Search - The World of Oz on DVD

A Collection of 4 Silent Black-and-White Oz Films

Sam A. Milazzo | Sydney, N.S.W Australia | 12/17/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I got this DVD because it was the only way I could get "the Patchwork Girl of Oz", even though that would mean me watching the other films ("His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz", "the Magic Cloak" and Larry Semon's faithless Chadwick "the Wizard of Oz") having them already of previous DVDs, of course I didn't actually have to watch them all over again. I only watched "Patchwork Girl" and the 'Magic Cloak' Main Menu for the first time here. I will review the actual films later.

This DVD, the packaging and the Disks, is different to possibly all other DVDs: When you open the case, there is a *stupid* black slot in the middle which holds the DVDs on both sides - which is very difficlut to put back into place and is unnecessary and there are two Disks, each with 1 Film on either side.

I already have "His Majesty, the Scarecrow" and "the Wizard" both on their individual DVDs and the MGM 3-Disk with "Magic Cloak (NOT Oz)" (both of which are improved on that edition) and here on this "World" DVD, are exactly the same, without any change whatsoever. 'Patchwork Girl' is the better film of all 4, because it is based on and doesn't stray too far from its actual book, as well as including the ONLY appearance of OZMA in her THRONE ROOM (I don't count her head appearnce in the openings). 'Scarecrow' is a combination of 'Wonderful Wizard', 'Marvelous Land' and 'Road' etc. before its own book the following year, 'Magic Cloak' DOES NOT have "of Oz" in the title and has some of the film focus on Fluff and Bud's Mule in his own animal adventure resulting in a hurried resolution to the actual story. "Wizard", as everybody knows, is a waste using Larry Semon's slapstick comedy that corrupts the original story, written by the actor and author's son! The 3 main films all have a slow 'departure-from-book' sequence and a useless new character called the Zoop.

I hate it when any DVD with Silent Oz Films uses colour footage for the cover when usually they don't actually appear in the film ESPECIALLY when they show a Rainbow & Yellow Brick Road and make the guidelines/synopsis sound similar to MGM."