More Wizard of Oz...

As you might have guessed from my earlier post, I own a copy of The Wizard of Oz. When looking for it on the secondary market, I had the choice of a single disc edition, a 2-disc edition, and a 3-disc edition. As usual, I stopped off at DVDBeaver to do a little comparison shopping. That knocked out the single disc immediately. And after further research, the price jump from the 2-disc to the 3-disc was small enough that I decided to go for broke. After some carefully timed bidding/sniping, I picked up a used copy of the Super-King-Daddy-3-disc-Uber-Edition Wizard of Oz DVD on eBay. Hooray!

Then it sat on the shelf. And sat. I pulled it out last week to confirm some of the things I said in my earlier post on synchronicity, then returned it to the shelf.

Well, last night I pulled it out to check out the supplemental material. Disc 2 had stuff related to the 1939 film. There were some interesting anecdotes, but it was PR fluff for the most part. Then I put in Disc 3...


Disc 3 is mainly devoted to pre-1939 film versions of the Wizard of Oz. Surreal stuff. Most of the silent films remind me of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. It's like a bunch of kids with dopey but inspired costumes stole their neighbor's camera. Let's make a movie! While charming, it's the 1925 silent feature and the 1933 cartoon (both titled Wizard of Oz) that kick the whole thing into overdrive. Since they draw inspiration from the same illustrations as the 1939 MGM film, there's definitely similarities. But it's fascinating seeing these familiar characters that aren't using Judy Garland & Co. as a springboard. I love the somewhat slinky Dorothy in the cartoon.

I wish that third disc was available as a stand-alone purchase. Then I would recommend it to everyone.

And by the way, I haven't forgotten about that Trapped In The Closet review...

UPDATE

So, I finally watched the 1925 silent Wizard of Oz. On the plus side, you get to see Oliver Hardy take a crack at being the hero, or rather the Tin Man. Cons; well, there's a few. Most of the film is a vanity project for the writer/director/actor: Larry Semon. He plays several characters in the film, and basically builds the story around himself. Who knew The Wizard of Oz was all about the Scarecrow? As well as being subjected to his lame slapstick, he throws every racial stereotype in the book at the screen. I let the first couple go by and just rolled my eyes. It's from 1925, there's bound to be some out-of-fashion humor. But by the time the Cowardly Lion was revealed to be the lazy, watermelon-stealing black dude; I decided I'd had enough. I shut it off before he could do more harm. What if the Wizard turned out to be a Grand Wizard of the KKK?

Watching this right after the R Kelly commentary on Trapped In The Closet was too much. I felt pretty dirty. I'm going to have to watch all of the 1933 cartoon, but I'm backing down from my endorsment of the 1925 feature.

On the flip side, the movie does have more gay subtext and double entendres than Top Gun! The 1925 Wizard of Oz. Top Gun is still a lot gayer than Trapped In The Closet.