Off to illustrations
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Off to illustrations |
| Original title | The Wizard of Oz |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1925 |
| length | 93 (USA 1925), 81 (new cut version) minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Larry Semon |
| script |
Frank Joslyn Baum Leon Lee Larry Semon |
| production | Larry Semon |
| camera |
Frank B. Good Hans F. Koenekamp Leonard Smith |
| cut | Sam Zimbalist |
| occupation | |
| |
Auf nach Illustrien is a 1925 silent film adaptation of Lyman Frank Baum 's classic children's book The Wizard of Oz . Star comedian Larry Semon directed and played three key roles. The young Oliver Hardy can be seen at his side before he merges with Stan Laurel to form the comedy duo " Dick und Doof ".
action
The story is told by an old toy maker who reads from L. Frank Baum's book to his granddaughter.
The fairytale fantasy land of Oz is ruled by a number of evil characters, including the Prime Minister Kruel, his ambassador Wikked, a Lady Vishuss and above all by a dark wizard, a proven charlatan and cunning crook. He had once had the rightful heiress to the throne, Princess Dorothea, removed from the country and placed with simple people in the country. The people of Oz are deeply dissatisfied with the current rulers. Led by Prince Kynd, the citizens demand that Dorothea should finally return home to ascend the vacant throne. The cruel prime minister wants to prevent this and sends his "magician" on a delicate mission.
Change of scene: Somewhere in rural Kansas. Young Dorothy lives on a farm with her relatives, including old, kind-hearted Aunt Em and fat, hot-headed Uncle Henry, who shows little affection for Dorothy. The three farm workers who cast their eyes on Dorothy also suffer from his domineering nature. Shortly before Dorothy's 18th birthday, Aunt Em reveals to her that she was once left on the doorstep as a foundling, with only a letter that may only be opened on the little girl's 18th birthday. She is none other than the missing Princess Dorothea of Oz. Exactly on this day, Kruel's emissary Wikked and his lackeys appear to demand the surrender of the letter. When this is unsuccessful, Wikked tries to bribe one of the farm workers (played by Hardy). Eventually Dorothy is kidnapped and supposed to be killed. Another farm worker (played by Semon) saves his beloved at the last second, and when a heavy storm hits, Dorothy, the farm workers and Uncle Henry save themselves in a shed. It is blown away by the strong wind, and everyone ends up in the fairytale kingdom of Oz.
Kruel is furious when he learns that Dorothy / Dorothea was able to read the contents of the letter after all and thus knows that she is the rightful candidate for the throne. In order to save face, the blown despot now orders the Wizard of Oz to transform the three farm people, who are denounced by Kruel as the former kidnappers of Princess Dorothea, into lower figures. Now that the magician is a con man and a loud mouthed show-off who can do anything, just not conjure up, nothing will come of it. The three hunted farm workers decide to cover up their identities. Two dress up as a scarecrow and a pewter man. Nevertheless, they are caught and brought to justice. In the subsequent process, one of the farm workers accuses the other of having kidnapped Dorothea in order to save his head. The “scarecrow” and “snowball” are then thrown into the dungeon by Prince Kynd.
Wikked now believes that his way to the throne is free, he only has to convince Dorothea / Dorothy to become his wife. But the magician has mercy and helps the two imprisoned farm workers in their escape. Farm worker Snowball is given a lion costume to scare the dungeon guards. Meanwhile, the farm worker disguised as a scarecrow succeeds in warning Dorothy of Kruel's sinister machinations. But the farm worker who appears in Oz as a tin man chases the "scarecrow" back into the dungeon. There it ends up in a cage with very lively and real lions. But this time too he can escape the cell. Meanwhile, Kynd learns that Kruel wants to force Dorothy to marry and confronts the villain in a fencing match. Kruel gets help from his lackeys, and Kynd is disarmed. But now it is the "scarecrow" that frees both Dorothy and Kynd this time. Kruel, unmasked as an unscrupulous villain, cheekily claims that at the time he only had Princess Dorothea removed to protect her from the palace intrigues.
Farm worker “Scarecrow”, who loves Dorothy especially, is devastated when he has to realize that the girl has long since fallen in love with her knight Kynd. The farmer's boy runs up a tower from which the scheming tin man wants to blow him away with a cannon. "Snowball" comes to the aid of the "scarecrow", flies over its head in a double-decker with a rope ladder hanging from its abdomen. At the right moment, the lovesick farm worker grabs the ladder to dangle from it to get to safety. But the rope ladder snaps and the farm worker falls into the depths ...
The granddaughter of the old toy maker fell asleep while reading, and everything turns out to be just a fairy tale after all. When the little one wakes up again, she gets up and leaves. The film ends with the grandfather reading from the book and declaring that Dorothy and Prince Kynd had married and would live happily together until the end of their days ...
Production notes
Auf nach Illustrien was created in 1924/25 and premiered on April 13, 1925. The Austrian premiere took place on New Year's Eve 1925. There the strip ran under the title “ The Magician of Illustrations ”. When exactly the film that came to German cinemas as “ Auf nach Illustrien ” was released cannot be determined at the moment.
Dorothy actress Dorothy Dwan (1906-1981) was the wife of director and co-star Larry Semon.
The lavish color remake of the same subject with Judy Garland in the lead role achieved much greater fame in 1939 . It was shown in Germany under the title The Magic Land .
useful information
The role names consistently indicate the attitude and essence of the characters and are variations of English terms:
- Prince Kynd. Variation of English: kind , in German: friendly
- Prime Minister Kruel. Variation from English: cruel , in German: cruel
- Lady Vishuss. Variation of English: vicious , in German: malignant, malicious
- Ambassador Wikked. Variation of English: wicked , in German: wicked, mean
The film deviates massively from the novel in a number of details.
Reviews
“'The Wizard of Oz' can boast of being one of those films that offer a crude and tumbling farce that puts a smile on the faces of those who come out of the movie theaters. (...) There are a lot of photographic tricks in this film (...) The visitors not only laughed until tears welled up in their eyes, they even roared until they started to cough. "
Paimann's Filmlisten summed up in 1925: “The subject, which partly borders on the fairytale, is a bit confused and does not quite match the funny tricks and the grotesque style of play of the main actor. Presentation and presentation are satisfactory, the photos are unequal. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ On to illustrations in Paimann's film lists ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Off to Illustrien in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Extensive review in the New York Times