The Wizard of Oz (1925)
Director: Larry Semon
Starring: Larry Semon, Dorothy Dwan, Oliver Hardy
Synopsis:
The Land of Oz awaits the return of its queen while a girl in Kansas learns about the truth of her past.
Impressions:
One thing I will say for this version of the story is that if you think you know what's going to happen, say, from the '39 version or, you know, the book, you're going to find yourself consistently surprised because this bears little resemblance to any other take on Wizard of Oz out there. It mostly serves as a vehicle for writer/director/star Larry Semon's comedic antics. Much of the film ends up being pointless faffing about if you were actually here for the story, but if the humor lands for you, I guess you'll have a good time. (Many modern viewers will probably not enjoy the stuff with Snowball.) It is interesting seeing Oliver Hardy in a role before his iconic teamup with Stanley Laurel. A lot of the costuming and sets are fairly nice and there's some impressive scale to some of the set pieces, but unless you're game for all the scampering about instead of actually having a plot to advance or characters to develop, this can be a bit of a chore to watch. As with a quite a few films from this period, there are a number of cuts in the wild. The one I saw had a significantly shorter runtime than the official number, but it seems that the footage was just cranked up a bit and there weren't any major cuts that I could notice from a quick scrub through a longer version. The ending is just as abrupt and underwhelming. Yay. Much like the 1910 version, I think there's some merit in viewing it as a historical artifact but not so much as a storytelling experience. With that in mind, I can't quite give it an unqualified recommendation.
50/50