Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

romanorum1 The oldest surviving movie version of L. Frank Baum's famous story is 13 minutes long, and was filmed only ten years after the original story was published. Although the film looks almost like a college stage play, it is meant to follow the basic story-line of the stage musical. Movie technology was still primitive; there are no multiple cameras and close-ups. Humans wear animal costumes and use crutches (for the forelegs), and bounce and dance about the stage without any reason. In all, there are about twelve scenes.In the beginning we see a barnyard stage scene with nine-year old Dorothy Gale (Bebe Daniels), Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, two farmhands, and a kick-happy mule. No one is identified, but audiences would have known the characters. Dorothy discovers a live scarecrow, and quickly, in the second minute, a cyclone blows away Dorothy, Toto, the scarecrow, the mule, and a cow into the Land of Oz. Here a title card tells us that Momba the witch has assumed most of the Wizard of Oz's power. The Wizard wants to retire to Omaha (in Nebraska, not Kansas!) anyway, and thus offers his crown to anyone who can defeat the witch. In the fourth minute Glinda the Good Witch alters Toto's size and shape so that he becomes a powerful force of good. Out of nowhere a lion joins Dorothy's group. In the fifth minute the stiff Tin Woodsman is encountered and oiled; he is now so loose that he can play a flute. In the seventh minute Dorothy's entire band, including different animals, is surprised by Momba and her soldiers, and taken captive. In the eighth minute Dorothy, learning of the witch's weakness, throws a pail of water into Momba's face, dissolving her. Momba's surprised and leaderless soldiers are then routed by the Tin Woodsman, who wields a heavy ax. In the ninth minute Dorothy's forces reach the Emerald City. One minute later the Wizard crowns the scarecrow as the King of Oz. A minute after that, happy girls dance on stage as the work day at Oz has been considerably shortened. In the twelfth minute, the Wizard flies away in a hot-air balloon. In the thirteenth and final minute, we see a parade of people, live animals, and fake animals on stage. Since it is 1910, production values are archaic, but the movie is all in fun. See it more than once and admire our modern technology by comparison. By the way, Bebe Daniels grew up an attractive woman; she became the first female lead for the famous comic, Harold Lloyd, in his earlier silent movies.

Cineanalyst I suppose the best thing that could be said about this primitive kiddy one-reeler from 1910 is that it's cute or somewhat interesting. As noted elsewhere, this adaptation is based more so on Baum and Julian Mitchell's 1902 play rather than on the original book by Baum. Everyone's familiar with the 1939 Judy Garland musical (if you're not, why are you here?), so this 1910 film can be interesting as comparison. Baum himself supervised three adaptations of his stories in 1914, beginning with "The Patchwork Girl of Oz"; all three have been available on video, as has a 1925 "The Wizard of Oz".This 1910 Oz is very theatrical, and most of its tricks are theatrical, too: moving backdrops and strings for flying. A couple stop-substitutions are about the only thing cinematic here. A static camera, tableau style and staginess are to be expected in a film this early that was adapted from the stage. This film, however, features annoying spastic performances—even more so than in the 1914 trilogy. The filmmakers didn't have to do any cramming for a 13-minute adaptation, nor use lengthy title cards to explain the basic plot; in fact, much of the picture is spent by characters jumping around as though they're hopped up on sugar, including some dance interludes probably held over from the stage version. Furthermore, this edition was followed by two subsequent Dorothy Oz installments, which are now lost. I wouldn't recommend this kiddy flick, but, apparently, some like it.Among the cast is a young Bebe Daniels as Dorothy. Daniels later worked in a few silent films by Cecil B. DeMille and is now mostly famous for her role in "42nd Street" (1933). Reportedly, Alvin Wycoff, who would be DeMille's longtime cinematographer during his early career, which included the innovatively photographed "The Cheat" (1915), also has an on screen role in this production somewhere.

paulwl Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Toto bring a donkey and cow (played by Men In Suits) along with them in the cyclone (which is simulated by having them hug a big hay bale that turns around and around). ALL THE INTERTITLES ARE IN GIANT BLOCK CAPITALS.Toto is a real dog who turns into Man In A Suit #3 to fight the lion (Man In A Suit #4), who is not cowardly at all. There is a line of chorus girls and another of palace guards. At the end, the guards ride in on REAL HORSES, which makes the Men In Suits (by now including #5, bug, and #6, frog, from the Wicked Witch's lair, and #7, kitty cat, who otherwise has no apparent role in the action) look really, really lame. The cast of thousands and elaborate sets make you wonder why no one had yet thought of MULTIPLE CAMERAS, and EDITING. But that was a concept they obviously couldn't wrap their minds around, back in 1910. Who knows - maybe a second camera would have cost more than all the actors, dancers, horses, and animal costumes put together.

chucwill 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.