How The Wizard of Oz Filmmakers Made Cinema's First Tornado in 1939

Every time I turn on The Wizard of Oz (which is fairly often), I end up in a rabbit hole trying to remind myself how the filmmakers pulled off such a realistic tornado in 1939. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it in a while, pull up a clip on YouTube. 

The Wizard of Oz was the first film to show a tornado on screen, which ended up being one of the largest expenses of the film’s budget. The studio actually didn’t recoup the cost of the movie until it re-released it a decade after it first hit theaters. 

Back in the 1930s, it would have been difficult to capture a real tornado on film (or even use archival footage that worked in the scene.) The filmmakers knew they would need to produce their own using special effects. 

One of the earliest photographs of a tornado was taken in 1884, in Dakota Territory, where South Dakota is now. It’s truly such a fascinating photograph. The back of this photo says the “only cyclone ever photographed.” But we do know that, coincidentally, another tornado was photographed a few months previously in Kansas. There is some controversy over whether this photograph is real or a hoax. Some point to how perfect the clouds and funnels are formed. 

At first, special effects Arnold Gillespe first attempted to create the tornado by constructing a 35-foot rubber cone. But this path proved unrealistic, the rubber didn’t have enough give and movement to look like a real cyclone. 

But, after this initial failure, Gillespie recalled the movement of wind socks that were often hung at airports. He crafted a 35 foot muslin cloth cone or tube that would spin. It connected to a rod below the stage and was suspended from the ceiling. The filmmakers moved the rod and gantry in opposite directions which gave the iconic realistic effect. The gantry was hidden behind glass panels that were painted to look like clouds. 

Gillespie pumped “Fullers Earth,” or brown dust through a hose, at the top and bottom of the muslin cone. In one unused take, the cloud of dust was so large that it looks like the farmhouse is totally consumed by a dirt cloud.

The final result is very impressive, even 86 years later. Generally, practical effects tend to age so much better than computer generated ones. The tornado wasn’t the only special effect on the set of Oz. For instance, Glinda’s bubble was hand painted on top of the film itself. The opacity was altered frame by frame. 

Fore more on the making of the Wizard of Oz, and the dark lore from production, listen to episode 166 of the Lunatics Radio Hour podcast.