They’re off to see an earlier, not so wonderful ‘Wizard’

“THE Wizard of Oz,” the 1939 adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” is a much-loved film classic. But the same can’t be said of the 1925 silent version, screening Thursday at the Silent Movie Theatre.

“There is little to love in this movie, especially considering the richness of the source material,” says film historian-critic Leonard Maltin. “Those books were, as they remain, beloved by people. And back in the 1920s, they were even more in the public consciousness. So anyone who messed with them was headed for trouble.”

The 1925 version’s director, Larry Semon, hired Baum’s son as one of the film’s writers, but to audiences’ chagrin, his “Wizard” plays fast and loose with the source material. As he tells it, Dorothy (Dorothy Dwan, whom Semon married) learns near her 18th birthday that she was actually left on the Kansas farm doorstep of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry as a newborn, along with a sealed letter that was not to be opened until her 18th birthday.

But before she can learn the secret of the letter, a twister hits the farm and sweeps up Dorothy and the three ranch hands (Semon, Oliver Hardy and Spencer Bell) and whisks them to the kingdom of Oz. Dorothy is soon declared queen. But all is not so wonderful in Oz because evil despot Minister Kruel has overthrown beloved Prince Kynd.

“It seems as if Semon wanted to use the Baum books as an excuse to make a feature-length film rather than a heartfelt adaptation,” says Maltin. “It is the kind of bombastic, crass slapstick he favored.”

Picture Play magazine stated that it had a “custard pie atmosphere.”

And poor Bell, the African American actor who plays the ranch hand called Snowball. Semon depicts him with the worst racial stereotypes -- that’s Snowball (billed as G. Howe Black!) eating watermelon.

At least the film, which was included on the most recent DVD set of the 1939 version, does give silent film and Baum fans a chance to see Hardy, who plays the Tin Woodsman, before he teamed with Stan Laurel.

There’s also an interesting turn by director Semon -- who played the Scarecrow. Semon at the time was one of the top movie comedians. In fact, says Maltin, “in terms of sheer popularity,” he was in the same league as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. “He was at the top of his game.”

But unlike those comedic masters, says Maltin, there was no warmth to Semon’s on-screen character. And a lot of that had to do with his appearance. “He was not a very attractive man,” says Maltin. “He tended to wear white face makeup.”

Semon’s comedic style was far from subtle. “He was kind of a human prop,” says Maltin. “His films are notable for the sheer size of the gags. He made a famous short called ‘The Sawmill,’ for which they built a sawmill so he could execute these ambitious, sometimes dazzling sight gags with buzz saws and falling timber and people being propelled through the air into carts on tracks.”

He worked briefly at Vitagraph with Laurel in the 1920s. Their films didn’t catch on, says Maltin, but the two men clicked.

“Hardy was his favorite heavy,” says Maltin, who adds that Hardy, in turn, said of Semon that “no one ever worked harder devising and executing a gag with the possible exception of his partner, Stan Laurel.”

Semon had a healthy ego and failed to heed Vitagraph’s warnings about his overstuffed budgets on his two-reelers. But he eventually left, signing on with the small Chadwick Pictures to make “Wizard of Oz.” And he paid a king’s ransom to get the rights to the book.

“Wizard,” though, was the death knell to his career. He attempted a comeback in a dramatic role in the 1927 Josef von Sternberg gangster film “Underworld,” but despite good notices, Hollywood wasn’t knocking.

His lavish lifestyle got the better of him. Semon filed for bankruptcy in March 1928 and went on a vaudeville tour to pay off his creditors. But the tour came to an end that August when he suffered a nervous breakdown.

Semon died of pneumonia Oct. 8, 1928, at age 39.

For years, there were rumors that Semon faked his death because of his financial problems.

“Even silent film,” muses Maltin, “is not free from conspiracy theories.”

susan.king@latimes.com

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‘The Wizard of Oz’

Where: The Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Price: $10

Contact: (323) 655-2520