The Patchwork Girl Of Oz is a 1914 film loosely based off of the L. Frank Baum book of the same name.
The story begins with a young boy named Ojo and Unc Nunkie. Their bread tree isn't producing food, so Ojo insists they venture to the Emerald City in search of food. Visiting first Unc's good friend Dr. Pipt, who is working on a Powder of Life to bring to life the titular Patchwork Girl as a servant to his wife, trouble arises when after Scraps the Patchwork Girl is brought to life, while Unc Nunkie, Dr. Pipt's wife, and the boyfriend of Dr. Pipt's daughter are turned to stone. Ojo, with his new friends, must then travel Oz for the magical cure.
The plot mainly only differs from the book by having characters that would be too difficult to portray with early film techniques absent (i.e. the Glass Cat) while adding new characters (Dr. Pipt now has a daughter who gets caught up in the events, and Jinjur from the second Oz book becomes involved, as well as Mewel the donkey and the Zoop) and a romantic subplot that was nonexistent in the book.
This film provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Dorothy, the Shaggy Man, the Glass Cat, and phonograph are not present.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Ozma is described as having "ruddy blonde" hair in The Marvelous Land of Oz. This film depicts her with the curly brown hair of the illustration art from Ozma of Oz and onwards.
- Cross-Cast Role:
- Baum reportedly could not find a female actress with enough acrobatic skill to play Scraps, so instead the male French acrobat Pierre Couderc was cast.
- Ojo was played by Violet Mac Millan, ironically making both main characters played by the opposite gender.
- Eating Optional: No one starves in Oz, but it's still not comfortable being hungry.
- Canon Foreigner: Mewel is a goofy pantomime donkey created for the film, and the Zoop is an ape-like creature who appears nowhere in the Oz books. Dr. Pipt never had a daughter in the book either.
- Nephewism: Ojo is being raised by his uncle.
- Pantomime Animal: The animals are depicted in pantomime.
- Taken for Granite: The plot kicks off when Unc Nunkie and two other characters are accidentally turned into marble statues.
