The Magic Cloak (1914)

Director:

J. Farrell MacDonald

Writers:

L. Frank Baum (novel)
L. Frank Baum (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 September 1914 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Plot:

The fairies of Oz gather in the forest of Burzee one evening and weave a magic cloak that gives the wearer one wish...

Plot Keywords:

Cloak | Queen | Wish | King | Tiger

Cast

Mildred Harris	...	Princess Margaret 'Fluff' of Noland
Violet MacMillan	...	King Timothy 'Bud' of Noland (as Violet McMillan)
Fred Woodward	...	Nickodemus
Vivian Reed	...	Quavo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pierre Couderc
Juanita Hansen	...	Queen Zixi of Ix
Jacqueline Lovell	...	Narrator of 1996 Version (voice)
Frank Moore
Bernadine Zuber		(as Byrdine Zuber)
Dave Anderson	...	The Hungry Tiger (uncredited)
Leontine Dranet	...	Mary's Mother (uncredited)
Hal Roach	...	The Cowardly Lion (uncredited)
Richard Rosson	...	Mary's Father (uncredited)
Raymond Russell	...	Jikki / "Silly Zixi" (uncredited)
Jessie May Walsh	...	Lulea (uncredited)
Mai Wells	...	Aunt Rivette (uncredited)

Directed by
J. Farrell MacDonald

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
L. Frank Baum		novel "Queen Zixi of Ix; or the Story of the Magic Cloak"
L. Frank Baum		screenplay

Produced by
L. Frank Baum	....	producer
Louis F. Gottschalk	....	producer
Harry Marston Haldeman	....	executive producer
Clarence R. Rundel	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Louis F. Gottschalk

Cinematography by
James A. Crosby

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Harold Ostrom	....	assistant director

Visual Effects by
James A. Crosby	....	optical effects

Other crew
Will H. White	....	assistant technical manager

Production Companies

• Oz Film Manufacturing Company, The

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1914) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (2009) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Also Known As:

"The Magic Cloak of Oz" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

38 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:K-7 (2009)

Filming Locations:

Oz Film Manufacturing Company Studios - Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Oz Film Manufacturing Company, The

Movie Connections:

Followed by The New Wizard of Oz (1914)

Man in the Moon

This is the second addition to Frank Baum's personally produced trilogy of Oz films. It's essentially the same childishness as in the other two pictures, although I consider it preferable to the others because it's shorter. As in the other films, there are performers in animal costumes, an adult woman pretends to be a boy, and the characters and plot jump all over the place while the camera-work is static. This time, at the center is a magic cloak that grants wishes, and the boy played by a woman is made a king.

Most of the special effects are witnessed at the beginning. Fairies are represented by multiple-exposure photography. And, there's a man in the moon that looks just like those made by Georges Méliès years before, most famously in "Le Voyage dans la lune" (A Trip to the Moon) (1902). Méliès's imaginative fantasies and creative trick effects made him the leading pioneer of early cinema, and the films he made around the turn of the century were far better and even technically more advanced than this trifling Oz series.