Rating: 
Summary: ...for the record...
Review: ...silent films were never silent, there was always live music, be it a lone piano, a small ensemble, a theater organ, or a full orchestra at the biggest theaters, so the question of accompaniment is not merely academic. That said, no score could possibly help this tedious mess of a film. I saw it once for free at a local library and was able to laugh at, not with, the film, but now I can only find it painful. Only for silent film completists - if it did go out of print it would be no real loss, and that's from a diehard silent film enthusiast.
Rating: 
Summary: wizard of oz- american home entertainment version
Review: a very interesting story line,the only thing is the bizarre music score.it's a too modern psycadelic jungle music totally inapropiate for this movie alternating with a little original type music. they also had poor narration to go with it. movie content was different but good.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: Folks, don't let the title fool you. This story is only loosely connected to the L. Frank Baum books or the 1939 film that is the definite version. Basically, this is a cornball slapstick-happy tale about 1920s comic Larry Semon fighting for Dorothy's hand in marriage. Filled with bad puns and corny gags (an African-American character is billed as "G. Howe Black"-a real knee slapper ain't it)? The only reason anyone would have to watch this (Baum himself died by this time and had nothing to do with the story) is because of the early appearance of Oliver Hardy as the tin man (and this is not one of his better roles). Nah, see it just for curiousity and read the Baum books or the Judy Garland film for the real deal. Early in the film, a little girl who is having this tale read to her (she must have been really naughty to deserve such punishment) says, "Oh Grampy, I don't like that!" Trust me, you'll say the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: For anyone who loves silent movies, this version of "The Wizard of Oz" is not worth your time. For anyone who hates silent movies, this film is excellent support for your position. This movie was made after Frank Baum had died, which is the only reason I can think such incredible license was taken with the original book. A disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: For anyone who loves silent movies, this version of "The Wizard of Oz" is not worth your time. For anyone who hates silent movies, this film is excellent support for your position. This movie was made after Frank Baum had died, which is the only reason I can think such incredible license was taken with the original book. A disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Talent is not inherited
Review: Frank Joslyn Baum felt that he, as L. Frank Baum's eldest son, was the best person to carry on the Oz series, and was struck aghast when his father's publisher employed Ruth Plumly Thompson after his father died, and with his mother's approval. Later on, they even halted the publication of his Oz Big Little Books (the first of the intended two has become one of the most sought after BLBs of all time due to its low print run--and its publication is still barred to the present day). Despite a 1918 letter from LFB praising how much better written FJB's letter to him was than anything he had written, FJB, like most of his other descendents clearly did not have the talent of his father (though Roger S.--directly descended from FJB, is the worst).
The younger Baum, however, was able to negotiate business deals that brought about this film, the 1933 animated short (which he wrote), and the 1939 MGM musical.For some reason, the younger Baum, who even had the audacity to bill himself as "L. Frank Baum, Jr." (even though L. Frank Baum would never have named his son "Lyman") decided that the material made a suitable vehicle for Larry Semon, a second-string star battling alcoholism (and who would die of stomach cancer a few years later), and proceeded to change it heavily. Taking a partial cue from his father's 1914 film, _His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz_, which was based on _Wizard_, but so heavily different that Baum expanded it into the novel _The Scarecrow of Oz_ the next year, FJB , with Semon and Leon Lee, wrote this all-a-dream story about the politics of the Emerald City, which was also a major subject of the 1902 musical, though much more successfully. (_The Scarecrow of Oz_ mentions the death of Kind Kynd of Jinxland, so the name Prince Kynd was probably not created independently.) MGM bought the rights to both this film and the musical, resulting in the use of the poppy field snowstorm (from the play), and the all-a-dream and farmhands-to-companions elements of the MGM film. A large portion of the film was set in Kansas, with slapstick humor young and teenage audiences might find funny (I thought so when I was 14), but which quickly grows old and tedious, even if it does mix many animated effects into live action. Once the characters, including three farmhands played by Larry Semon, Oliver Hardy, and Spencer Bell, with Uncle Henry and Dorothy (Dwan--Semon's wife), get to Oz--we are treated to elbaorate production design and a lot of fleeing from lions. Bell is billed as G. Howe Black and is the only farmhand named, and it's "Snowball" at that. The film is not racist enough to stand out during its time period, but at least we have the consolation that in some scenes, Bell's character appears to be brighter than Semon's (though one can't say the same for the unfortunate shots of some unbilled black children in the Emerald City). He is a coward who spends much of the film in a lion suit, while Hardy creates an ominous image, even with Semon's silly costume design, as a Tin Woodsman [sic] who comes out of a tin pile brandishing axe, becomes the heartless Knight of the Garter, thus they do not in any way contravene what they believe about themselves, as LFB intended. Also on board with Dorothy is obese Uncle Henry (Frank Alexander), an even nastier man than Hardy, who is not really Dorothy's uncle, who is proclaimed "Prince of Whales" upon arriving in the Emerald City. Josef Swickard's performance as Prime Minister Kruel anticipates that of Sam Jaffe in Josef Von Sternberg's _The Scarlet Empress_, though Jaffe improved on the characterization. The film has amazing production design as one of its few strong points, but this silly melodrama is hampered by such things (stirking as they are) as female impersonator Frederick Ko Vert (who designed all of the costumes except for the Scarewcrow and Tin Woodman) emerging from a basket as a demonstration of the Wizard's powers, and a tacked-on concluding scene Semon trying to fly a plane with Bell on a hanging ladder crashing into a water tower (whcih leads to the all-a-dream revelation). This unforgettable image is good at least in that contemporary technology is allowed to appear in Oz as it did in the books, something MGM made people forget. This is a fascinating film I have watched a number of times, but it doesn't make me like it any better with subserquent viewings. I have not seen the DVD in question. My tape of this film has one of Rosa Rio's better organ scores for Video Yesteryear (most of them are boring, but this isn't), though VY's primitive speed correction weakens the image. It's also worth noting this film bankrupted the studio (Chadwick) and was barely released. After its premiere, it was not able to supply prints to theatres that had already booked it (one older Oz fan noted his disappointment as a youth when learning hs local theatre was not able to obtain a print--before he knew just how bad the film was). Were it not for its cast or connection to a literary classic, the film would likely be unavailable today. The film is actually pretty typical of its time, and gives us a glimpse of what big summer movies that didn't become classics looked like in the 1920s. Like many lesser-known films of its day, it was cross-genre--an odd mix of melodrama, comedy, and adventure. While it proved a step on the long and prolific career of Oliver Hardy, neither Semon nor Bell, who frequently appeared together, would live for long after the film (Semon 3 years, Bell 10), and Frank Joslyn Baum's biography of his father is largely a concoction due to further estrangment from his family. Therefore, its historical interest, production design notwithstanding, not its art, is what sustains it.
Rating:
Summary: Second Thoughts.
Review: I first wrote a review of this silent version of THE WIZARD OF OZ in April 2002 (which has since been deleted) where I gave it 1 star and said "Buyer Beware!". Having recently revisited the film and having found out more about writer/director/star Larry Semon (who gave Stan Laurel his first significant screen appearance), I now see the movie in a different light. The problems that I mentioned in my first review haven't changed but there is a lot more to the film if you look at it more closely. The biggest problem remains the presentation. The source material is a somewhat battered 16mm print which was also used by the public domain purveyor Video Yesteryear for their VHS version. In addition to having some occasional contrast problems, the print suffers from the speed being overcorrected (it's too slow in places). The music score, while original, seems thrown together and doesn't match the action on the screen. However the biggest faux pas is the use of voice-over narration to read the title cards. No doubt this was done for the benefit of young children but it just doesn't work as it winds up being far more of a distraction. As I mentioned in my earlier review it is this kind of presentation that puts most people off silent films. So after all that what's good about the film? Actually a number of things. The make-up and costumes are very imaginative. The physical gags are very impressive (some of the set pieces are eye-popping) and the performances of Larry Semon, Oliver Hardy and Frank Alexander are quite good within the framework of a silent comedy which is basically what this version of THE WIZARD OF OZ is. While there is definitely some racial stereotyping typical of the era (African-American performer Spencer Bell is billed as "G. Howe Black"), it is Bell who ultimately saves the day as the Cowardly Lion. Bottom Line: I give this DVD 3 stars for the silent film enthusiast but others STILL beware. I hope that one day this film can be properly restored and presented with a music score that fits. Then it will be something for all to see.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS MOVIE!
Review: I HAD THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS YOUNGER. FIRST OF ALL IT DOESN'T EVEN DESERVE ONE STAR, THERE IS NO YELLOW BRICK ROAD AND NO INDICATION OF THE HOUSE ON THE SLIPPERS, ETC. SHE LANDS ON THE SCARECROW AND THEY PROCEED TO FIND THE TINMAN ON A BRIDGE ALL OILED UP (!) THEN THERE IS NO LION, ALL THREE (!) OF THEM WATCH A BIAZZRE PARADE AND WIND UP IN IT. THEN AFTER ALL THAT GARB, THEY SEE THE WIZARD IN HIS USUAL FORM, NOT IN ANY SPECTACTULAR DESGUISE!! HE PERFORMS SOME STUPID TRICKS AND AFTERWORDS, DOROTHY DOESN'T EVEN GO HOME.IN THE END THERE IS NO PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED! THIS IS THE BIGGEST WASTE, BUT IF YOU WANT IT, GO TO A DOLLAR STORE!
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie to watch while tripping
Review: I saw this movie years ago on a television inside a fish tank. I thought it was pretty cool.
Rating:
Summary: I'm sofa king we todd did!
Review: I thought the movie was very excellant but the very first line by Frank Baum's was very difficult to understand!I give the movie 1 star=:(
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