Better Late Then Never

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

They just showed this on TCM.I love silents, the more obscure the better, but this really tested my limits. It is a caricature of a silent picture. Pointless slapstick gags. Cardboard villains. A hair brained and kind of creepy heroine (she is 18 but dresses like an 8 year old). Hammy acting. Racist stereotypes, including enthusiastic watermelon eating. Also lots of negative typecasting of fat people.The score by Robert Israel was the only redeeming feature, who has composed excellent scores for many silent pictures. I would say this movie is strictly for film scholars.

Despite some good cast members -- very much excluding Larry Semon -- the script was so silly, so completely NOT related to the original story -- in fact, even further from the original than the famous 1939 filmed version -- that this movie serves only as historical oddity.To be honest, I always despised movies of Larry Semon, primarily because of Larry Semon. When the great John and Dorothy Hampton were running The Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, a Larry Semon picture was the occasional fare, so I speak from actual knowledge and experience, and unfailingly it was dismal.Tarmcgator noted correctly the stunt work was outstanding in this otherwise very bad movie.And I repeat that, otherwise, it is worth watching solely as an intriguing stage along the evolution of the motion picture.

If you have only seen the public domain version of this film, chances are you despise it. I know I did. The public domain version is slowed down to play at a normal speed. It has an annoying score and a bored woman reading the title cards to you. It is absolutely torture to watch.Enter: Warner Bros' Three-Disc DVD of The Wizard of Oz (1939). This film appears on the third disc, digitally restored, with colored tints, and a brand new score. It's played at the correct silent film speed and is absolutely hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this version of the film. This film is much different from the story we all know. In this film, Dorothy is the rightful heir to the kingdom of Oz. However, King Krewl is out to make sure she doesn't find out. Larry Semon and Oliver Hardy are hilarious in their roles as farmhands who end up disguising themselves as a scarecrow and a tin woodsman.

The 1925 silent "Wizard of Oz' Is, in many ways, a vanity project for Larry Semon, his brand of mugging to the camera comedy is a bit hard to take now, that said this is still pretty interesting and good for a silent.Rather different from the book and later MGM Movie, this version, the print I saw is the restored 100 minute print with added narration by Jaqueline Lovell, bookends the story with a grandfather reading Baum's book to his granddaughter. The early parts of Dorothy, played by the lovely Dorothy Dwan, are funny and strange. There is an odd air of sensuality throughout the film, odd since its intended for Children, I presume? SEmon does a very touching and funny bit with a lollipop, he wants to give it to Dorothy, but can't summon up his courage, Finally it end up eaten by a duck! Oliver Hardy plays another farmhand and he's very good, you can see why he became a star, his facial expressions and manners are just much better on screen than the other players, who are either too stiff or too hammy. The twister is here along with surprisingly good lightning effects. The land of OZ is basically a big soundstage, but it moves pretty well for a silent.Some things are bad though, the character of Snowball is listed as being played by G. Howe Black, a seemingly racist play on words. If its any consolation the actor is good and the character ends up the Lion and something of a hero, he rescues the scarecrow, Semon, in a bi-plane, near the end of the pic. For a silent this isn't bad, thought its terribly dated as one might expect. Worth a look for Oz devotees.