Review of The Wizard of Oz (1925) by Susan B — 15 Nov 2013

One of many big screen adaptations, the last of the silents, that is very loosely based on L. Frank Baum's classic children's texts, this imaginative fairy tale is a mixed bag of inspired physical gags (the swarm and the lions den, for example) and sluggish plotting.

Admittedly Dorothy Dwan isn't very likable as protagonist Dorothy, but there's enough colourful supporting characters, such as Larry Semon (also director, producer and co-writer), Oliver N. Hardy and Spencer Bell (credited as G.

Howe Black), as well as Frank Alexander as Uncle Henry, to keep things crackling over the film's overlong gestation, right until the unsatisfactory ending.