Blatant LoTR Copy-Cats

[ItalianLegolas]

Okay, in school my class had to watch "The Wizard of Oz", and me and my fellow LoTR nerds noticed some very obvious very much alike/stolen portions of the movie that were very much like the LoTR books! One such example is the "object of power", in the Wizard of Oz, the ruby slippers, in LoTR, the ring. Another one, would be a a huge gate where all the witches minions(which are orc look-alikes) march through, you guessed it, an enormous BLACK GATE, very much like the one that is the entrance to Mordor! My final such copy-cat is the appearance of short people, in the Wizard of Oz, the munchkins, in LoTR, the Hobbits!

I guess my point is, has anyone else noticed such LoTR look-alikes, or am i the only one?