Parents Guide for
The Wizard of Oz (1939) More at IMDbPro »

Suggested MPAA Rating:G

None.

The Scarecrow is briefly seen holding a gun.

Dorothy falls into a pig sty near the beginning of the movie, but she is quickly rescued.

A house falls on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. No blood is shown at all, but we do see her lower legs sticking out from under it. They curl up and disappear at one point, which is shown close-up.

The Wicked Witch of the West sets the Scarecrow on fire twice. (He is saved both times.)

The Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed in a way that can be very frightening for young and/or sensitive children. She always appears and disappears in a thick cloud of black smoke. She throws fireballs at people. She is cruel and attempts to hurt both Dorothy and the people around her in several scenes.

Dorothy is knocked unconscious by a flying window during the tornado.

The flying monkeys might be considered scary to some kids. They capture some characters and fly away with them, including Dorothy.

The Wicked Witch of the West captures Dorothy, locks her up in a dark room, puts an hour glass in front of her, and tells her that she will die by the time all the sand reaches the bottom. Dorothy is very shaken up and crying over this. When her friends finally come to rescue her, they have to knock the door down with the Tin Man's axe.

Dorothy splashes a bucket of water on Scarecrow, but also hits The Wicked Witch Of The West, causing her to melt amid what looks like dry ice. Smoke is seen and a hissing sound is heard, but no blood is shown at all.

Miss Gulch threatens to have Toto destroyed (in other words, euthanized or put to sleep).

There are quite a few minced oaths, but no actual curse words.

None.

Younger children may be frightened by the scenes involving the Wicked Witch. It may help to explain before they see the film that it is all "pretend" with the intention of showing that good people are rewarded for what they do, while bad people are not. It may also help to explain that the Witch is masterfully played by an actress named Margaret Hamilton, who was actually a very warm and kind person in real life. She was, in fact, a former kindergarten teacher who loved reading "The Wizard of Oz" to her students.

The scene in which Dorothy and her friends are walking down a long hall to the Throne Room in the Emerald City has ominous music playing in the background. The Lion is terrified, but his fear is largely played for laughs (he jumps when he thinks someone has pulled his tail, but it turns out he has done it himself). As soon as the Lion sees the Wizard as a head floating in mid-air with fire and smoke around it, he exclaims "I wanna go home!" Finally he becomes so frightened that he runs out of the great hall and literally jumps out of the building through a glass window. This moment is pure comedy, intended to make audiences laugh, and in the next scene the Lion is shown completely unharmed by the glass on the window.

Some children may also be frightened by the Wicked Witch's flying monkeys.