Few films are as imbedded in the minds of movie fans as much as MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939). Even those who normally don't watch old movies, know much of that film by heart and can picture many scenes in their heads by just hearing the title. Yet this was not by any means the first move adaption of L. Frank Baum's classic children's book series. Fans of silent comedy might know Larry Semon's The Wizard of OZ (1925). However one of the most fascinating aspects of OZ's cinematic history is this delightful feature film, directed, produced and written by L. Frank Baum himself. This month's Silent Film of the Month, His Majesty the Scarecrow of OZ is the third of three films L. Frank Baum made based off his famous book series. The previous films being The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and The Magic Cloak of OZ (1914)
The storyline of this film is very simple. Princess Gloria does not love the suitor that her father has picked out for her to marry and instead is in love with a gardener's son. Her dad (subtly named King Krewl) tells a witch to cast a spell on her, causing her to feel no love or affection for anyone for the rest her life. Dorothy, the scarecrow and the tin woodsman set out to break this spell.
One thing that will immediately strike many watching this film is that the filmmaking is quite basic. When you compare it to the very sophisticated films that DW Griffith and Lois Webber were making around this time, this becomes all the more obvious. There are some special effects that can sometimes work quite well, but even these are effects that had been used in films for quite a few years already. George Méliès for example had been making films with even better special effects for around a decade by this time. Yet despite this, and partly because of this, there is a real charm to this movie that I find hard to resist. Though some later OZ films would be better made movies, this movie captures what makes the books so charming, better than the later films. That is a sense of unbridled imagination. Written by L. Frank Baum himself, this film is full of imagination in every single second. This creates a feeling of a wonderful fantasy world, where anything can happen and nothing is impossible. This world is so fun and appealing that when the movie finishes, you simply don't want to leave this world. This creativity never stops and the result is a fast-moving film that never gets boring. This a feature film that feels like a short film. Actually the simple filmmaking here can work to film's advantage. It gives the movie a childlike simplicity that makes it feel almost like a children's storybook, which is just how a movie like this should feel. It also makes this film's abundant imagination even more effective.
Violet MacMillan is plays Dorothy here, had appeared in the two pervious films in the series, but not playing Dorothy. In fact she played boys in both of those films. She had actually previously played Dorothy in a stage production put on by Baum. The character of Button Bright is played by Mildred Harris, who is best remembered today for being Charlie Chaplin's first wife. The two married in 1918 and divorced in 1920. When the two were married various ads for films she was in credited here as "Mrs. Charlie Chaplin," and an article from the Motion Picture News on December 14, 1919 stated that such billing would benefit both parties. Mildred Harris had previously appeared in The Magic Cloak of OZ as a completely different character. Pierre Couderc was a former acrobat with Folies Bergère. He had also appeared in the previous two films in the series and like his costars, he had played different characters in those films. He was however more prolific as a writer than as an actor having started writing movies in 1925 and continuing to write films through 1930. These films included quite a few comedy shorts for Universal Pictures that starred George J. Lewis.
Moving Picture World, 1914
Moving Picture World, 1914
This delightful film is available to watch on YouTube.
Resources Used
The Chaplin Encyclopedia by Glen Mitchell
http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/his-majesty-scarecrow-oz-1914
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