The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

J. Farrell MacDonald

Writers:

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

Release Date:

28 September 1914 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Comedy

Tagline:

It's a whirlwind of laughter, pathos and illusion

Plot:

Ojo and Unc Nunkie are out of food, so they decide to journey to the Emerald City where they will never starve...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Violet MacMillan	...	Ojo, a Munchkin Boy
Frank Moore	...	Unc Nunkie, Ojo's Guardian
Raymond Russell	...	Dr. Pipt, the Crooked Magician
Leontine Dranet	...	Margolotte, his wife, who makes the Patchwork Girl
Bobbie Gould	...	Jesseva, his daughter, betrothed to Danx
Marie Wayne	...	Jinjur, a Maid in the Emerald City
Richard Rosson	...	Danx, a Noble Munchkin (as Dick Rosson)
Frank Bristol	...	The Soldier with the Green Whiskers (Omby Amby)
Fred Woodward	...	The Woozy, a Quaintness / The Zoop, A Mystery / Mewel, who is Everybody's Friend
Todd Wright	...	The Wizard of Oz
Bert Glennon	...	The Scarecrow (as Herbert Glennon)
Hal Roach	...	The Cowardly Lion / Tottenhot (as Al Roach)
Andy Anderson	...	The Hungry Tiger
Jessie May Walsh	...	Ozma of Oz, the Ruler of the Emerald City
William Cook	...	The Royal Chamberlain

Also Known As:

L. Frank Baum's Whimsical Fairy Tale The Patchwork Girl of Oz
Ragged Girl of Oz (USA) (reissue title)
The Raggedy Girl (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Oz Film Manufacturing Company, The

Trivia:

Filmed in San Diego at the Pan-American Exposition.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz (2005) (TV)

Enjoyable Story & Characters; Pretty Resourceful Despite the Rough Edges

The enjoyable story and characters in "The Patchwork Girl of Oz" makes it a fun movie to watch, and it is also pretty resourceful for its era. It does have a lot of rough edges and shows some signs of age, but its energy and creativity more than make up for those. As with all of the Oz features made by L. Frank Baum's own studio, it shows his influence in the way that the fantasy world of Oz is brought to life with enthusiasm.

As with most of Baum's Oz stories, it has plenty of oddball characters and offbeat developments. A couple of odd casting choices add to the curious feel, with Pierre Couderc making Scraps look much like a male, and Violet Macmillan making Ojo seem more like a young girl. But they and the rest of the cast give their characters plenty of life, which really is more significant in a movie like this. As in the other Oz movies in the series, Fred Woodward also gets to perform a number of his costumed animal characters.

The story is one of Baum's most creative ones, telling a complex story in which the agendas and motivations of many different characters come into conflict. This adaptation is imaginative in using a lot of different techniques to reproduce the look of the characters, the magical events, and the hectic activity.

Much of it works rather well, and all of it represents a very good attempt for its time. Very few film-makers of the era ever tried to make a full-length picture out of such challenging fantasy material, and even if it has a fair number of rough edges, it remains a worthwhile and entertaining effort.