The Peculiar Truth about the Earlier Wizard of Oz Films

• Nearly everyone knows the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. Most people know it was one of the first color films. Most people don’t realize, however, that it was a remake. Several silent films adapted from L. Frank Baum’s books were released years prior to the famous popular movie.

• The first book was published May 17, 1900 and was titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was an instant success.

• A staged musical based on the first novel appeared on Broadway in 1902. That prompted Baum to write over one dozen sequels: The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, and more - a total of fourteen books including the original.

• Motion pictures started with the Lumiere Brothers in the 1890s and rose in popularity after the turn of the century. Theaters showed silent movies throughout the 1910s and into the Roaring Twenties. Then “talkies” arrived in 1927; the first motion picture with sound was The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. Prior to that, though, silent films were immensely popular.

• 1910: The first film adaptation of Baum’s Oz novel was released. It was called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It ran just fifteen minutes long. The silent movie was based on the 1902 stage play of the same name, and differed from the 1939 film in several ways: Dorothy’s first encounter with Scarecrow takes place in Kansas; they travel to Oz with Toto the dog but also with a donkey and a cow; the Wicked Witch has lizards instead of flying monkeys.

• L. Frank Baum was not involved in the 1910 production, but he got to work on his own moviemaking business, The Oz Film Manufacturing Company. Four years later, his team produced three sequels: The Magic Cloak of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, and His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz. All three silent films were released on the same day - September 28, 1914.

• Baum died in 1919 at age 62 after suffering a stroke. The last Oz book he had written, Glinda of Oz, was released posthumously a year later.

• April 1925: Another silent film based on Baum’s book was released. It was titled The Wizard of Oz. The new movie ran feature length at 90 minutes.

• A well-known silent film comedian of the era, Larry Semon, was the driving force behind the picture. He wrote the screenplay along with Baum’s son, Frank J. Baum. Semon also produced and directed the film. On top of that, he cast himself as Scarecrow.

• Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy fame played the Tin Man.

• From the very beginning, the 1925 version varied drastically from the 1939 movie. The silent film had no witches at all. Instead, its villain was a tyrannical ruler named Kruel.

• The story begins with a girl asking her grandfather (also played by Larry Semon) to read her a book. As he reads, the following text appears onscreen: “Once upon a time the Townsfolk of Oz awoke to find their baby Princess gone. And years bring added resentment and suspicion as we find them gathered in the palace.” The next scene shows people in a royal palace with an evil-looking man at his throne. The text then reads: “The Kingdom had a treacherous, self-appointed ruler in the Prime Minister Kruel.”

• Switch to Dorothy and her Aunt Em on the Kansas farm. Then comes ten minutes of slapstick antics with Oliver Hardy and Semon as farmhands. After that, the story switches back to Prime Minister Kruel in Oz. The twister that transports Dorothy to Oz doesn’t come until 35 minutes later. That’s followed by more slapstick hi-jinx with Hardy as Tin Man, Semon as Scarecrow, and a stereotypical nervous black man named Snowball who’s afraid of lions. In the end, Dorothy is revealed to be the baby Princess who Kruel left on a Kansas doorstep years ago. Dorothy then claims the Oz throne as she is the rightful ruler.

• Nothing like the story we know today.

• 1933: A joint American-Canadian animated short film was released also titled The Wizard of Oz. It ran only nine minutes long.

• Baum’s son, Frank J. Baum was credited as producer and screenwriter on the 1939 classic after selling the movie rights to Samuel Goldwyn at MGM Studios. He also wrote a biography of his father that stirred controversy when other family members said he’d taken liberties with the facts.

• The 1910 silent version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz can be viewed here on YouTube. Watch the 1925 version here.