The misleading trailers to classic films

The purpose of a trailer is to get you excited to see a film. Today’s trailers have been criticised for giving away too much of the movie. Some of the greatest trailers of all time have been made only as a trailer and are not made of shots from the film. However, there are a few times in the past where the trailer for a film not only didn’t have anything to do with the film but probably left the viewer with a lot more questions than answers.

Wizard of Oz
There is such a beauty about the film The Wizard of Oz. There are the great costumes, makeup, singing, dancing, and of course the transition from black and white to colour. Perhaps the flying monkeys could be featured to drive home the scare factor and show off the amazing effects of the time. The answer to all of those would be “no.” Instead, the trailer looked like this:

Base on a book that was published and popular for a long time asking “What is Oz” left a lot of people screaming “The city where The Wizard is!”

Superman: The Movie
The tagline for this 1978 film was “You will believe a man can fly”. The special effects used in this movie certainly did bring the Man of Steel to life for audiences, but the trailer for the film left a lot to the imagination. Actually, it’s more accurate to say that it left everything to the imagination because it doesn’t show anything except the names of the actors.

At least they could have used the iconic score from John Williams but it must not have been recorded yet as the generic music they used was pretty lacklustre.

Citizen Kane
Orson Welles classic film had a less than classic trailer. The trailer, which doesn’t show Welles, is narrated by him. It is something that has to be seen to be believed.

Are there any trailers you remember seeing that had nothing to do with the movie? What is your favourite trailer?