The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1910 American silent fantasy film and the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum’s direct input. It was created to fulfill a contractual obligation associated with Baum’s personal bankruptcy caused by The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, from which it was once thought to have been derived. It was partly based on the 1902 stage musical The Wizard of Oz, though much of the film deals with the Wicked Witch of the West, who does not appear in the musical.

Plot
In Kansas, Dorothy and Imogene the cow are chased by Hank the mule, and the farmhands draw their muskets at the beast. Dorothy runs off to their field and discovers that the family scarecrow is alive. The Scarecrow begins to notice a storm building up and hurries the Mule, the Cow, Toto and Dorothy behind a haystack. A tornado appears overhead and carries the haystack away, thus letting it fall into the Land of Oz.

In Oz, The Wizard in the Emerald City declares that he is retiring from being the ruler and he will be crowning a new leader. The wicked witch Momba appears and attacks the wizard and the paper disappears. Meanwhile, Dorothy is playing with Toto, while being stalked by the Cowardly Lion. The good witch Glinda decides to turn Toto into a real protector that can fight off large predators. While Toto befriends the lion, the Scarecrow finds the wizard’s paper on a tree.

The traveler’s continue onward and find the Tin Woodsman. They oil him and find Eureka the cat. When they enter a forest, Momba the Witch flies out the window as her soldiers come out of the cottage, they are all captured and led into the witch’s jail-house. Dorothy splashes water on Momba and kills her. After defeating the witch, the travelers arrive at the Emerald City for the retirement party of the Wizard, who names the Scarecrow king and leaves in a balloon.

Cast
The credits to this film are lost, and the identity of the director and actors are disputed.

There is no definitive proof who is in the cast, or who directed the film. Otis Turner may have directed the film, but Mark Evan Swartz points out that it is highly unlikely that both Otis Turner and Bebe Daniels worked on the film, as they were in different parts of the country at the time (Turner in Chicago, Daniels in California), and neither had a strong impetus for travel. Dorothy does resemble contemporary photos of Daniels, which would make Turner’s direction improbable. Michael Patrick Hearn disputes this, and has found ample evidence that both were in California at the time. At any rate, that Baum knew of Turner is confirmed by his spoofery of an “Otis Werner” in his Aunt Jane’s Nieces Out West, a fictional account inspired by his optimism as an independent filmmaker.

Other reported cast members include Hobart Bosworth, Robert Z. Leonard, Eugenie Besserer, Winifred Greenwood, Lillian Leighton, Olive Cox, Marcia Moore, and Alvin Wycoff. Swartz suggests Bosworth was the Scarecrow and Leonard the Tin Woodman, but photographs of the actors make this appear unlikely and suggest that Bosworth was the Wizard and Leonard the Scarecrow. Based on photographs, and assuming the cast list is correct, it appears that Cox is Glinda and Leighton is the servant who pulls out a list of Union rules. Besserer is most likely Momba, and Greenwood likely to be Aunt Em. There is quite a large cast before the camera, and it is unlikely that they will all ever be identified. Michael Patrick Hearn emphasizes that this cast list is not contemporary with the film and may have no basis in fact.