Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

Michael_Elliott Wizard of Oz, The (1910) *** (out of 4) Nice if strange version of the classic tale. The production values here are actually pretty nice and it's a rather strange trip seeing humans in outfits playing the various animals including the lion.Magic Cloak of Oz, The (1914) *** (out of 4) The fairies of Oz create a magic cloak, which will give one wish to the person who wears it. Once again the production design is very good here with wonderful and magical sets. The story is quite touching and I'm sure kids would love this version just as much as adults. The highlight of the film is the scene where a horse (played by a human in an outfit) is scratching his butt up against a tree and tries to teach a monkey how to do it.Wizard of Oz, The (1933) *** (out of 4) Pretty good Technicolor cartoon based on the book. The animation is rather nice and the scarecrow and tin man are pretty funny here as well. This was the first version to show Kansas in B&W and then Oz in color.

sublimer13 This is the earliest surviving filmed version of L. Frank Baum's books, and when I heard that this 13 minute film from 1910 would be on at 7:45 on TCM, I got really excited... when it started, I was deeply surprised at how beautiful it looked 95 years later... whoever restored it did a fine job, might I add. The little girl who played Dorothy did a good job, even though she never spoke, and the addition of the cow from the 1902 stage musical was a riot! The tornado sequence was very good, and I'm sure it was ahead of its time. The sets were also fantastic, and the witch... well, you'll see for yourself. The Wizard of Oz is timeless, and this short film made me understand this much more than I had before. Now, even though I already LOVED silent films, I appreciate them more and more!

RDenial 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.