from Wonderful Wizard of Oz
So for the first time in my life I read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which was published in 1900 after being written a few years before. This article is not about if the the Wizard of Oz movie is better that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz book; this post is about the differences between the original book at the 1939 MGM movie that we’ve all seen countless times.
The character’s origins and background info is detailed in the book and ignored in the movie, but that is to be expected from a book to movie adaptation. And, yes, I understand that the MGM movie had a different creative teams and a bunch of scriptwriters. I shouldn’t have been surprised about the differences, but there were so many major differences that I was totally shocked.
Without judgement or opinion, here is a listing of the differences between the Wizard of Oz movie and the book.
In the book-
- Dorothy is an orphan.
- Their house is very small- just one room.
- There is no cellar, just a trapdoor in the middle of the house floor which led to hole in the ground.
- There are no trees or other houses around the farm.
- Aunt Em and Uncle Henry had a hard life and never laughed.
- THERE ARE NO FARMHANDS- Hunk, Zeke, or Hickory.
- THERE IS NO MISS GULTCH.
- There is no Professor Marvel.
- There is no Toto being misbehaving plot.
- The cyclone just comes and Dorothy and Toto are too late to go down the trapdoor.
- Dorothy DOES NOT HIT HER HEAD and have a dream- the cyclone REALLY takes the house away and transports Dorothy and Toto to another place.
- The Good Witch of the North is NOT Glinda; Glinda is the Witch of the South. The North Witch kisses Dorothy to protect her from all evil.
- The Munchkins were not midgets or dwarfs, just smaller than regular adults.
- The Wicked Witch of the East had Silver Shoes, not Ruby Slippers.
- Dorothy is greeted by three men and the Witch of the North.
I’m pressed for time right now, so to list the biggest differences besides the tale NOT being a dream:
1- The Wicked Witch of the West is just in one chapter and is simply an obstacle to overcome as opposed to the centerpiece of the story.
2- Oz himself has many different illusions.
3- The Tin Woodsman was originally a human.
4- The death of the Wicked Witch of the West is in the middle of the book, and the Scarecrow isn’t even there.
5- Dorothy’s journey is much longer, and the team gets separated at times.
6- Oz wants Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West as opposed to bringing him her broomstick.
7- The Flying Monkeys weren’t evil; they were under control via a magical Golden Cap. Dorothy actually gets the cap and controls them.
8- Everyone wears emerald glasses in the City of Emeralds so everything looks green (another scheme by Oz).
9- Dorothy and friends fought more monsters and visited different cities, such as a city made entirely of china.
10- The Tin Woodsman used his axe to kill 40 wolves sent by the Wicked Witch of the West.
11- Then the Scarecrow broke the necks of a bunch of crows she sent.
12- Toto isn’t responsible for everything and doesn’t have the super-intelligence he has in the movie (he accidentally moves the screen Oz is hiding behind as opposed to detecting the scheme).
13- Dorothy is like 11 or 12.
If you’d like to read some more differences you can follow these links. They don’t list EVERYTHING, which I will do one day, though.
http://wikibin.org/articles/the-wizard-of-oz-book-to-film-comparison.html
http://blogs.dalton.org/c16tk/2008/06/03/the-wizard-of-oz-book-and-movie/
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1995/2/95.02.02.x.html
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there are soooo many differences between the book and movie, this managed to get the small details though, there was sooo much more though
I’ve never read the book, but some elements you mention are things I remember from japanese animated series of Wizard of oz from years ago that I watched recently on Netflix, and things like the witch of the north giving dorothy the protective kiss dealy, and galinda being the witch of the south, the tin man stating he used to be human, all of those elements exist in the cartoon, not some of the violant ones you mentioned, but none the less, this leads me to think that maybe the cartoon was a decent representation of the story, if anyone out there has seen the cartoon and read the book insite would be cool
Was Dorothy not an orphan in the movie? How do we know the Tin Man wasn’t originally human in the movie? Not only was the Scarecrow not w/ Dorothy when she melted the witch; neither was the Lion or the Tin Man. In the book after the Scarecrow breaks the necks of the crows he & the Tin Man kill bees & then the Lion scares away the Winkies.
Cant wait to go out after Finals to watch a movie. ALONE. I need to spend quality time with myself once in a while.
Shirley Temple later did The Blue Bird which was Fox's answer to The Wizard Of Oz. It didn't do well because audience weren't used to her playing an unhappy girl.
[...] I remember seeing the Wizard of Oz for the first with my mother and sister when I was about four years old. I remember being scared to death when the Tin Man appeared. What makes this film of interest to me now is the fact that Frank Baum wrote the story as an allegory depicting the fraud inherent in the money and banking system and the reality of the people’s power to transcend it. I posted something about that recently on my blog [...]
Hi,
I actually just saw my school's "The Wizard of Oz" play back in March! I took Drama class last trimester so I'll give you a few tips. First, you are going to need to remember your lines really well. When you are on stage and other characters are talking, make sure you look like you're not just standing there. Make facial expressions or make small movements when you need to.You can practice in front of a mirror if you need to just to make sure you are making it look real. The director will teach you all the stage directions and movements so you won't have to worry about that, but make sure you also act clumsy like the scarecrow. When you practice, make sure you really feel what the scarecrow is feeling. I would also try and find the movie somewhere or scenes on youtube so you can watch it and try and train your voice to sound a lot like the scarecrows. Finally, make sure you just relax! Don't get stressed out when some things don't turn out the way you want because the more practice you get, the better you will perform!
Good luck and congrats for the role! (:
She was wonderful in this movie before she did “The Wizard of Oz.”
Spirited Away,
The cat returns,
Howls moving castle,
Kikis delivery service,
Whisper of the heart.
they are all great movies hope tht they are what your looking for :):)
ALSO please delete tht advertisment thingo its really annoying :)