The Wizard of Oz (1925)

Dorothy, heir to the Oz throne, must take it back from the wicked Prime Minister Kruel with the help of three farmhands.

Director:

Larry Semon

Writers:

L. Frank Baum (story), Frank Joslyn Baum (adapted by),

Stars:

Dorothy Dwan, Mary Carr, Charles Murray

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dorothy Dwan	...	Dorothy / Princess Dorothea
Mary Carr	...	Aunt Em
Virginia Pearson	...	Lady Vishuss
Bryant Washburn	...	Prince Kynd
Josef Swickard	...	Prime Minister Kruel
Charles Murray	...	Wizard of Oz
Oliver Hardy	...	Woodsman / Knight of the Garter / Farmhand (as Oliver N. Hardy)
William Hauber	...	Undetermined Role
William Dinus	...	Undetermined Role
Frank Alexander	...	Uncle Henry / Prince of Whales
Otto Lederer	...	Ambassador Wikked
Frederick Ko Vert	...	Phantom of the Basket
Larry Semon	...	Scarecrow / Toymaker / Farmhand

Storyline

A Toymaker tells a bizarre story about how the Land of Oz was ruled by Prince Kynd, but he was overthrown by Prime Minister Kruel. Dorothy learns from Aunt Em that fat, cruel Uncle Henry is not her uncle, and gives her a note due on her eighteenth birthday, which reveals she is actually Princess Dorothea of Oz, and is supposed to marry Prince Kynd. She, Uncle Henry , and two farmhands are swept to Oz by a tornado. Snowball, a black farmhand soon joins them after a lightning bolt chases him into the sky. They land in Oz, where the farmhands try to avoid capture. Semon becomes a scarecrow, Hardy briefly disguises himself as a Tin Woodman, and Snowball is given a Lion suit by the Wizard, which he uses to scare the Pumperdink guards.

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Plot Keywords:

uncle | prince | wizard | birthday | lightning | 

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Taglines:

The happiest film ever made! (1970 Re-release)

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Adventure

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

13 April 1925 (USA)

Also Known As:

El mago de Oz

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chadwick Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min 81 min 72 min (2005 alternate)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many theatres that booked the film never received it because its production caused Chadwick Pictures to go bankrupt and distribution ceased long before it was intended to.

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Goofs

The plane that brings Kruel's emissaries from Oz to Kansas is a triplane in the long shots of it in mid-air, but a biplane when it lands.

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Connections

Version of The Wizard of Oz: Rescue of Emerald City: Part 2 (1990)

User Reviews

A Pretty Weird Adaptation

This is a pretty weird adaptation of the "Wizard of Oz", bearing only a passing resemblance either to the original book or to the beloved Judy Garland version. The story is much different, and the characters look and act much differently. Frankly, most of it isn't really very good, although for those who enjoy silent films there are some points of historical interest.

Instead of the more familiar story of young Dorothy's trip to Oz, the scenario here has a melodrama centering on a somewhat older Dorothy (Dorothy Dwan), combined with some slapstick involving the Oz characters. In itself, it's not necessarily a big problem to adapt the story (after all, the great 1939 version also made some significant changes from the book), but this one does not really fit together very well, and it certainly does not work as well as the more familiar story. It really looks as if Larry Semon just tried far too hard to put his own personal stamp on the story, instead of simply trying to make a good movie version of the Wizard. It's interesting to see Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman, but he doesn't really get a lot to do, and a number of the other characters are ill-conceived, and do not work out well at all. It's also plagued with a lot of excruciating puns in the title cards, plus other similar problems.

Some of the finest movies ever made came from this era, when the silents were at their peak, and it should have been possible to make a first-rate adaptation of the Oz story, but unfortunately this isn't it. With its overdone attempts at humor and melodrama, it looks more like the stereotyped images of silent movies that are held by so many ill-informed modern moviegoers. For silent movie fans, there are still a couple of points of interest that might make it worth watching in order to satisfy one's curiosity, but otherwise there's really no particular reason to see it.