Wizard of Oz (1925 Film) - Plot

Plot

A toymaker (Semon) makes a Scarecrow doll for his granddaughter, who asks him to tell her the story about Oz. He tells her about how the Land of Oz was ruled by Prime Minister Kruel (Josef Swickard), after the baby princess of Oz was mysteriously snatched away from her crib. Kruel's despotic rule is aided by the manipulative Ambassador Wikked (Otto Lederer), who is the originator of many of Kruel's ideas; the aide Lady Vishuss (Virginia Pearson); and the Wizard (Charles Murray), who knows only parlor tricks and not any actual magic, such as getting a female impersonator (Frederick Ko Vert) out of a basket in an exotic and seductive way. The people have begun to revolt and their leader, Prince Kynd (Bryant Washburn), demands the return of the princess so she can be crowned. Kruel, however, knows that once she returns his rule over Oz will end, so he sends Ambassador Wikked on a mission to prevent this from happening.

Meanwhile, in Kansas, Dorothy lives on a farm with her relatives. While Aunt Em (Mary Carr) is a kind and caring woman, Uncle Henry (Frank Alexander) is a cruel, morbidly obese man who constantly yells and berates Dorothy. He also abuses his farmhands Snowball (credited to G. Howe Black, a stage name for Spencer Bell, who frequently appeared in Semon's films), Hardy, and Semon when he feels they are not doing their work. Hardy and Semon are both in love with Dorothy, who toys with them but doesn't commit to either of them, driving them both crazy with her indecision. After a particularly grueling day on the farm, Aunt Em reveals to Dorothy that they are not her birth relatives and that she was found on their doorstep with an envelope, instructing that it only be opened when she turned eighteen.

When her birthday comes, however, Wikked and his minions come to the farm, demanding that the envelope be given to them unopened. It turns out that the note inside is in fact a royal decree which reveals Dorothy to be the long-lost Princess Dorothea of Oz. As long as she never reads the decree, she can't legally become the queen according to the laws of Oz. Uncle Henry refuses to hand the envelope over, and so Wikked takes Dorothy hostage, threatening to kill her, and orders the entire farm to be searched. While doing so, Wikked finds out that Hardy is in love with Dorothy, and promises wealth and her love if he gets the note to him first. Tempted by the riches given to him by Wikked, he readily agrees and manages to find the note. Before he can give it to him, he is ambushed by Semon, who takes it back and saves Dorothy.

As Hardy and Wikked chase Semon, a tornado suddenly forms, sucking everybody in and forcing Dorothy to take shelter in the farmhouse. It is blown towards the entrance to Oz, smashing into pieces upon hitting the ground. Semon then gives the envelope to her who promptly reads the decree; by the time Kruel and Kynd come out to intercept her, she has already finished reading it. Thwarted, Kruel and Wikked proceed to blame the farmhands for kidnapping her and order the Wizard to change them into monkeys, which he is unable to do. Semon and Hardy try to help him out by disguising themselves as the Scarecrow and the Tin Man respectively but the disguises are soon seen through and they are promptly arrested. During their trial, Hardy betrays his fellow farmhands and accuses them of kidnapping Dorothy, and Kynd sentences them to imprisonment.

With Hardy now aiding him, Kruel is free to continue ruling as a dictator, using Dorothy and Kynd as his puppets. He allows Dorothy to give Hardy and Uncle Henry high positions in the army (Knight of the Garter and Prince of Whales) while also plotting to keep her from knowing his schemes. He eventually decides, with Wikked's persuasion, to cement his power by marrying her, and also forces Semon and Snowball to work in his underground prisons. The Wizard helps them escape by giving Snowball a Lion costume, which he uses to scare off the guards. Though Semon manages to reach Dorothy to warn her that she was being used, he's chased back down into the dungeons by Hardy, and ends up getting trapped inside a lion cage for a considerable amount of time. He and Snowball eventually escape, and Semon gets to Dorothy's room in time to save her and Kynd from Kruel's treachery. Cornered by Semon and Kynd, he admits that he was the one who had kidnapped Dorothy as a baby and took her to Kansas, in order to keep her from court factions that meant to do her harm; it is later implied that they are led by Wikked and that he is the true antagonist of the story.

After Kruel is taken away, Semon attempts to tell Dorothy how he feels about her, only to find that she has fallen in love with Prince Kynd and intends to marry him and rule Oz. Heartbroken, Semon is then chased by Wikked and Hardy's men, who attempt to blast him with cannon balls. Snowball flies a plane over and grabs him before he can be hit, but the ladder breaks, and he falls. Outside of the story, the granddaughter's Scarecrow doll falls off of a chair, implying that the Scarecrow in the story may have died from the fall. This wakes her up, and she is comforted by the toymaker and bidden to go back to sleep. He then secretly reads the last page of the book, which shows that Prince Kynd and Dorothy lived happily ever after in Oz. Given that he created dolls that were the exact likeness of several of the characters in the story, the implication is that he is actually Semon's character.