The Wizard of Oz (1925 film) The Wizard of Oz (1925 film) The Wizard of Oz is a 1925 American silent fantasy-adventure comedy film directed by Larry Semon, who also performs in the lead role as a Kansas farmhand and later in the story disguised as the Scarecrow. This production, which is the only completed 1920s adaptation of L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", costars Dorothy Dwan as Dorothy, Oliver Hardy as the Tin Woodman in a portion of the film, and Spencer Bell briefly disguised as a less "cowardly" Lion than in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer version of Baum's work. The 1925 film,
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (musical) musical of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" that was truer to Baum's original intentions, and as such, was able to incorporate various influences from the many adaptations of the story produced throughout the 20th century, including the original 1903 musical, the famous 1939 MGM film, the musical "The Wiz" and several others. In writing the libretto for the new musical, Cascone made Baum a character in the play as a narrator, also doubling as the Wizard. Composer and lyricist James Patrick Doyle was a long time Oz admirer who restored some of the music from Baum's "The Maid of Arran",