The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Okay, it's important to point out that you can't compare this movie at all to the 1939 classic--and for so many reasons. Film was just in its infancy in 1910 and full-length movies meant about 10-20 minutes. Sets and costumes were simple and often looked like they were taken right off the stage of a high school play. And, writing and acting as we know of them today, just wasn't invented yet. So I cut the early films a lot of slack and praise movies that actually had decent production values and provided some entertainment into the 21st century--most early films fail on both these counts.

The movie isn't really based on the books but on a stage musical and this at times is pretty obvious--especially when the characters start dancing for no apparent reason at all! But, aside from this odd way of telling the story, it's an adorable and interesting film--particularly as it has people in animal costumes throughout (not just the lion). It just seems very cute and makes watching this historical picture a lot easier! By the way, despite the good production values, this film is not as good as some of the full-length films by the Frenchman, Georges Méliès. His 1902 LE VOYAGE DAN LE LUNE has even better sets and tells a more coherent and watchable story--hence that is why it is rated as a 10 by me and this one only an 8.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is the earliest existing film of the over 60 movies adapted from the 1900 L. Frank Baum book. And that tally doesn't include subsequent television and live stage presentations. The released Oz movie on March 1910 was produced by the Selig Polyscope Company out of Chicago and adopted many of the elements from the 1902 Wizard of Oz play.

Selig was able to make the movie using the Baum book because the company was involved in the author's "The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays," a combined play/vaudeville act/movie production in 1908. (The short Selig movie played during this production has been lost). After a disastrous two months, the act bankrupted Baum, giving Selig the rights to use his Oz characters and story. Besides the "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" movie, Selig immediately made three Oz sequels within 1910--all three now lost.

In this first 1910 Selig movie, Imogene the Cow, not portrayed in the Braun book, takes the place of Toto. Imogene is a person in a cow costume while Toto the dog could not be asked to be on the 1902 stage for a couple of hours and behave. Toto does make a brief appearance in this movie, but the cow dominates as a companion to Dorothy. Also, the scarecrow is discovered by Dorothy before the tornado and accompanies her to the Land of Oz. Another added element to the movie over the play was the extended role of the Wicked Witch of the West. Just like the Judy Garland 1939 classic, Dorothy has to confront the witch to get her wish from the Wizard. But instead of water shrinking the witch, water thrown at her simply makes the witch disappear.

And it appears the cast is dancing to some music. The 1902 play did havemusic to which accompanied the actors' dance numbers--but since film hadn't advanced enough to play sound, there is no songs heard on the movie that choreograph the cast.

Though primitive by today's film-making standards (the animals are portrayed by humans crawling around on all fours in animal costumes, the storm-filled sky is little more than a revolving painted sheet), this early version of the L. Frank Baum classic is an interesting bit of film and Oz history. Though only ten minutes in length, it manages to capture the main points of the story in encapsulated form. Certain well-choreographed (albeit naive) dance numbers indicate that it may have been conceived as a musical long before the 1939 version, and 9-year-old Bebe Daniels (later the hard-boiled Broadway star in "42nd Street") is a competent actress.

The costumes and plot are from a stage performance of this classic. It is disjointed and sparse in its portrayal of the story of Dorothy Gale. All the regulars are there, even though we don't get to know them very well. I've not read the book, so are the brain, courage, and heart a part of the story. Also, what about the duplicity of the Wizard. All that aside, it is a memorable thirteen minutes. There are even song and dance numbers (though there is no sound). It was interesting to see Toto transformed into a huge dog so he could protect Dorothy. The scarecrow is the star of this adaptation. He has all the loose and frantic movies of his successors. The plot is a bit dense. It could have used a bit more of an acceptable story line.

This film is included in the "More Treasures of the American Film Archive" DVD. The running time is listed at 13 minutes. It kind of looks like a junior high school production of "the Wizard of Oz" with people dressed up in costumes to portray Toto, the Cowardly Lion, Imogene the Cow and what appears to be a donkey. The latter two accompany Dorthy to the Emerald City with the all the rest. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman are not too bad, and not that far removed from the 1939 Classic. The Wizard himself looks like the 19th century Medicine Show man that the Wizard was supposed to be. It is interesting that they basically told the whole story in such a short time frame. This film is actually interesting to watch in a historical sense. For that reason I gave it a 9.