Amazing stunt work

Most moviegoers today take elaborate stuntwork for granted, but given the technical limitations of film-making in the 1920s -- and frankly, the rather lax worker-safety laws in effect in the film industry at that time -- the tower falls in WIZARD OF OZ are pretty mindblowing.

The one that amazed me occurs in the farm sequence, when the Semon character is chased up a grain silo -- at least 60 feet tall -- by the Oliver Hardy character. Semon's character jumps from the top of the silo, and lands in a wagon loaded with hay. Nothing really amazing about that. The jump is accomplished in two shots -- (1) the high fall, about 50 feet down, and (2) the landing, which is about 20 feet. The first shot is a low-angle, very long shot; the second is from ground level, with camera at least 30 feet or so from the hay wagon. The jumper in the first shot no doubt landed off-camera in a large pile of soft stuff; in the second shot, it would have been relatively simple to hide padding under the hay in the wagon, if any additional cushioning was needed. According to film historian Richard M. Roberts, William Hauber usually stunt-doubled for Semon, since he resembled the star and could double for him in medium shots. Hauber is listed in the cast of THE WIZARD OF OZ in an "undetermined role."

But then the Hardy character tries to follow Semon by jumping off the silo himself. This stunt also is done in two shots -- the high fall from the top of the silo, and then the landing. But what a landing! It's apparent that the high faller dives head first from the silo and flips heels over head onto his back in midair. But in the landing shot, from a height of about 20 feet, the stuntman plummets face first into the ground! (You see, the Semon character has moved the hay wagon.) The stunt-double for Hardy hits the ground hard and then gets right up, acting dazed but apparently unhurt.

I replayed and slow-mo'd this sequence about 20 times. I could see no evidence that the Hardy double hitting the ground was a dummy, or that there was any edit within the shot. It looks like the Hardy stunt-double actually fell face down 20 feet and hit the ground. I also could see no evidence of padding or anything else on the ground to break the fall, no bounce or "give" when he hit. A "William Dinus" also is credited with an "undetermined role" in this film -- was he the stunt double for Hardy?

The only thing that I can figure is that the Hardy stunt-double was a rather thin man wearing the 1925 equivalent of a "fat suit," a large amount of padding under the overalls that the Hardy character was wearing. Since the landing was at least 30 feet from the camera -- the same set-up as the Semon double's earlier landing IN the wagon -- it apparently would have been possible for a less rotund person to double as Hardy while wearing enough padding to survive such a fall uninjured. Is there any other explanation as to how anyone could have pulled off a fall/landing like that?

By the way, this observation was based on viewing the restored version of THE WIZARD OF OZ presented on Turner Classic Movies on 11/27/08. If you're going to see this rather dated and disappointing film, that version -- with a very effective score by Robert Israel -- is the one to see.

But check out that high fall! Ouch!