Fifty Before '50: THE WIZARD OF OZ (1910)

by JB

No, not the 1925 version of the tale directed by and starring funnyman Larry Semon, the EARLIER version from 1910! Gather your donkeys and cows and come along.

As readers of this column can attest, I love what can only be called “the archeology of the cinema,” digging past all known artifacts to find the real history of film... buried under the floorboards of some outhouse in the south of France. Today, we turn our attention to a film adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that was made only ten years after the book was first published, making this film 116 years old. (Funny, it doesn’t look a day over 95.) To put all of this “math” in perspective, In 1910, when the film was made, "116 years ago" was 1794.



THE PLOT IN FULL: We start at Uncle Henry and Aunt Em’s farm, though neither of them are identified. Seemingly wild donkeys and cows are allowed to roam around freely and kick people in the ass. Dorothy and her two domesticated furry friends meet the Scarecrow, who in this version starts his life in Kansas. (As in every other version of the story, the Scarecrow here is awkward and hapless.) A tornado kicks up, and Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the donkey, and the cow take refuge behind it. The animals are either cowering in fear or playing “Hump the Haystack,” which was a popular Kansas parlor game during this decade. The cyclone itself is presented as a moving backdrop; the life-size spinning haystack seen here is still an impressive special effect. Even 116 years ago, filmmakers innately knew that practical effects were superior.

Unique to this version, the farm animals actually accompany Dorothy to the Land of Oz. The Wicked Witch here is named “Momba” for some reason. Her throne room, with its painted backdrop and dozens of costumed extras, resembles similar scenes in the work of George Méliès. (The Witch’s attendants do a delightful little dance, which takes up almost 1/12 of the film’s 13-minute running time.) The Wizard of Oz appears in Momba’s chamber and expresses his desire to be out from under her thumb and to return to his home in Omaha. Momba is not happy with this news.

Glinda the Good Witch pops up, literally, to turn Toto, who the audience had not yet seen (Scene missing?) into an enormous feral cat to protect Dorothy in her travels. Dorothy and the Scarecrow also meet the Cowardly Lion in this scene. Between Toto the giant cat, the Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy’s two Kansas farm animals, the group begins to resemble a mobile petting zoo. (The Cowardly Lion “puts the moves” on Toto—that’s not in any other version!) Our heroes notice a proclamation from the Wizard of Oz tacked to a tree, stating that anyone who can do away with Momba can have his throne. This begs the question: where the hell is the Tin Man?

Our merry band meets the Tin Man next, oil him, and note that he has a huge nose resembling Pinocchio after a lying jag. The Tin Man plays a tune on his tin whistle; the Scarecrow and all of the animals dance. (There is an unusual amount of dancing in this, a silent film.) A flying lizard guards the house of Momba. Our heroes chance upon the house and are set-upon by the Witch and her minions, who are unidentified (but if you’ve read the books, you know them as the Winkies.) Dorothy ends up in the Witch’s house with a bucket of water... perhaps you can guess what happens next.

Dorothy and her pals travel to the Emerald City to claim the Wizard’s throne. It is decided that the Scarecrow shall serve as King. The Wizard is so happy to be free of all responsibility that he plays with his hat. He does some fair to middling magic tricks and takes off in a hot air balloon. He drops copious amounts of confetti on the cast from high in the sky. Camels parade through the Emerald City!

Dorothy never returns to Kansas.

FILM TRIVIA NOTE: Dorothy here is portrayed by a 9-year-old Bebe Daniels. During her 50-year Hollywood career, Daniels appeared in more than 250 films. She was Harold Lloyd’s leading lady in his popular “Lonesome Luke” shorts in the silent days. She was Ruth Wonderly in the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon. She also appeared in 42nd Street, Rio Rita, Treachery on the High Seas, and dozens of dozens of other films.

Besides giving us a tantalizing glimpse into the stagecraft of this era, I love how the film never wastes our time and is a reasonable representation of its source novel. This charming little film reminds me, for all the world, of the Castle Films 8mm digest versions of movie classics that I enjoyed as a youth.

AN ANNOYING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PAUSE: When I was but a lad, Castle Films used to sell 50-foot reels and 200-foot reels of Super 8mm film featuring “highlights” from famous films. I could only afford the dinky little 50-foot reels sold in the camera department at K-Mart, so I would buy these with my allowance or check them out of the library. These bite-sized morsels of Hollywood contained only “the good parts” of the film in question, usually the climax of and little else. I would watch the reels in my basement on my prized possession: a real, honest-to-goodness Super 8mm projector. I owned the 50-foot version of Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, which condenses the 93-minute film down to a tidy three minutes.

A few boutique disc labels have started to include these Castle Films digests on their Special Edition Blu-ray discs. They are nostalgic fun. The 1910 version of The Wizard of Oz reminds me of a Castle Films abridgment—but if it were, it would be 32 seconds of a spinning haystack and little else.

Why should you watch this 116-year-old movie-or-remainder-of-a-movie? Because YOU CAN. You've got 13 minutes. This column can serve as your commentary track. So few early film artifacts remain that it is a miracle this version The Wizard of Oz even exists. Follow the yellow (grey, actually) brick road... into early film history.