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Full Version: Scarecrow of Oz 1914
Hash, Inc. Forums > Featured > Feature Films: Tin Woodman of Oz - Scarecrow of Oz > Scarecrow of Oz > SO:General Discussion
I watched one of these on the Oz DVD collection that came out a few years back. Scarecrow is unbelievably frightening. I seriously thought showing this to a child would cause nightmares. :-)
That collection also contained the 1925 silent feature which is puzzling beyond words. There is no fantasy element to it. Oz is just a country in Europe and the farmhands disguise themselves briefly as a scarecrow and tinman, but it's just a brief disguise. The lead is the farmhand. He was briefly super-famous, but his career plummeted and there's some belief that he faked his death. The cowardly character is a black actor and the distasteful stereotypes are shocking.
That collection also contained the 1925 silent feature which is puzzling beyond words. There is no fantasy element to it. Oz is just a country in Europe and the farmhands disguise themselves briefly as a scarecrow and tinman, but it's just a brief disguise. The lead is the farmhand. He was briefly super-famous, but his career plummeted and there's some belief that he faked his death. The cowardly character is a black actor and the distasteful stereotypes are shocking.
QUOTE(largento @ Oct 25 2009, 10:30 AM) 
That collection also contained the 1925 silent feature which is puzzling beyond words. There is no fantasy element to it. Oz is just a country in Europe and the farmhands disguise themselves briefly as a scarecrow and tinman, but it's just a brief disguise. The lead is the farmhand. He was briefly super-famous, but his career plummeted and there's some belief that he faked his death.
I saw that too. It's got a couple of surprising stunts and great sets but really flat overall.
Buster Keaton said something to the effect that "People would laugh all the way through a Larry Semon film and then when it was over you had no idea what you were laughing at."
I have a couple screencaps from that
Larry Semon and Chester Conklin:
Click to view attachment
Oliver Hardy is the Tinman here:
Click to view attachment
I'd forgotten about Oliver Hardy being in it.
I remember thinking somebody should make a TV movie about Larry Semon and his riches to rags to weird death story.
I remember thinking somebody should make a TV movie about Larry Semon and his riches to rags to weird death story.
Olly must have been fairly young there ,Ive only ever seen him in Luarel and Hardy fims
IMDB has Hardy in 412 (!) movies starting in 1914, the vast majority being silent shorts from before he teamed with Laurel.
They cranked 'em out fast back then, I guess.
They cranked 'em out fast back then, I guess.
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