The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)

Director:

Otis Turner

Writers:

L. Frank Baum (novel)
Otis Turner (scenario)

Release Date:

24 March 1910 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Short

Plot:

An early version of the classic, based more on the 1902 stage musical than on the original novel.

Plot Keywords:

Wizard | Scarecrow | Lion | Haystack | Cow

Cast

Bebe Daniels	...	Dorothy Gale
Hobart Bosworth	...	Wizard of Oz and King
Eugenie Besserer	...	Aunt Em
Robert Z. Leonard	...	Scarecrow
Winifred Greenwood	...	Momba
Lillian Leighton	...	Union Enforcer
Olive Cox	...	Glinda the Good
Alvin Wyckoff
Marcia Moore

Directed by
Otis Turner

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
L. Frank Baum		novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"
Otis Turner		scenario

Produced by
William Nicholas Selig	....	producer

Production Companies

• Selig Polyscope Company

Distributors

• Selig Polyscope Company (1910) (USA) (theatrical)
• Image Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (2009) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"The Wizard of Oz" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

13 min (20 fps)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Finland:K-7 (2009)

Company:

Selig Polyscope Company

Trivia:

One of the films in the 3-disk boxed DVD set called "More Treasures from American Film Archives (2004)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 5 American film archives. This film is preserved by George Eastman House, has a running time of 13 minutes and an added piano score.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Glinda appears, you can clearly see the actress jerking into position when the harness has stopped pulling her up.

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Land of Oz (1910)

For 1910, it's magical

Okay, it's important to point out that you can't compare this movie at all to the 1939 classic--and for so many reasons. Film was just in its infancy in 1910 and full-length movies meant about 10-20 minutes. Sets and costumes were simple and often looked like they were taken right off the stage of a high school play. And, writing and acting as we know of them today, just wasn't invented yet. So I cut the early films a lot of slack and praise movies that actually had decent production values and provided some entertainment into the 21st century--most early films fail on both these counts.

The movie isn't really based on the books but on a stage musical and this at times is pretty obvious--especially when the characters start dancing for no apparent reason at all! But, aside from this odd way of telling the story, it's an adorable and interesting film--particularly as it has people in animal costumes throughout (not just the lion). It just seems very cute and makes watching this historical picture a lot easier! By the way, despite the good production values, this film is not as good as some of the full-length films by the Frenchman, Georges Méliès. His 1902 LE VOYAGE DAN LE LUNE has even better sets and tells a more coherent and watchable story--hence that is why it is rated as a 10 by me and this one only an 8.