10 Lines That Made No Sense Because Of A Deleted Scene

9. "I've Sent A Little Insect On Ahead To Take The Fight Out Of Them." - The Wizard Of Oz

Wiz Of Oz

How can you knock one of the greatest movies ever made? Well for shoddy editing work, for a start, which preserved a line that referred to a deleted scene€”or in this case, a deleted song. Just before the Wicked Witch's famous flying monkeys take to the skies to grab the unsuspecting Dorothy and her fantasy creature friends, she tells one of them: "They'll give you no trouble; I promise you that. I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them." What insect, pray tell? It actually was one of the witch's secret weapons up her long, black sleeve: a creepy, crawly jitterbug that stings Dorothy and company, thereby forcing them to spontaneously bust a move, '30s style. The Jitterbug dance being the rage at the time, they turned it into a song, though a quite unmemorable one that, according to the deleted scene, poor Judy Garland is forced to embarrassingly warble until she can escape the trance that's forced on her and her friends. The song actually begins with an annoying moaning sound simulating the Jitterbug presumably - or perhaps the pain Dorothy and her friends are in? It's hard to tell. But it's a good thing that the editors made the sane decision to remove the silly dance number from an otherwise flawless film. Not only would it instantly date the perennial classic, but it wasn't a worthy inclusion on the movie's sparkling soundtrack. And to think they almost left this song in and cut "Over the Rainbow." Sacrilege.
Contributor

Michael Perone has written for The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, The Island Ear (now titled Long Island Press), and The Long Island Voice, a short-lived spinoff of The Village Voice. He currently works as an Editor in Manhattan. And he still thinks Michael Keaton was the best Batman.