Supercuts, mashups, and re-edits of popular films are ubiquitous now, and we’ve made a point of only sharing the most interesting of them. We suspect it’ll be difficult to top the absurdity of Of Oz the Wizard, an alphabetical re-cut of The Wizard of Oz.
Filmmaker Matt Bucy broke down the 1939 classic apart based on every word spoken, then re-arranged the clips of those words in alphabetical order. (Judgment calls were made for the spelling of verbal noises like gasps, laughs, and so on.) The resulting hour is one of the most surreal videos in recent memory. Repeated words like “dead,” “little,” or “you” can recap scenes – or even the entire movie – at rapid speed.
Thankfully, this extremely silly exercise had a positive effect. Bucy said the process gave him a greater appreciation for the film’s craftsmanship and the economy of the script: The Wizard of Oz uses less than a thousand words, with many (like “liquidated”) only popping up once. That certainly wasn’t the goal going in, but maybe even the most ridiculous of these projects can have a constructive purpose after all.
For those who would prefer to see the film in chronological order, we have multiple copies available in the AU Library (HU DVD 666) .