...So the duck steals the farmhand's lollipop and then goes through a fence. When the farmhand goes to get his lollipop back, the duck sticks his head through a hole in the fence and spits milk at him. The farmhand then pines away for Dorothy while sniffing some flowers that apparently contain a bee which chases him
around the farm for awhile. No, this doesn't sound like the Wizard of Oz we know and love. It's actually more a series of gags set up to feature star and director, comedian Larry Semon, who apparently was almost as famous as Charlie Chaplin in his day. The film is also notable for having Oliver Hardy as the tin woodsman. Well, not really a tin woodsman, I'm not sure what he's supposed to be. Dorothy is actually the princess of Oz and she has been hidden away in Kansas with her "aunt" Em (who's not really her aunt at all). When some Oz-onians come for her one day in their bi-plane (yeah, Oz has it's own airforce), she and all her foster family are accidentally knocked over to Oz. All the handymen disguise themselves as their alter ego characters, and then there's some vague intrigue about how some of her Kansas family side with the evil Minister Kruel (and Lady Vishuss) and others side with the wonderful Prince Kynd. As I said before, the movie is little more than a self aggrandizing venture for this Larry Semon guy, who was at one time almost as big as Chaplin. Although I will say this, I might not have given the movie a fair chance, as I was so heavily distracted by Semon's gigantic beak. The man had an enormous nose.
March 20, 2011
