1910 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    I am suffering from Otitis Externa, which is a form of swimmer's ear that manifests itself in severe ear pain and swelling. I feel like my ear is wearing a boxing glove, and I can't hear a thing out of my right side. So it's been a fun few days. Missed a few classes, laid in bed clutching the side of my head in agony, overdosing on Tylenol and throwing up what little food I could choke down through the nasuea. But I was prescribed some fancy 120 dollar ear drops so I'm hoping those days are coming to a close. So in celebration of my newfound optimism and the seventieth anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, I decided to check out this magical land's first appearance in the cinema. Befitting my predicament this is a silent version of the famous L. Frank Baum story, and it's also a very bare-bones kind of affair. Men dressed up as donkeys; Dorothy meets the Scarecrow before she's in Oz. The whole thing jumps around a lot, but I must say that its biggest misstep is the coreographed musical number in the middle of the film which looks good, I guess, but this is still a silent film. I couldn't quite make out if the wizard granted our gang of misfits their wishes by letting them know that they had them all along, but I wish I could find a wizard to give me my hearing back. I have a newfound respect for those without hearing. It's a bitch. Anyway, while in no way the classic that the Wizard of Oz we all know and love is, this version can at least boast that it's not nearly as racist as the 1925 version, or Baum himself apparently, who makes much use of racial stereotypes in his writing and called for the extermination of Native Americans. Everyone has something shameful in their past. I went through a period of shoplifting, L. Frank Baum called for the extermination of a whole race of people. Tomato, tomato.