Wizard of Oz, The (1925) * 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely bizarre adaptation of L. Frank Baum's story about an 18-year-old Dorothy who learns that she's the future ruler of Oz but of course there are some bad men who want to keep her away from her position. Once in Oz she has the help of three farm hands who try to protect her. Larry Semon produced, directed and stars in this film, which apparently was a dream project for him. I've read that Semon was in love with the Baum stories so with that in mind it's rather confusing to see how badly he treated the material. Those expecting anything in common with the Baum stories are going to be disappointed because this film might contain 10% of the stories and the rest is all slapstick for Semon fans. This film was a legendary disaster in its day and caused the end of Semon's career and to be honest it's not hard to see why. The film is a complete mess and nothing in it ever adds up to very much and this includes the bits that are taken from the story. The entire way we get to Oz and why is just rather silly and it's hard to connect with anything going on because Semon keeps us away from the actual story. The first forty-minutes pretty much has a lot of slapstick comedy from people falling in water to getting attacked by bees. The majority of the film has Semon getting injured by various falls and we have Oliver Hardy in a role that doesn't allow him to do very much. Both Semon and Hardy were obviously very talented people but you really wouldn't know that if you had only seen this movie. Dorothy Dwan plays Dorothy and doesn't add too much to the role. The obese Frank Alexander plays the Uncle and actually manages a few good scenes as his comic timing was certainly the best of the bunch. The P.C. police are going to have a fit with the role played by Spencer Bell because the black actor is credited under the name "G. Howe Black" and believe it or not this is pretty much the nicest thing his character goes through. The farm hands dress in costume as the lion, scarecrow and tin man so I'm sure this is going to disappoint many but once again you shouldn't go into this thing expecting any type of real adaptation. This version of THE WIZARD OF OZ is a pretty bad movie but at the same time it's almost worth viewing just to see how badly Semon messed it up.

In my travels of music & odd movies it really amazes me at what I find. I found this 1925 "OZ" at a Goodwill store 1 mile down the road. It's a VHS 1980s copy. It plays pretty well,except a bit wobbly at the start.I already knew this wouldn't be "Dorothy & Toto" but I thought at least it would be in the same stratosphere. Now,I'm not saying it's a bad movie but it's certainly not at the level of "silent era creativity" I expect from that time.The best things here are the sets for one,very inventive,some of the visual effects (like the director/star jumping hundreds of feet to the ground and surviving!) Yeah..right! ...and as mentioned,it is interesting to see Oliver Hardy before "Laurel & Hardy".The biggest downsides here are : The obvious racist and insulting stereo-types of the day,that being our resident "token" black whose been renamed for the amusement of the 1920s audience and just "has" to be filmed eating watermelon! (Insert roll-eyes here).On top of that,the overweight Uncle Henry who is "literally" the butt of heavy humor. (I was wondering, "How many more things will he sit on and hurt his posterior with?" ) Very annoying in this copy is the incessant organ music. True it's what they used then in the movie-house but for today's time it's an irritant. I turned down the volume and did what Charlie Chaplin did and used classical music. This music actually fit the scenes I was watching and in a great coincidence...... the moment the film ended,so did the classical tape! If you're not familiar with the books,you will pretty confused but even if you were it would be the same story. ...but in this case it's not.5 stars for some interesting sets,stunts and even visuals plus Mr. Hardy. 5 off for the rest. I watched Judy Garland's right after and got more than my $1.99's worth. (END)

This WIZARD OF OZ is merely a frantic slapstick showcase for LARRY SEMON, apparently a silent comedian who is unknown to today's audiences and who died at a young age (39). He had a hand in the production and even designed his own Scarecrow costume, but the film is a curio that starts with a toymaker (again, LARRY SEMON) who tells a little girl the story of Dorothy (DOROTHY DWAN) from Kansas who, it turns out, is heir to be ruler of The Land of Oz.But the story he tells has nothing whatsoever to do with L. Frank Baum's story as we know it from the '39 version starring Judy Garland. And this Dorothy is a grown-up young lady of 18 who bats her eyelashes and puts a finger to her lips in a coy manner as though signifying youthful uncertainty.The only connection to the Oz story Baum gave us is the tornado, the effects for which are very good for 1925, and the combination of the Tin Man, The Scarecrow and The Cowardly Lion. OLIVER HARDY is the Tin Man (before his screen partnership with Stan Laurel), SPENCER BELL, a black man, is the Cowardly Lion and LARRY SEMON hogs the whole show as The Scarecrow. The best I can say for Lemon is that his costume and make-up for the role is laudable.But the fragments of story used here are all over the map, the key to everything being the chance to have all of the performers involved in slapstick stunts. Only MARY CARR as Aunt Em is spared this indignity.There are a few well staged moments that one can appreciate but all in all it's a bit too much for any adult to watch and I have no idea what children thought of this bizarre exercise in slapstick comedy.

The 1925 silent "Wizard of Oz' Is, in many ways, a vanity project for Larry Semon, his brand of mugging to the camera comedy is a bit hard to take now, that said this is still pretty interesting and good for a silent.Rather different from the book and later MGM Movie, this version, the print I saw is the restored 100 minute print with added narration by Jaqueline Lovell, bookends the story with a grandfather reading Baum's book to his granddaughter. The early parts of Dorothy, played by the lovely Dorothy Dwan, are funny and strange. There is an odd air of sensuality throughout the film, odd since its intended for Children, I presume? SEmon does a very touching and funny bit with a lollipop, he wants to give it to Dorothy, but can't summon up his courage, Finally it end up eaten by a duck! Oliver Hardy plays another farmhand and he's very good, you can see why he became a star, his facial expressions and manners are just much better on screen than the other players, who are either too stiff or too hammy. The twister is here along with surprisingly good lightning effects. The land of OZ is basically a big soundstage, but it moves pretty well for a silent.Some things are bad though, the character of Snowball is listed as being played by G. Howe Black, a seemingly racist play on words. If its any consolation the actor is good and the character ends up the Lion and something of a hero, he rescues the scarecrow, Semon, in a bi-plane, near the end of the pic. For a silent this isn't bad, thought its terribly dated as one might expect. Worth a look for Oz devotees.