Review of The Wizard of Oz (1925) by Tere H — 30 Oct 2009
A fucking tragedy. Dumb slapstick, awful jokes, racism, and a rather tarty Dorothy. But that's just the beginning. This movie has absolutely fuck-all to do with "The Wizard of Oz" Hell, there's hardly any Dorothy in it.
Director Larry Semon (great name, huh?) piles all the attention on himself as he tries to position himself as another Buster Keaton. He plays one of the farmhands, and dominates the entire picture. The farmhands and Uncle Henry get whisked off in the cyclone with Dorothy (about halfway through the movie, after an interminable setup that bears no resemblance to the source material).
Once in Oz, the good farmhand (Semon, of course) dresses up as the Scarecrow, the evil farmhand as the Tin Man, and the black farmhand as the Cowardly Lion. Yes, Semon takes these fantasy characters and transforms them into a game of humans playing dress-up, effectively SUCKING ALL THE MAGIC out of the story.
Basically the story is all about Semon rescuing Dorothy from an evil dictator (no witches at all here). It's all just so very, very wrong. I will begrudgingly admit that some of the stunt work is impressive, but that's the only thing this version has going for it.
Tedious and offensive and stupid.
This review of The Wizard of Oz (1925) was written by Tere H on 30 Oct 2009.
The Wizard of Oz has generally received positive reviews.
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