16. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Growing up my sister did quite a bit of the TV controlling. I think I was just happy to go along for the ride and watch pretty much anything. She had two VHS tapes that she completely wore out. One was a made-for-TV movie about Jessica Mclure (the little girl that fell down the well...) and the other was a copy of Wizard of Oz taped off of TV. What was most interesting about this tape though was that after the film there was an hour-long special on the "making of" the movie. I've always been pretty neutral on the movie, but I was simply awstruck and amazed every time I watched this special.

I don't think I need to recount any of the plot. I'll simply say to those three people out there who are over the age of twelve and haven't seen the movie yet, you probably should check it out. What I will do is tell you some pretty amazing things about the movie:
-Victor Fleming is credited as the director but was absent for most of the filming because he was also directing "Gone with the Wind". Three other directors worked on the film including King Vidor who was an absolute giant in the silent movie era.
-The writers and producers tried to lure W.C. Fields to play the wizard by creating more roles for him in the movie to balance screen time, but he still turned the role down over a dispute of $25,000. This is why the same guy plays the wizard, Professor Marvel, Emerald City's doorman, the driver of "the horse of a different color", and the wizard's guard.
-Buddy Ebsen was cast to play the tin man and almost died when he inhaled the aluminum dust in the makeup. He was quickly and quietly replaced without any public press or even informing Jack Haley (the new tinman) of the problem.
-A disgruntled munchkin DOES NOT hang himself in the background of the forest scene. It looks kind of like this happens on the old VHS versions, but in newer copies you can tell that it is simply an emu that strayed in the background of the shot.
-One producer of the movie wanted to use MGM's mascot Leo the Lion as the cowardly lion and dub in his voice later. Suffice it to say, this didn't happen...
-The munchkins were paid $50 a week for six weeks of work... Terry (the dog who played Toto) was paid $125 a week...