''His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz'' is a 1914 American silent fantasy adventure film directed by

J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...

, and written and produced by

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...

. It stars

Violet MacMillan Violet MacMillan (March 4, 1887 – December 29, 1953), was an American actress in Broadway theatre productions, vaudeville, and silent films. Early career MacMillan gained fame as the "Cinderella Girl"''New York Times'' Obituary. Dec. 30, 1 ...

, Frank Moore, Vivian Reed, Todd Wright,

Pierre Couderc Pierre Couderc (18 November 1896 – 6 October 1966) was a French screenwriter, actor, acrobat, and film producer. He wrote for 34 films between 1925 and 1930. He also appeared in ten films between 1914 and 1934. He was born in Paris, Franc ...

, Raymond Russell, and Fred Woodward. The film had a troubled distribution history; it opened on September 28, 1914, to little success, though it was received as well above average fare by critics of the time.See reviews collected from various trade papers in ''

The Baum Bugle ''The Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz'' is the official journal of The International Wizard of Oz Club. The journal was founded in 1957, with its first issue released in June of that year (to a subscribers' list of sixteen). It publishes three times pe ...

'' Winter 2005 Early in 1915, it was reissued under the title ''The New Wizard of Oz'' and was slightly more successful. The film is loosely based on Baum's 1900 book ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after s ...

'', but in the screenplay, Baum introduced many new characters and a large new story that later became the basis for the 1915 book ''

The Scarecrow of Oz ''The Scarecrow of Oz'' is the ninth book set in the Land of Oz written by L. Frank Baum. Published on July 16, 1915, it was Baum's personal favorite of the Oz books and tells of Cap'n Bill and Trot journeying to Oz and, with the help of the Scar ...

''. Similar to ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', the Scarecrow's origin is revealed, although his life is now attributed to "the Spirit of the Corn", who appears as a conventional Hollywood depiction of a Native American.

Plot

King Krewl ( Raymond Russell) is a cruel dictator in the

Emerald City The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). Fictional description Located in the center of the La ...

in the

Land of Oz The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadli ...

. He wishes to marry his daughter, Princess Gloria (Vivian Reed), to an old courtier named Googly-Goo (Arthur Smollett), but she is in love with Pon, the

Gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner suppleme ...

's boy (Todd Wright). Krewl employs the Wicked Witch named

Mombi Mombi is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's classic children's series of Oz Books. She is the most significant antagonist in the second Oz book ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' (1904), and is alluded to in other works. Mombi plays a very impor ...

(Mai Wells), to freeze the heart of Gloria so she will not love Pon any longer. This she does by pulling out her heart (which looks somewhere between a valentine and a bland representation of a heart without any vessels) and coating it with ice. Meanwhile, a lost little girl from

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

named

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of its ...

(Violet MacMillan), is captured by Mombi and imprisoned in her castle. However, Dorothy runs away with the now heartless Gloria, accompanied by Pon and eventually meet the Scarecrow ( Frank Moore). Mombi catches up with the travelers and removes the Scarecrow's stuffing, but Dorothy and Pon are able to re-stuff him; Gloria abandons them and wanders off. They meet the lost little boy,

Button-Bright This is a list of characters in the original Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. The majority of characters listed here unless noted otherwise have appeared in multiple books under various plotlines. '' Oz'' is made up of four divisions ...

(Mildred Harris). The party travels to the

Winkie Country The Winkie Country is the western region of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's classic series of Oz books, first introduced in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). The Winkie Country is in the West, noted by later being ruled by the Wic ...

next and arrives at the Tin Castle of the

Tin Woodman Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, also known as the Tin Man or—mistakenly—the "Tin Woodsman," is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book ''The ...

(Pierre Couderc), who has rusted solid. (The Tin Woodman resides in a Tin Castle in later Oz novels, beginning in ''

The Emerald City of Oz ''The Emerald City of Oz'' is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt E ...

' (1910). Mombi reaches the Tin Castle, and the Tin Woodman chops off her head; however, this merely slows her down as she hunts for it and places it back on. ( The Wicked Witch of the East in ''

The Tin Woodman of Oz ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' is later described as having done a similar thing to him when he was still human.) Having replaced her head, Mombi encounters Pon and turns him into a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

. Dorothy, Button-Bright, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman escape from Mombi by crossing a river on a raft. As in the original novel ''

'' (1900), the Scarecrow's barge-pole gets stuck in the river bed and leaves him stranded, until he is rescued by a bird. At one point in this sequence, the Scarecrow slides down the pole into the river, resulting a brief "underwater" sequence featuring puppet fish and a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

; throughout, the Scarecrow makes asides to the camera, mostly without

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

s. (At another point, the frozen Gloria even makes a malevolent stare directly into the camera.) The party encounters the Wizard (J. Charles Haydon), who tricks Mombi by letting the group hide in the Red Wagon, pulled by the sawhorse; when Mombi attempts to follow them, the group escape out the back of the wagon. The four companions meet the

Cowardly Lion The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak. Since lions are supposed to be "The Kings of Beasts," the Cowardl ...

, who joins them. The Wizard traps Mombi in a container of "Preserved Sandwitches" and paints out the "sand" and the plural, carrying her away in his pocket. The Scarecrow, taking a barrage of arrows, tosses Krewl's soldiers over the battlements to deal with the Cowardly Lion, who cannot climb the rope ladder over the city wall. With the support of the people, the Scarecrow is easily able to depose King Krewl. The Wizard releases Mombi, and compels her to restore Pon to his normal form and unfreeze Gloria’s Heart.

Cast

Damage history

The opening reel was lost for many years. While it was eventually recovered in the 1990s for the American Home Entertainment VHS release, it did not contain the opening titles; Dick Martin's titles, designed in the 1960s, continued to be used, which falsely stated that Baum was the director of the film, misspelled

Mai Wells Mai Wells (14 April 1863 – 1 August 1941), also billed as May Wells and Mae Wells, was an American actress whose career spanned eight decades. A prolific actress of the silent era, she worked with Charlie Chaplin, made at least two films w ...

' name, and left out Smollett's credit entirely. The film is currently in need of restoration, including framing. Film prints are notoriously bright, particularly for Mombi's decapitation sequence. The framing may no longer be correctable, because the area used for the soundtrack in contemporary films was part of the picture area at the time, though it is a noticeable defect in contemporary presentations of the film. Prints that have not been re-struck in this cropping manner may no longer exist.

References

External links

* * {{Oz Films based on American novels Films based on fantasy novels Films based on The Wizard of Oz American black-and-white films 1914 films American silent feature films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by J. Farrell MacDonald Works by L. Frank Baum Articles containing video clips American fantasy adventure films 1910s fantasy adventure films 1910s English-language films 1910s American films Silent fantasy adventure films Silent American children's films Silent American fantasy films