So, another attempt by L. Frank Baum brings us more donkey costumes and other animal assortments, acted out by people who look more like they are at Mardi Gras then Oz, trying to pass off another dizzying plot line involving a magic cloak that the townspeople want to give to the most unhappy person in the land. The only real indication that this film is part of the Oz series is the title card in the beginning. Nothing else really ties it in with the other movies or books. It is really a film about another Baum "Oz" character, Queen Zixi of Ix.
It also sounds like there are different versions of this film out there, however, the version I saw on YouTube was 41 minutes long, which is just about all of it. Try to avoid the 23 minute versions that sprung out from old 16mm prints and VHS versions. Also, many copies come with no music, so use a silent movie soundtrack off of YouTube, while you watch this. The music does help.
One of the main characters is Nicodemus, the mule (or a guy in a bad mule suit - Fred Woodward), who really kills the grade for costumes, because it looks so bad. Also, director J. Farrell MacDonald, managed to shoot some really weird scenes with the mule in it, such as having Nicodemus rubbing his behind on a tree. There were some good costumes too, such as the rolling Roly-Rogues. They look pretty cool. There are also some improving effects that look good for 1914, such as layered, multiple images of the characters used for the cloak meeting at the start of the film. What makes this one hard to watch is once again, the spastic storytelling and performances that make this presentation look like Mardi Gras, not Oz and with no real story in sight. No discipline.
4.7 (E MyGrade) = 5 IMDB.
It also sounds like there are different versions of this film out there, however, the version I saw on YouTube was 41 minutes long, which is just about all of it. Try to avoid the 23 minute versions that sprung out from old 16mm prints and VHS versions. Also, many copies come with no music, so use a silent movie soundtrack off of YouTube, while you watch this. The music does help.
One of the main characters is Nicodemus, the mule (or a guy in a bad mule suit - Fred Woodward), who really kills the grade for costumes, because it looks so bad. Also, director J. Farrell MacDonald, managed to shoot some really weird scenes with the mule in it, such as having Nicodemus rubbing his behind on a tree. There were some good costumes too, such as the rolling Roly-Rogues. They look pretty cool. There are also some improving effects that look good for 1914, such as layered, multiple images of the characters used for the cloak meeting at the start of the film. What makes this one hard to watch is once again, the spastic storytelling and performances that make this presentation look like Mardi Gras, not Oz and with no real story in sight. No discipline.
4.7 (E MyGrade) = 5 IMDB.
