These poignant scenes turned this 1939 film into an ageless classic.
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images
‘Over the Rainbow’
As Kansas teenager Dorothy Gale, Judy Garland performs the wistful tune that would become her signature. “Nothing can compare to it,” says William Stillman, author of The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece. “It’s a classic of the American Songbook, and she did it first.”
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Warner Bros.
The Kansas Twister
“There was no such thing as CGI then,” notes Stillman, adding that the storm that ravages Dorothy’s farm still feels surprisingly real. “It surpasses modern attempts to recreate a tornado on film.”
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Warner Bros.
Munchkinland
The Wizard of Oz utilized then-state-of-the-art “three strip” Technicolor technology to create a vivid, colorful Munchkinland. “When Dorothy opened the door, everyone gasped,” says Stillman.
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Warner Bros.
‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’
You get a prolonged image of the ruby slippers just touching to the spiral of the yellow brick road, and then the whole scene snowballs,” says Stillman. “It’s one of the most iconic scenes in motion picture history.”
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Warner Bros.
Meet the Cowardly Lion
The lion became the comedic highlight of the entire film,” says Stillman. “Bert Lahr really owned it with one-liners and some ad-libs. It’s the one scene where Judy had to work really hard not to crack up.”
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Warner Bros.
The Horse of a Different Color
The steeds in this magical scene were dyed with water-soluble food coloring. “When they were done filming, they took them to the Pacific Ocean and rinsed them off in the waves,” confides Stillman.
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Warner Bros.
The Wizard’s Throne Room
With this phantom image of a cranium floating above a throne and fire and smoke, it’s so intimidating,” says Stillman of Dorothy and friends’ terrifying introduction to the wizard. “You really feel for these characters. This is the moment at the end of the journey that they have all been waiting for. They have to approach the wizard.”
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Warner Bros.
Attack of the Winged Monkeys
Commanded by the Wicked Witch of the West, the monkeys abduct Dorothy and Toto. “I have met people who refuse to watch the movie because they were so traumatized as children by the winged monkeys,” says Stillman.
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Warner Bros.
‘I’m Melting’
After the Wicked Witch sets the scarecrow on fire, Dorothy throws a bucket of water — that drenches the witch! “Who would’ve thought that something so evil could be destroyed, completely obliterated, with a substance as common as water?” says Stillman. “And she dissolves right in front of our eyes.”
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Warner Bros.
No Place Like Home
“If Dorothy’s goodbye to Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion “doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, you’re not human,” says Stillman. “It is just devastating that we have been on a journey of kinship, but she has to leave them all behind.”
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