The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)

Fantasy film faithfully based on the storyline of Frank L Baum's book, written in the early part of the twentieth century, and taste and sophistication have moved on a long way in the meantime.

It is a crudely made film, with long sequences during which nothing much is happening, to pad out the running time, but much of the photography is ambitious for the early date.

The hero of the film is a Munchkin boy named Ojo, looking about 12 and played by Violet MacMillan, 27 years old when the film was released. At this period young boys were customarily played by young women.

The Patchwork Girl, Scraps, is the centre of the story, and she is made from old patchwork quilts brought to life by a magic elixir. The girl was played by a French acrobat, Pierre Couderc.

Harold Lloyd, Hal Roach and Charles Ruggles appear as extras, but you will need good powers of recognition to spot them.

Modern viewers will probably see this film in the 1996 restored version; it has an execrable narration (merely reading the dialogue titles aloud) by Jacqueline Lovell, and amateurish music.

HF June 2003

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