The Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man in The Wizard of OzImage via Warner Bros.
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Dawson Nyffenegger
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Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
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The Wizard of Oz (1939) is one of the greatest movies of all time and is considered by cinephiles and critics alike to be a classic and essential movie. The movie is based on the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, who went on to write multiple other Oz books, although there is no debate that the first is by far the most popular.
The story features Dorothy (Judy Garland), a young girl who is whisked away to a magical yet unfamiliar land, and her desperate struggle to get back home to Kansas. As with any book-to-film adaptation, certain things are going to be added, changed, or cut out entirely. Some of these differences, however, go beyond minor tweaks. These are the biggest differences between the book and the movie versions of The Wizard of Oz, which create two totally different versions of the story, each of which is enjoyable in its own right.
15 The ruby slippers were silver
The Wicked Witch of the West reaches greedily for the ruby slippersImage via Loew's Inc.
The magical ruby slippers bestowed upon Dorothy by the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke) sparkle and shine with a beautiful red glow in the 1939 film. In the book, though they may still be shiny, they're quite a different color. In the novel, Dorothy's iconic ruby slippers are a pristine silver instead. The color change is likely because the filmmakers really wanted to showcase the capabilities of Technicolor, and red is obviously a more vibrant color than silver.
Honestly, it was absolutely the right move because the ruby slippers have become pretty iconic due to how unique they are, and it's doubtful that silver slippers would have had the same effect. Disney's Cinderella, with its glass slippers, would've also clashed with silver, making both far less iconic. The ruby slippers add so much whimsy to Oz, clearly showcasing how colorful and rich the world beyond the rainbow is.
14 The Emerald City isn't actually green at all
Image via MGM
In the movie, the Emerald City is another plot point that falls victim to having its color changed. In the book, the home of Oz is still called the Emerald City, but its vibrant green color turns out to be only a facade. Upon arriving there, Dorothy and her companions are forced to don pairs of glasses that are fastened at the back by a lock that is kept by the Gate Guardian. Little do they know, the glasses are what make the city green.
When they leave the city, and the glasses are removed, Dorothy discovers that the green dress she was given is actually white. It is later revealed by the Wizard himself that he forces the people to wear the glasses to make the city seem more magical than it actually is. It's yet another example of the Wizard being a manipulative con man, something that is overall removed from the film. There, the city really is green, likely for the same reason as the silver slippers being red: the filmmakers wanted to show off the capabilities of Technicolor.
13 Glinda and the Good Witch of the North are two totally different people
Glinda, the Good Witch of the North holds a star-shaped wand in The Wizard of Oz.Image via MGM
Fans of the hit musical Wicked will come to know the Good Witch of the North, Glinda (Ariana Grande), with her friend-turned-rival, the Wicked Witch of the West, AKA Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo). In The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy first arrives in Oz, she is greeted by the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke), who introduces herself as Glinda. In the book, however, Glinda is actually the Good Witch of the South and isn't seen until the very end of the novel.
In fact, the Good Witch of the North has a different name according to the other Oz novels. Sometimes, she is known as Locasta or Tattypoo, but the fact still stands that she was certainly not Glinda. The two characters were likely combined into one for the movie due to time constraints, besides the fact that The Good Witch of the South really isn't that interesting or prevalent in the book. Heck, she isn't even mentioned until the very end. Lastly, Glinda is a far better and more memorable name than either Locast or Tattypoo.
12 The Witch doesn't appear very often
The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) confronts Dorothy (Judy Garland) while Dorothy looks frightened in The Wizard of OzImage via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) appears very early on in The Wizard of Oz, initially showing up to claim the ruby slippers from her sister's corpse. Once she realizes Dorothy is their new owner, she develops a personal vendetta against the young girl and becomes hellbent on taking the slippers for herself. To be honest, her wrath is kind of warranted — Dorothy had no right to the slippers, but perhaps the sister of the dead witch did. In fact, maybe this villain was right all along; maybe she wasn't a villain at all.
The green witch makes multiple appearances after that, showing up to throw fireballs at Dorothy's companions or watch their journey from her crystal ball. However, the WItch doesn't care as much in the novel. She only becomes remotely interested when Dorothy first sets foot into her territory after she has already been to see Oz. The Witch doesn't last much longer than two or three chapters in the book, as she meets her swift end not long after she is introduced.
11 The intro doesn't exist
Image via Loew's Inc.
One of the staples of The Wizard of Oz is its black-and-white introduction, which features Dorothy on the run from Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton), a disgruntled neighbor. Dorothy arrives at her farmhouse and chats with three farmhands: Hickory (Jack Haley), Hunk (Ray Bolger), and Zeke (Bert Lahr). She then tries to run away from home when Gulch insists on taking Dorothy's beloved dog, Toto, away, and finds herself in the company of a fortune-teller named Professor Marvel (Frank Morgan). Dorothy returns home in the nick of time as a tornado strikes the farmstead, which carries her away to Oz.
Things are a little more concise in the novel. The book wastes no time getting straight to the point, with the tornado appearing on pretty much the very first page. The whole narrative, with Almira Gulch coming to reprimand Dorothy and take Toto from her in response to her perceived misbehavior, does not happen. The three farmhands do not exist and are never even mentioned by Dorothy, and the fortune-telling quack called Professor Marvel is also not present in the novel. All of these characters and their stories were created exclusively for the movie and were likely included to make Dorothy's journey feel more like a dream, since all of these characters have their equivalents in Oz, played by the same actors.
10 Dorothy was much younger
Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, holds Toto while smiling in The Wizard of Oz.Image via Loew's, Inc.
Dorothy appears to be a pre-teen in the movie. Actress Judy Garland was seventeen years old at the time of the film's release, so Dorothy is more likely to be anywhere between 12 and 15 years old, and she is much more mature in her actions than she was in the original novel. Funny enough, though, the 1980 spiritual successor to the original film, Return to Oz, actually kind of nailed Dorothy's (Fairuza Balk) age, portraying her at around the same level of youth as she is in the book.
The book version of Dorothy is quite a bit younger. Baum doesn't explicitly state her age, but from the way she is described as being full of life and shrieks and giggles when she plays with her dog, it is implied that she is only a small child, no older than eight. Of course, it would naturally be hard to find a child actress that young in the '30s, especially one with such a demanding role of singing, dancing, and acting in emotional scenes, so it makes sense that her age was increased.
9 Dorothy spent much longer in Oz
Image via MGM
At the end of the film, Dorothy describes her time in Oz as being "days and days" long. Though it appears that the film only takes place over two days and one night, it's also implied that Dorothy's time in Oz might've been a bit longer. In the book, Dorothy spends weeks, maybe even months, in Oz, with the passage of time mentioned in full detail in each chapter.
The passing of time is more accurately portrayed in the novel, as Dorothy has meals and even sleeps more often than her cinematic counterpart. What's more, when Dorothy arrives back home, her Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin) has built an entirely new farmhouse on the foundations of the old one. One can only imagine how long Dorothy must have been away in Oz for that to happen. Her poor family must have been worried sick about her!
8 It's not a dream
Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamliton) is a cruel woman from Kansas in The Wizard of Oz.Image via Loew's Inc.
In the book, since Dorothy's family has built a new house, the ambiguous ending presented by the movie is completely absent. In the film, the real people that Dorothy encounters all have parallels in the world of Oz, and are even played by the same actors. For example, the Wizard is represented by a traveling fortune-teller that Dorothy encounters as she runs away from home with Toto. At the legendary ending of the film, she wakes up in her bed and talks about how her whole family was in her dreams.
Of course, the movie never outright says it's a dream, but the implication is there, and is left ambiguous enough for the viewer to come up with their own conclusion. This isn't the case in the book, though. In the novel, there is absolutely no question that Dorothy did, in fact, go to Oz, as her family rejoices upon seeing her again, and when she returns to the real world, she doesn't wake up in her bed. The ending of the book is much more straightforward in this regard.
7 The Wicked Witch of the West looked very different
Image via MGM
In the book, the Wicked Witch of the West only has one eye. This change makes perfect sense because it would be difficult to create a one-eyed character, given the technology of the time. Since, aside from illustrations, a novel only really occurs in its reader's mind's eye, it was able to be a little more creative. On the page, the Wicked Witch in the novel is a cyclops of sorts, as she only sports one gigantic eyeball in the center of her forehead, making her feel much more magical and malevolent.
It doesn't really affect the story, but her appearance in the book is described as even more grotesque than Hamilton's iconic green makeup and prosthetics. This definitely would have been possible using modern technology, but at this point, the Wicked Witch's look is so iconic and memorable that changing it to be more faithful would be pretty jarring and wouldn't feel right at all. Her appearance in the film also makes her appear more human, which is necessary in the new Wicked film. The movie's position of sympathizing with Elphaba just wouldn't make any sense if it portrayed her as an inhuman monster.
6 The Queen of the Field Mice
Dorothy (Judy Garland), the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man (Jack Haley) and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) standing together and smiling in The Wizard of Oz.Image via MGM
When Dorothy and her companions come across a field of poppies, it doesn't take long before Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion (Bert Lahr) fall into a deep sleep. They are saved by the Tin Man (Jack Haley) and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), who cannot sleep and call for aid from the Good Witch of the North. She creates a snowfall to rouse the sleeping travelers, and the crisis is averted quickly.
In the novel, it is not the Good Witch who saves them but the Queen of the Field Mice, who summons thousands of mice to carry the sleeping friends away from the poppy field, where they lie until they wake up. The Queen does this to repay her friends after they save her from certain death. Obviously, with CGI not existing in the movies of the 1930s, it would have been pretty difficult to show thousands of mice carrying two people and a small dog a considerable distance, so the scene was changed to include the Good Witch instead.
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