Wizard of Oz (1910) Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: Wizard of Oz
Year: 1910
Director: Otis Turner (Unconfirmed)
Country: US

When it comes to Oz, most people remember Victor Fleming's 1939 escapist classic. This is no surprise, as it changed the cinematic landscape by blurring the line between children's entertainment and the serious adult film. We remember the cowardly lion, brainless scarecrow and beat-less tinman played by Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger and Jack Haley respectively. Few are aware however, of the silent version made 29 years earlier. Perhaps because it's incredibly weird.

An adaptation of  L. Frank Baum's seminal novel, this short silent picture follows essentially the same story as MGM's groundbreaking Wizard of Oz, which was made decades later. A young woman from Kansas gets sucked into a tornado, then she is spit out into a world "over the rainbow".

I did not lie, the 1910 version does follow the same story as the more superior version most are familiar with, however it's at least 90 minutes shorter. This makes Wizard of Oz seem more like an extended trailer than a "movie" in the modern sense of the word. It's not enough time to care about the many characters nor get emotionally invested in them, at least for a story that is supposed to consists of a long journey. A simple Chaplin comedy would fit this time and be successful in producing a few laughs, but a sprawling drama is far too condensed.

Despite lacking in length, Wizard of Oz is abundant in creepiness. Its visuals are best described as a meth addict's fever dream. It really does feel like you've been transported into another world entirely, although the lack of colour and poor image quality make the atmosphere terrifying rather than breathtaking and majestic. The costumes are appropriately terrible for the 1910's though. It would certainly be a while before Hollywood would be able to make a great adaptation of Baum's masterwork.

Unfortunately the credits to this picture have long been lost, so it's difficult to attribute this terrible picture to. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was later followed by the sequels Dorothy and the Scarecrow in Oz, The Land of Oz, and John Dough and the Cherub, but all are considered to not exist, which is not shocking considering about 90% of American films made before 1929 and 75% of all silent films cannot be recovered. 1.5/5