His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz

His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914) was a first time watch for me and while there is a lot to admire here, there's a lot that was very wonky.

Positives for His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914): There is an interesting direction to go on with the Scarecrow as he was one of the main characters of the original group. It was fun seeing him interact with the Tin Man and the Lion again. And finally, the journey in this movie was a lot of fun.

Negatives for His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914): While it was an interesting angle to take the story, the Scarecrow isn't really one of those characters who can carry movie as a main character. For me, he works better as a supporting main character. I also was a little bored by the story and it's not even that long.

Overall, I did have some fun with His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914), there is a lot to be desired with the movie.

When his daughter Princess Gloria refuses to marry the courtier Googly-Goo he selected for her because she's in love with the Gardener's Boy Pon, wicked King Krewl takes the Princess to the evil witch Mombi in hopes the witch can cast a spell and destroy his daughter's love for Pon, a boy he considers beneath her station. Well, the Wicked Witch does eventually succeed in freezing the Princess's heart to all potential suitors. In the meantime, the Gardener's Boy Pon having followed the King's trail to Mombi's hut meets and befriends Dorothy (Violet MacMillan), a little Kansas girl taken prisoner by Mombi, helping her escape. Eventually the two, in their continued effort to escape and elude the Wicked Witch, meet up with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and eventually the Wizard of Oz. Together they try and devise a plan to deal with the Wicked Witch and remove King Krewl from power.

While it's truly fun to see so many of the most familiar Oz characters participating in a new story, this one feels all over the place it's so lacking in terms of good direction. In fact, this often feels as though they were deciding what was going to happen next as they were doing it. It's way too hard to keep track of all the different characters and there's way too many unnecessary sub-plots. The best and funniest scenes in this one tend to revolve around Old Mombi the Witch (as played by Mai Wells) and her continual pursuit of our heroes. How's she dealt with time and time again proves more and more creative each time around.

There are times when the rather unrefined nature of this Oz fantasy feature stands out, but any rough edges are smoothed out by the enjoyable and creative nature of the story and the characters. It's one of an unfortunately small number of Oz features made by L. Frank Baum's own production company, and it is easy to see his influence, in the way that the story and characters are brought to life with such energy and imagination.

The story of "His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz" includes several of the characters who are familiar from the much better known "The Wizard of Oz", plus some added characters, but it is a much different story, and pretty interesting in its own right. The cast all do a solid job with the characters, and the cast includes several performers who were regulars in the short-lived series. Fred Woodward also performs several of his costume animal characters.

The old-fashioned style would probably keep this and the other movies in the series from enjoying a wide popularity now, but it's of good quality for its era. The special effects are sometimes rough, but imaginative, and several of them come off pretty well. There are times when the editing seems pretty odd, but that could well be a result of physical defects that have occurred over time. The movie has its occasional flaws, but it was obviously made with care, good humor, and enthusiasm, and it is certainly worth seeing for silent movie fans.

"His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz" is the best of L. Frank Baum's Oz movies! The plot is easily understandable without being boring and the characters are wonderfully acted, given their limitations. The special effects are marvelous, and some of the better ones rival even the technical marvels of the 1939 Movie, particularly the hilarious undersea bit with the Scarecrow and a swordfish and a mermaid! Violet MacMillan is an absolute delight as Dorothy. Despite her charming looks and thoroughly enchanting demeanor, the girlish actress was generally confined to roles as frank boys in Baum's films. She brings a great sparkle to the role as Dorothy, however. Another standout - or group of standouts, rather - is Mombi's whole cohort of witches. Funny and spooky at the same time, it seems as if they may have been the greatest inspiration for the way in which MGM chose to portray the Witch of the West in their take on Baum's first history of Oz. Either way, this movie is a can't miss, which I give a solid 9, a rating I am more than glad to give!

This was, of course, one of the early movies, and special effects were not an issue, for which we may be thankful in this day and age when many movies look more like video arcade games.

The plot is bizarre, to say the least. It borders between dream state and LSD trip. It would be interesting to know what early twentieth century audiences thought when they viewed this.

There a motley group of characters, and really, no one takes center stage all the time. People traipse aimlessly, meeting strange characters, and unique situations. Indeed, the wall of water would be a fresh idea as of the day of this critique.

There is a strange sexuality to this one. Super sexy witches dance around very sensually, and would be the envy of the scantily clad girls in today's movies. They are quite beautiful and striking. Again, audiences in this day must have been affected some way. It is too bad that the sexuality seems to be equated with witches, though. Sort of false advertising.

The music is probably too lame for today, and you may want to play your own while watching. Viewable mostly from an artistic perspective or in a social situation, and not as a sit down and watch movie.