The Wizard of Oz (1925)

Truly Dreadful Film

Takes itself way too seriously

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There are well over 20 different adaptions on the big screen and small of L. Frank Baum's Wizard Of Oz, only one of which is the well known and immortal one that every child starts seeing on television around the age of 2. Before films were a going concern, The Wizard Of Oz had a stage version that ran a couple of years in the first decade of the last century that starred the famous vaudeville team of David Montgomery&Fred Stone.This silent version of Larry Semon's creation will never replace the MGM classic of 1939. For one thing there simply isn't any fantasy involved. Oz is not on some other plane of existence, it's a real place where Dorothy actually belongs, she's the exiled princess much like Luke Skywalker was exiled to whatever planet in the galaxy he was at. She discovers this on her 18th birthday when her heritage is revealed.Another thing is that indeed the Wizard is as much a humbug as Frank Morgan was in 1939, but here he's supposed to change the farmhands who along with Uncle Henry and Auntie Em have come with Dorothy to Oz in that massive tornado. They're in most unconvincing disguises and you always know it was a disguise. In the more famous film, never do you doubt that Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Bert Lahr are who they are supposed to be.In fact some rather crude racial humor is used for the Cowardly Lion as it is played by a black actor named Spencer Bell. Part of the film calls for Bell and Semon who is the Scarecrow to be in a den of real lions. What happens just isn't funny and worse you know that Lahr and Bolger would have carried off the comedy.I think most people watch this version of The Wizard Of Oz to see Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man. At this time before he teamed with Stan Laurel, Ollie was doing a lot of work as a second banana comedian with Semon. He's only very briefly the Tin Man and just doesn't cut it.This version Of The Wizard Of Oz was a huge flop and deservedly so from what I've seen. It remains a curiosity, nothing more.

At least the 1939 film is a classic in its own right. This 1925 travesty takes the source material and urinates all over it. This has got to be the worst comedy I've ever seen. I cannot judge Larry Semon as a comedian as I have yet to see any of the shorts he made before this, but my God, he is not the least bit amusing in this.There's so much wrong with this movie: inconsistent characterization, tired gags that must have been old hat even by 1925, a racist caricature who eats watermelon and gets spooked easily, an 18 year old Dorothy who certainly looks older than that, a pointless framing device, endless padding, and the fact that the viewer often has no clue as to what the hell is going on. And the less said about that awful, incomprehensible ending the better...Unless you're a masochist, stay far away from this one.

This silent version of "The Wizard of Oz" has become one of the bonus features frequently included on home releases of the 1939 classic. It certainly isn't as good as the more well-known version. It can be intriguing due to the familiarizations you have with either the characters from the MGM film, or their counterparts in the L. Frank Baum books. "Dorothy" (Dwan) is a nubile teenager lusted after by others in the cast. "The Scarecrow" is her real-life husband and director Larry Semon, a once beloved comedian who died mysteriously. "The Tin Woodsman" is Oliver Hardy, before teaming up with Stan Laurel. And, the actor playing "The Cowardly Lion" is identified as "G. Howe Black" to highlight his skin pigmentation. Some of the visuals and stunts are good. But, the story isn't.**** The Wizard of Oz (4/13/25) Larry Semon ~ Larry Semon, Dorothy Dwan, Bryant Washburn, Oliver Hardy

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.