Review of The Wizard of Oz (1925) by Megan O — 03 Dec 2008

For those keeping score at home, THIS IS NOT THE 1939 JUDY GARLAND FILM THAT WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE!!! This version is silent, and was made in 1925. Onto the film itself, and well, there's not a whole lot good to say.

It has, literally, nothing in common with the book, and they really just made up an entirely different story with a scarecrow, a tin man (for all of 30 seconds) and a INCREDIBLY racist cowardly lion. Seriously, the black actor cast as the lion is billed as "G.

Howe Black". In the first scene, we find him sitting it a field, eating a watermelon with his bare hands. Later, lightning bounces off of his stereotypically hard head. It's like a 14 out of 10 on the Oh-my-God-I-still-can't-believe-we-elected-a-black-president-o-meter.

Beyond that, the movie is really pretty boring, with a lot of mostly-lame set pieces. There are a few cool moments and effects, and it's neat to see Oliver Hardy before he joined up with Stan Laurel, but overall, this movie is 100% skippable.

(Side note: It's pretty hilarious that this movie has the same Flixster rating as the more famous Wizard of Oz, simply because about 90% of the reviews don't know this isn't that movie.).