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We all know "The Wizard of Oz", right? Well, we know Victor Fleming's 1939 musical adaptation. But then there's Larry Semon's 1925 version, which has to be one of the single weirdest movies ever made. Part of this is because there's little similarity to the version that everyone knows: no Toto, no witches, no Munchkins and no Yellow Brick Road. Instead, there's a bunch of slapstick humor (complete with a clean-shaven Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodsman). And unfortunately, there's a black man named Snowball.While watching the movie I made a bunch of MST3K-style comments at it - most of them unrepeatable here - just because of how over-the-top it was. For example, people jump from high altitudes and survive. It's one of those what-were-they-smoking-when-they-came-up-with-this movies. You have to see it to believe it. The only analogy is the Soviet version of "Mary Poppins" (yes, there was one).I've never read Frank Baum's novel. I hope to eventually. I understand that the more famous movie adaptation is closer to the novel. Whatever the case, you can't say that you've truly seen "The Wizard of Oz" until you've seen this version!

. . . of all time, it's not hard to understand how this repetitious, soulless, racist waste of film bankrupted its studio and its writer\director\star, Larry Semon. (Some film critics contend that Semon once was mentioned in the same breath with Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, but these pundits are most likely bluffing and playing "Gotcha!" in an attempt to over-inflate their own stature.) Eggs eggs eggs bees bees bees mud mud mud boxes boxes boxes lions lions lions: that pretty much sums up the "plot" of Semon's lame 1925 silent version of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Since when does a hen lay eight eggs at a time? Since when do Black farm hands shirk work to chomp pilfered watermelons? Since when do people routinely survive 50- and 75-foot-falls none the worse for wear? GONE WITH THE WIND's excess essentially killed off its source material (Margaret Mitchell's novel). Unlike, say, JANE EYRE or GREAT EXPECTATIONS, there's not a new film version to enjoy of GWTW each generation. Larry Semon tried to pull the same GWTW trick on OZ. Fortunately, he failed to do so.

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.