The Magic Cloak

Writing for children is arguably the hardest job for anyone. It involves so much speculation regarding the child's psyche, that the author, despite a richness of childhood experience, feels helpless at the task; that is if he/she intends to write good children literature. L. Frank Baum never seemed to have this handicap.

'The Magic Cloak of Oz', lost in its complete version, lacks the power of a great piece of work, and yet it is somewhat touching. The sets and the costumes are rich and beautiful; the cinematography is pleasant (Mildred Harris' mirrors scene deserves commending). On the acting front, Fred Woodward's physical performance is rather successful, and Juanita Hansen provides reasonable attempts not to overact.

The film is definitely dated, and it seems hard to imagine that the children of our times can really appreciate it. J. Farrell MacDonald, or Baum himself (according to some records), has provided a feeling of playfulness and sheer childhood joy in the story however. One has to imagine how great would it be for a kid to have the entire national budget spent on toys! Maybe, the film has the magic of the irresponsible days, a feature we learn to loose in time.

A quarter century before Dorothy and her compatriots danced and sang their way down the yellow brick road, L. Frank Baum founded a production company and made some movie versions of his novels. One was "The Magic Cloak", which won't be immediately recognizable as part of the series. It centers on a cloak that grants the wearer a wish, but the story jumps around a lot. The best part is when the Rolly Rogues invade the town: these big fat guys look just like what anyone would toss into a movie for comic relief.

It's an OK movie, but the other two in this series were better. Even better still is the 1925 adaptation of Baum's most famous novel, featuring Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man.

A historical note for this one is that Fluff is played by Mildred Harris, who was married to Charlie Chaplin for a few years. Milla Jovovich played her in Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin".

This is the second addition to Frank Baum's personally produced trilogy of Oz films. It's essentially the same childishness as in the other two pictures, although I consider it preferable to the others because it's shorter. As in the other films, there are performers in animal costumes, an adult woman pretends to be a boy, and the characters and plot jump all over the place while the camera-work is static. This time, at the center is a magic cloak that grants wishes, and the boy played by a woman is made a king.

Most of the special effects are witnessed at the beginning. Fairies are represented by multiple-exposure photography. And, there's a man in the moon that looks just like those made by Georges Méliès years before, most famously in "Le Voyage dans la lune" (A Trip to the Moon) (1902). Méliès's imaginative fantasies and creative trick effects made him the leading pioneer of early cinema, and the films he made around the turn of the century were far better and even technically more advanced than this trifling Oz series.

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.

Fairies weave a magic cloak capable of granting its wearer one wish but cannot decide who should receive it. Finally the Man in the Moon suggests they give it to the unhappiest person they can find. This person as it turns out is Fluff (played by Mildred Harris), on her way to the land of Noland with her brother Bud (as played by Violet MacMillan), their Aunt Rivette and their pet mule Nickodemus to make a new life having just recently lost her {and Bud's} father. After receiving the cloak from the fairies, Fluff wishes for happiness and Bud as luck should have walks right into inheriting a kingdom, making Fluff a princess. Things are well until their pet mule Nickodemus gets captured by robbers and the 683 year old beguiling Queen Zixi of Ix decides to come looking for the cloak, wishing to make herself appear as young and beautiful in her own mirror as others already see her.

The main problem with this movie is it seems to lack focus. While entitled "The Magic Cloak of Oz", the title should probably instead read "The Startling Adventures of Nickodemus the Mule" since Nickodemus (wonderfully brought to life by Fred Woodward) and his animal friends garner most of the attention during this one's running time. Now Nickodemus is often delightfully amusing to watch and really his scenes tend to provide this one's funniest moments. Another problem for some may be there's not enough familiar Oz style characters in this one, aside from the animals and the demanding, soup-eating Rolly Rogues. All in all though, this one's flaws ultimately prove somewhat forgivable since it's such an imaginative journey into a childlike fantasy world.