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John Dough and the Cherub
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Otis Turner
Cast: (unknown)
The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The Selig Polyscope Company, Incorporated. / Produced by William N. Selig. Scenario by Otis Turner, from the novel John Dough and the Cherub by L. Frank Baum. / Released 19 December 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Fantasy.
Synopsis: [The Film Index, 24 December 1910, page ?] The prophecy is fulfilled and John Dough becomes the King of Lo-Hi. As King of the Lowlanders and Highlanders, he assumes the dignified duties of a ruling monarch, but with no degree of satisfaction to his adherents or happiness to himself, as the evil spirit of the witches and the trend of natural events strew with shagged breakers the paths of the “ship of state” — the alchemist entrusts his wonderful elixir of life to the baker woman for safe keeping, who, being color blind, mistakes the precious elixir for a rheumatism cure, and the application has startling effects. Neglecting to dispose of the contents of the bowl — same finds its way into the baker’s bread, and the result almost proves the undoing of Lo-Hi — John Dough gives his assistance in the celebration of the 4th. No end of trouble results from the invasion of his peaceful rest by the much-despised Miffkits — then comes the cherub, who introduces Dough to his animal friends, and incidentally secures supplies. He then visits the fairies’ garden and later interviews the Princess Ozma, who makes a prophecy — “The Throne of Lo-Hi shall vacant be until the coming by air or sea of an oven-baked man and a Cherub wee.” Accordingly, John Dough drops into the Land of Oz and meets the Cherub. Through their companionship then we see them encountering the tempestuous seas of frills and pains alike and completion of the weird and wonderful fairy tale of the Kingly rulers of Lo-Hi.
Reviews: [Variety, 24 December 1910, page ?] The young folks in particular will enthuse over the adventures of “John Dough” in Fairyland. The animals are well impersonated. A timely film for the holiday season. // [The Moving Picture World, 31 December 1910, page ?] A delightfully complicated fairy story with witches and elves, and fairies and prophecies galore, each appearing in unexpected places and performing unexpected stunts. Such a film is hard to describe since its peculiar attraction lies in actually seeing its surprising combinations. // [The Nickelodeon, 7 January 1911, page ?] A phantasmagoria of up-to-date, fairy-tale effects, not very comprehensible, except perhaps to readers of the Baum book, but enjoyable anyhow. In other words, there is not much logic or reason in things, but that is a small matter, since the success of the piece depends entirely on its spectacularity and extravaganza. We see an amount of stage carpentry and fantastic costuming seldom encountered in motion picture productions, and it all must have involved a great deal of time, trouble and expense.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Authors: L. Frank Baum
Listing updated: 7 August 2023.
References: Website-AFI.
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