The Wizard of Oz

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Teddy B @RT90521672 Oct 22, 2026 Bizarre and pretty unfaithful to the books, this 'Wizard of Oz' feels like a nightmare amalgamation of every Oz product before the 1939 film streamlined the aesthetic of Oz. It combines the unsettling visuals and dull-as-dishwater plot of the 1902 musical with some irrelevant bits and pieces of later Oz works spilling over from Baum to the other 'Oz Historians'. Feels like Harry Lloyd in the American midwest and a boring fantasyland rather than L. Frank Baum. See more B P @Bradster69 Sep 25, 2026 Not Bad, but Not My Favorite See more Aiden B @aidenb002 Jul 24, 2025 I think a lot of people in the review comments are confusing this film with the classic 1939 version with Judy Garland, I just wanted to point that out. This movie is nowhere near as good as the MGM musical but I cant help but feel like its art direction and production design were well done, especially for a film of its time. It looks and feels alot different from any other version of Oz that we’ve seen but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I thought this version of L Frank Baums story was kind of genius, with them combining the two characters of Dorothy and Princess Ozma to create a broader retelling of the original books. The only major problem that I had with this movie is that it’s a silent film. Theres no dialogue, only background music and title cards that you have to read, which can get pretty boring. The pacing is super slow and I honestly had to skip over small parts to get through it. See more Aug 12, 2020 Take or leave the 1920s pratfalls. But the movie is uncharming, and takes literally half the film to get Dorothy to Oz, an interminable character development that detracts from it. See more Jan 31, 2020 To be regarded as a classic means this movie fails to live up to it's name. I feel It could have been so much better with a bit better planning. See more Dec 8, 2018 In a word, dreadful. Way too much slapstick that isnâ(TM)t funny, and way too much air time for Larry Semon, who plays the Scarecrow and also produced, directed, and wrote this mess. (Donâ(TM)t put much in to the credit to L. Frank Baum Jr., thatâ(TM)s the original authorâ(TM)s son who was probably more involved in the business aspects, and regardless, his father must have been rolling over in his grave.) Semon put his real-life fiancà (C) Dorothy Dwan in the role of an 18-year-old Dorothy, courted by two farmhands (himself and Oliver Hardy), but thereâ(TM)s nothing at all interesting in her surprisingly limited role. Aside from the long list of cool aspects of the 1939 film that are nowhere to be seen in any form here, this is a story that has no charm and often doesnâ(TM)t make a lot of sense. On top of it all, the cowardly lion is played by Spencer Bell, an African-American given the credit G. Howe Black (sound that out for an ugh), the farmhand name Snowball, and various stereotypes, e.g. simple and easily frightened. There is one nice stunt, a jump from the top of a farm silo shot in slower motion than normal, but that was about it for me. Very disappointing. See more Read all reviews

The Wizard of Oz

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