The Wizard of Oz
About The Wizard of Oz
A toymaker's story opens on Oz under Prime Minister Kruel, then cuts to Kansas, where Dorothy learns on her 18th birthday that a letter names her Princess Dorothea. Ambassador Wikked arrives by airplane for the letter, and a tornado dumps Dorothy, Uncle Henry, and three farmhands in Oz. Larry Semon's farmhand hides as a scarecrow, Oliver Hardy builds a tin suit, and Curtis McHenry, billed as G. Howe Black, scares the guards in a lion costume. Prince Kynd fights Kruel for Dorothy. The scarecrow falls from a rope ladder under a biplane, and the picture returns to the granddaughter, asleep in her chair.
Cast & crew
More about The Wizard of Oz
Larry Semon produced and directed, with L. Frank Baum Jr. and Leon Lee on the adaptation. Shooting began in late September 1924. Chadwick Pictures went bankrupt during the selling of the film, and Semon, who had put his own money in, filed for bankruptcy in March 1928 and died that year at 39.
Themes
Making
Variety later tied Semon's money worries over this release to his early death. Many theaters never received their reels.
Reviews
Mordaunt Hall, in The New York Times, called it the sort of rough-and-tumble farce that sends people out of the theatre with bright faces. Variety, at the Colony Theatre, said the laughs were there and that small towns should 'mop up.'
Look
H. F. Koenekamp, Frank B. Good, and Leonard Smith shared the camera, including the tornado that lifts the shed.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
The film is in the public domain in the United States. Prints circulate in several home-video formats.
Notes
- A cut edition runs 85 minutes. AFI also lists a Los Angeles premiere on 7 February 1925 and a New York premiere on 12 April 1925.
- Dorothy Dwan plays Dorothy. Mary Carr is Aunt Em, Frank Alexander is Uncle Henry, and Charles Murray is the Wizard.
- Josef Swickard is Kruel, Virginia Pearson is Lady Vishuss, Otto Lederer is Wikked, and Bryant Washburn is Prince Kynd.
- Older write-ups name the lion as Spencer Bell. The film bills Curtis McHenry as G. Howe Black.
- Sam Zimbalist edited. The copyright is LP21623, 27 June 1925, to Chadwick.
- Since 2005 some DVD editions of the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz have carried this film as an extra, starting with the three-disc Collector's Edition.
Scenes
- Wikked's men tie Dorothy to a rope over a fire before the tornado hits.
- Snowball, in the lion suit, scares the dungeon guards.
- The scarecrow grabs a rope ladder under a biplane and falls.
Influenced by
- L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheWizardOfOz1925)
Quotes
That's a lot of applesauce!
Do your stuff, Wizzy!
