The Wizard of Oz - Dark side of the rainbow

As a 3D version is released to celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, Ed Power looks at the ‘curses’ surrounding the iconic film

IT’S 75 years since Dorothy and Toto unwittingly found themselves following the Yellow Brick Road. With its flying monkeys and cackling crones, beneath the outward whimsy there is something rather dark and feverish about The Wizard Of Oz, which marks its 75th anniversary this month. To mark the occasion , the iconic film has been re-released in 3D.

In fact, the Yellow Brick Road was paved with ill fortune and tragedy. The shoot, at the MGM studio lot in Culver City, California, was dogged by mishaps while key cast members would go on to have spectacularly unhappy lives. Oz eventually became notorious as Hollywood’s great ‘cursed’ movie: there is even an urban myth that, in one shot, you can see the swinging body of a ‘Munchkin’ who has hung himself (actually, it’s the silhouette of the bird).