THE WIZARD OF OZ (silent b/w 1925 version)

 

Publicity poster for The Wizard of Oz (silent b/w 1925 version) (© Larry Semon/Chadwick Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

I've watched a fair few Wizard of Oz-inspired fantasy movies down through the decades, but the very early one that I viewed on 27 October 2023 (in modern-day colorized format), namely the 1925 b/w silent film entitled The Wizard of Oz, directed by and also starring Larry Semon, is undoubtedly the weirdest that I've seen so far, and for a number of different reasons.

First and foremost: although it includes several of the original L. Frank Baum novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz's main characters (but neither Glinda the Good Witch nor The Wicked Witch of the West, amazingly enough), the story in which they appear bears scant resemblance to the novel's, having been changed almost out of recognition – and not for the better, either!

To begin with, the entire story is bookended between a couple of scenes featuring a grandfather (Larry Semon) telling the entire story one evening to his young, sleepy granddaughter. Once into the story itself, however, the first half presents a number scenes featuring slapstick mishaps on the Kansas farm where Dorothy (played by Dorothy Dwan) lives with her unpleasant Uncle Henry (Frank Alexander) and pleasant Aunt Em (Mary Carr).

 

Dorothy (Dorothy Dwan) down on the farm with two of its farmhands (Oliver Hardy, left, and Larry Semon, right), before the latter two arrive with Dorothy in Oz and disguise themselves as the Tin Man and the Scarecrow respectively (public domain)

These are interspersed with scenes in Oz where its evil prime minister, aptly named Kruel (Josef Swickard), and his sycophantic aides Ambassador Wikked (Otto Lederer) and Lady Vishuss (Virginia Pearson) have seized power in the mysterious absence of its rightful princess ruler, but now plan to track her down to prevent her from ever returning. Meanwhile, an ineffectual Oz nobleman named Prince Kynd (Bryant Washburn) – Kruel, Wikked & Vishuss vs Kynd, geddit?? – prances around doing little and achieving less, but remaining ever so noble and dashing and upright throughout.

The second half sees Dorothy and her friends dramatically arrive via tornado in Oz, where they do their darnedest to put things right, while the prince continues to be steadfastly noble, dashing, upright, and totally useless. Unexpectedly, the plot climaxes with a potentially tragic cliffhanger featuring the Scarecrow (Larry Semon again) – only for the scene to abruptly switch back then to the grandfather telling the story to the child, confirming that it was all just fiction, thereby bringing the movie to a gentle, happy end (except that Dorothy marries Prince Kynd – shame, you could have done so much better, Dorothy!).

Secondly: even some of the main characters from the novel that do appear in this movie behave very differently from their literary counterparts. Thus we encounter a traitorous, villainous Tin Man (played by a young Oliver Hardy), and a violently aggressive Uncle Henry. Also, the farmhands are not physically transformed into the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion in Oz – instead, they simply adopt those disguises once they arrive in Oz.

 

Dorothy in Oz, with one of the farmhands (played by  Larry Semon, on the left) disguised as the Scarecrow, and the other (played by Oliver Hardy, on the right) disguised as the Tin Man (public domain)

In addition, even the Wizard of Oz himself (Charles Murray) is at Kruel's beck and call, rather than being in control himself, as he was in the novel (though the fact that his magic is more of the carnival illusion variety than any type of serious sorcery does accord with the novel, for once!).

Dorothy, meanwhile, is 18 years old in this movie, on the cusp of adulthood, not pre-adolescent as in the novel. Moreover, once she arrives in Oz she is revealed to be none other than its long-lost Princess Dorothea! It turns out that she'd been abducted as an infant by Oz's power-hungry prime minster Kruel, who'd secretly taken her to Kansas and abandoned her on the doorstep of Uncle Henry and Aunt Em's farmstead, so that he could rule Oz in her stead, which he has done ever since. See, I told you it was different!

Thirdly: I'd previously read descriptions of this movie as being an early Laurel & Hardy feature film, but it definitely is not, as Laurel isn't in it. Having now watched it, however, I can certainly understand the confusion – because director Larry Semon, who also plays both the grandfather and the farmhand that disguises himself to become the Scarecrow when in Oz, is the absolute spitting image of Stan Laurel! See for yourself in the pictures included here. Moreover, even his mannerisms are those that we associate with Laurel.

 

In this publicity poster there is no mistaking the physical similarity between Semon & Hardy and Laurel & Hardy (public domain)

So, because he and Hardy act together here in many scenes, it really does look for all the world like the famous Laurel & Hardy double-act that we all know so well. Yet in reality this is of course a total illusion, one that can actually be quite unsettling at times, especially knowing that when this movie was made, L&H had never even appeared together on screen, let alone made a full-length movie with one another.

However, Semon did work with both of them separately, which makes me wonder if Laurel developed some of what later became his own characteristic mannerisms from those of Semon while working with him.

Fourthly: over the years, this movie has been re-released with several different accompanying music scores, so I can only hope that the others are better than the version I suffered through, bearing in mind that it was not even remotely in keeping with what I was watching. Sometimes, for instance, when the scene on screen was slapstick or comic, the music playing was sombre, even funereal at times, whereas when the scene being shown was sad or dramatic, the music playing was often jaunty or frivolous.

 

Larry Semon receiving full recognition as the lead star of this movie in another publicity poster for it (public domain)

Sadly, and in spite of it receiving great praise from film critics, this movie proved a flop at the box office, so much so that it bankrupted Semon (engaged by then to Dorothy Dwan who had starred as Dorothy in it). Moreover, it was widely speculated that the great stress resulting from this financial disaster for him actively contributed to Semon's premature death just three years later, in 1928, at the age of only 39.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that this early movie version of The Wizard of Oz is worth a watch for its curiosity value – but if you want to view a far more faithful cinematic rendition of Baum's original novel, you need to journey Over the Rainbow to the classic 1939 MGM movie musical of the same title starring Judy Garland.

If you'd like to watch this vintage movie in its entirety and in its original b/w format but tinted), please click here to do so for free on Youtube; or click here to view it in its entirety and again for free on YouTube but in a modern-day colorized format, which I did.

 

Larry Semon, photographed by Albert Witzel in c.1922 (public domain)

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

L. Frank Baum, surrounded by his immortal novel's famous characters, as portrayed by highly-acclaimed Swedish artist Richard Svensson (© Richard Svensson)

 

MR SARDONICUS

Full cover of my official VHS videocassette of Mr Sardonicus (© William Castle/ Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Some years ago, when movies in VHS videocassette format were still commonly being sold in charity shops, I saw in one such shop a very strange horror movie that I'd never heard of before - Mr Sardonicus. The tantalising description on the reverse of its cover sounded very intriguing, but as this was long before I owned a smartphone there was no way that I could find out anything more about it straight away, so I didn't buy it. Back home, I did read about it and wished then that I had purchased it (I still own a functional videocassette player), but as the town where I'd seen it was a long way away I didn't go back.

I pretty much forgot about the movie afterwards, but during mid-September 2019 I saw by chance on ebay a VHS videocassette of it. So what did I do? I forgot to put a bid on it, and only remembered a couple of hours after the auction had expired! Happily, I later found a second one and used the Buy It Now option. It arrived on 3 October 2019, is in mint condition, so I duly planned to view it asap.

In fact, "duly planned to view it asap" ultimately transformed into "in due course", because an entire year subsequently passed by without my having watched this movie, but on 1 November 2020 I finally did – so here at long last is my take on Mr Sardonicus.

Directed by none other than famed American horror movie producer/director William Castle, filmed in glorious b/w, and released in 1961, this very bizarre film is based upon a short story by Ray Russell (who also wrote the movie screenplay). It is set in the early 1880s, and features eminent London physician Dr Robert Cargrave (played by Ronald Lewis), a pioneering researcher in muscular paralysis, who receives out of the blue one day an urgent letter from erstwhile sweetheart Maude (Audrey Dalton), who is now the Baroness Sardonicus, having become the second wife of the mysterious Baron Sardonicus (Guy Rolfe) of Gorslava. This is a remote (and fictitious) Central European country where the Baron owns and resides in a lonely, set-apart castle. Maude states in her letter to Dr Cargrave that her husband the Baron wishes to see him and that it would be beneficial to her own well-being if he were to come as soon as possible. Dr Cargrave still retains feelings for Maude, so without delay he journeys to Gorslava, where he is met by the Baron's taciturn one-eyed manservant Krull (Oscar Homolka), who transports him to the castle by carriage.

Once there, Cargrave is met by the Baron, a tall, arrogant, imperious figure instantly rendered both memorable and mysterious by the full-face mask that he wears, and of whom the servants and also Maude are all clearly frightened. After entering one room to discover a female servant tied to a chair and screaming as leeches attached to her face suck blood from her skin, Cargrave demands to know why he has been sent for and what is happening at the castle. In reply, the Baron recounts the spine-chilling history of how he, once a poor Gorslavan peasant, came to own such a spectacular edifice and why he wears the macabre facial mask.

SPOILER ALERT – IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THIS MOVIE'S PLOT SHOCK OR HOW IT PLAYS OUT, READ NO FURTHER!!

Years ago, the Baron was simply Marek Toleslawski, an ordinary farmer, and was married to his first wife, Elenka. One day, Marek's father Henryk, also a farmer, who lived with them, showed him a Gorslavan national lottery ticket that he had purchased as a present for Elenka during his recent visit to a nearby city. However, Elenka showed no interest in it, because Henryk was forever purchasing such tickets and not once had any of them ever been winners, so Henryk tucked it inside a pocket in his waistcoat. Tragically, he died later that same day from a sudden heart attack, and was duly buried by Marek and the local gravedigger. Time passed, then one day the winning ticket numbers of that selfsame lottery draw were finally published, and to their delight Marek and Elenka discovered that the ticket purchased by Henryk for Elena was one of them! Their delight soon turned to despair, however, when, after vainly searching their house for the ticket, Marek realized to his horror where the missing ticket was – still inside the pocket of Henryk's waistcoat, the waistcoat in which he had been buried!

Spurred on by Elenka, whose desire for money far exceeded her love for her late father-in-law and also for her respect relating to the sanctity of his final resting place, Marek visited Henryk's grave that same night, dug up his coffin, and prized it open – but the horror that met his eyes, his father reduced to a skeleton, caused him to scream out with fear and shock. Although Marek finally remembered to take out the ticket from his deceased father's waistcoat pocket, he stumbled back home almost in a trance, groaning and whining pitifully. Still in this terrible state, he entered his house and thence his unlit bedroom, where his wife heard him moaning but was unable to discover why – until she lit a candle, looked at him, and screamed! The face of Marek was totally transformed – with its teeth fully bared, his mouth was stretched into a hideous maniacal leer, his facial muscles frozen into a horrific rictus grin that never relaxed, thereby preventing him from talking and rendering him scarcely able even to eat. Such was the terrifying visage that confronted her and the realization of what had caused it, Elenka's mind snapped and she committed suicide.

Marek hid his fearful face behind a mask, and with the substantial money gained via the winning lottery ticket he was able to purchase both the title of Baron and the castle, where he lived in seclusion from then on, subsequently marrying Maude but neither giving nor receiving any love in relation to their union. Desperate to reverse what had happened to him, the Baron became very learned in medicine, received professional coaching in how to speak again using his throat muscles, and even purposefully chose the name Sardonicus for himself, deriving it from the risus sardonicus or rictus grin condition resulting from tetanus or strychnine poisoning in which the facial muscles undergo a sustained spasm of paralysis, just as his own face had become paralysed by his shock in seeing his deceased father's appearance inside his coffin.

Baron Sardonicus's terrifying secret revealed - the horror that lurks beneath the mask (© Richard Svensson)

Yet despite experimenting with all manner of folk treatments (hence the leeches attached to the servant's face), as well as hiring the most proficient physicians from across Europe to attend him, the Baron has been unable to effect any improvement to his grotesque condition. After monitoring from afar the highly impressive advances in paralysis treatment achieved by Cargrave, however, and mindful that he could utilise Maude very effectively as a powerless pawn in persuading the doctor to assist him in his quest for a cure, the Baron had made her summon Cargrave to their castle to treat him.

This is what Cargrave now attempts, but once again, just like all of his predecessors experienced, it is all to no avail. Revealing his hatred for Maude and his all-consuming, wholly unscrupulous obsession for a cure, however, the merciless Baron swiftly informs Cargrave that if he doesn't do something that succeeds, he will order his manservant Krull to slice Maude's facial muscles in order to render her face deformed too. It also transpires that it was the Baron who, in a fit of violence, had blinded Krull in one eye, thereby leaving Cargrave in no doubt that his threat to have Maude disfigured is no bluff.

The only treatment remaining for Cargrave to try is one involving the injection into the Baron's face of an extract from an extremely poisonous South American plant that can effect muscle relaxation in animals, but which has never been medically tested upon a human. The Baron states that he is willing to receive the injection, but on the clear understanding that if it kills him, both Cargrave and Maude will be hideously mutilated by Krull in the castle's torture chamber.

And so the extract is duly injected, and, to everyone's amazement, it works! The Baron's facial muscles are finally relaxed, dispelling at long last his hideous rictus grin and returning his face to its normal former state. But Cargrave warns him not to attempt speaking, eating, or drinking straight away as the facial muscles need some time to regain their strength after having been frozen for so many years. In response, the Baron writes out a marriage annulment, freeing Maude to leave with Cargrave and start a new life together.

This they do, departing the castle at once and heading to the nearest railway station in order to depart from Gorslava to London with all speed. Just before their train arrives, however, a very flustered Krull appears at the railway station to inform Cargrave that the Baron's facial muscles still haven't regained any strength, and he therefore requires Cargrave's further assistance without delay. In reply, Cargrave reveals that the injection was a sham. There was no poisonous extract – he had merely injected harmless water into the Baron's face because he had realized that the facial paralysis was not physical, merely psychosomatic. Indeed, the Baron requires only to be told that he can speak, eat, and drink again in order for him to be able to do so. Consequently, Cargrave instructs Krull to tell this to the Baron when he returns to him. Krull nods, deep in thought as he rubs the socket where his right eye had once been, then heads back to the castle, leaving Cargrave and Maude to board the train and leave Gorslava and the Baron forever.

Unexpectedly, the movie then pauses at this point, cutting to a scene in which, equally unexpectedly, director William Castle asks the movie's audience to vote on how they would like to see the movie end. When originally shown in cinemas, every moviegoer was given two cards, one with a thumbs-up picture, the other with a thumbs-down picture, and Castle asked the audience to hold up whichever card expressed how they wanted the Baron to be treated in the movie's closing scene – thumbs-up for him to receive mercy for his vile actions and threats, thumbs-down for him to be suitably punished for them instead. In short, two alterative movie endings had supposedly been filmed, and the audience was now being asked to vote upon which one they wanted to see played. Castle then makes out that he is counting the number of cards being shown for each of these two alternative outcomes, before announcing that the thumbs-down, punishment option has won, and so it will be this ending that will now be shown.

The movie is duly returned to, showing Krull arriving back at the castle, where, lying in a totally straight-faced manner, he sorrowfully informs a panic-stricken Baron that regrettably he had arrived at the railway station too late, that Cargrave and Maude had already departed on the train. Krull then sits at the dining table and with evident relish begins eating and drinking directly in front of the Baron, who in a frenzy tries to force some food and wine into his own mouth but all in vain, yet never suspecting that he himself has the power to unfreeze his face, that its frozen state is not real, that it is all in his own mind. Only Krull knows this, but by not telling the Baron and thereby consigning him to a slow, torturous death by starvation, he is finally and fittingly obtaining his blinded right eye's long-awaited revenge upon his sadistic master and mutilator.

Bearing in mind that the hideous visage of Baron Sardonicus is the crux of the entire movie, it is actually shown only very briefly and sparingly following its shock debut when suddenly revealed in full and in close-up to the terrified eyes of his first wife Elenka in their candle-lit bedroom. This is because creating it involved actor Guy Wolfe wearing such extensive make-up and primitive, highly uncomfortable facial prosthetics that he was unable to do so for more than a short period at any one time. Hence the Baron is mostly seen wearing his full-face mask.

Also worthy of note is that in spite of Castle supposedly allowing the cinema audience to choose which ending should be shown, no footage of the thumbs-up merciful ending has ever been found by movie historians, and there is no evidence that cinemas were ever furnished with two separate endings for the movie or that any actual counting of the cards took place at cinema showings. Moreover, the punishment ending is the one that appeared in Russell's original short story upon which this movie was based. In short, the merciful ending probably never existed, with the voting ploy simply an on-screen gimmick, but a novel, memorable one, nonetheless – just like the movie itself, in fact. (Having said that, the horrifying fixed grin is a motif by no means unique to this film, as any Gotham City fan will readily testify via super-villain the Joker, and also as any devotee of early movies will confirm via a 1928 American silent film entitled The Man Who Laughs, directed by Paul Leni and starring Conrad Veidt in the leading role, which was based upon an 1869 Victor Hugo novel of the same title.)

If you'd like to see a trailer for Mr Sardonicus, be sure to click here to watch William Castle revealing his unique (albeit humbug) voting option as well as selected scenes from this extraordinary movie.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

Guy Wolfe wearing the make-up and prosthetics yielding the horrific rictus grin of Baron Sardonicus (© William Castle/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)