Babes in Toyland

Disney version of the Victor Herbert operetta about Mother Goose characters, previously filmed in 1934 with Laurel & Hardy. That version is the best of the ones I've seen but this one isn't without some positives. For starters, it's a beautiful-looking film with great sets, props, and costumes. That goose is creepy, though. It's a movie full of bright vivid colors that pop out at you. The cast is good, with Tommy Sands and a stunning Annette Funicello as likable (if dull) leads. Ray Bolger has fun as the villain Barnaby. Gene Sheldon and Henry Calvin, playing Barnaby's henchmen, are obviously impersonating Laurel and Hardy, and having a good time doing so. Ed Wynn is a scene stealer as the Toymaker. Disney legend Tommy Kirk plays his assistant and seems to be having fun. Director Jack Donohue does a respectable job bringing Toyland and its Mother Goose characters to life on the screen. But somehow the whole thing just doesn't click the way it should. You get the feeling from the start that the movie is trying way too hard. There are songs on top of songs and none of them are particularly strong. Most are terribly corny. There are interesting things about the film (particularly the visuals) so it's not a complete dud. It helps to avoid comparisons to the superior 1934 version. If you're a fan of the story or a Disney buff, by all means give it a shot. Also if you're a parent of a young child perhaps they'll like it. Everyone else go in with lowered expectations.

I can remember watching this movie over and over when I was little-- of course, as the years went by I eventually taped over it. Well, when I finally grew out of my "I'm too cool for this movie" phase, I regretted my hasty decision. Luckily, last night it was on in the middle of the night on the Disney Channel and I practically programmed the VCR with lightening speed. I still love it, and I always associate certain scenes with certain memories, and now that I'm older I understand what is going on a little bit better (not to mention some of the jokes that flew right over my head when I was four!)! If you don't watch it for yourself, you're kids'll love it. Believe me, I know!

Even Disney buffs willing to go to the ends of the earth for Annette Funicello might admit this is one of the former Mouseketeer's weaker efforts for the Disney company. Mary Contrary hopes to get married, but her wedding plans are thwarted by an evil villain. Most of the production and the special effects in the finale are very good, and the adaptation of the operetta score is fine, but the balky direction has no pizazz, no snap. Worse, the scowling children make exclamations in unison, Tommy Sands is excruciatingly hammy in drag as an old gypsy woman, and the Laurel and Hardy-inspired slapstick routines feel out of place. Veterans Ray Bolger and Ed Wynn bring the film some polish; otherwise, there's not much happening in "Toyland", beyond the fact it has a distinct case of "Wizard Of Oz"-itis. ** from ****

I used to think 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' was the very worst experience a parent could inflict on a child. I was wrong. There is also this Disney atrocity to contend with.

When Victor Herbert produced his 'Babes in Toyland' on Broadway in 1903, it followed on the steps of the preceding stage extravaganza, 'The Wizard of Oz', which it outdid in magnificence, costliness (its shipwreck scene outdid 'The Wizard's cyclone, its Toyland outdid the other's Emerald City, etc.), imagination and original melodies. It was eventually followed by another Victor Herbert Christmas spectacle, 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' (1908), which surpassed them all in spectacular stage effects, number of participants and box office. This was a magic time when sentimental Irish Catholic New-Yorkers genuinely believed that when they went to heaven, they would hear Victor Herbert's tunes sung by angel choirs until the end of time.

Unfortunately, all of Herbert's operettas would have been totally forgotten today if it hadn't been for the awful Hollywood Laurel and Hardy vehicle of the thirties ("Babes in Toyland", 1934, a.k.a. "Laurel and Hardy in Toyland", "March of the Wooden Soldiers", "Revenge Is Sweet" and "Wooden Soldiers"), which preserved its spirit of pantomime and most of its storyline but sacrificed its music by relegating the whole score (except for five songs) to a very scratchy and noisy background on the soundtrack.

Then came Disney. This film (available on DVD) is nothing more than an elaborate episode of the Mickey Mouse Club. The story has been changed around for no reason: the only remaining common element through all the different versions is that there is a villain in Mother Goose Land named Barnaby Barnacle, who wears a tall black top hat and a long moustache, has two funny acolytes in crime and is out to prevent a happy ending for the other younger cast members. The original songs have been simplified, modernized, 'disneyfied', 'cutified', 'Lawrence-Welked' and bowdlerized almost out of existence, probably because they would have been considered too 'difficult' for the intended nose-picking kiddie audience. This is very ironic since it contributed to 'Babes' downfall at the box office and served as a lesson to Disney who did everything in his power, subsequently, with 'Mary Poppins' to provide a great score, first-class singers, great orchestration, and a nostalgic feel closer to traditional turn-of-the century entertainments.

The only reason I am not harsher on Disney's story treatment is that it was followed in 1986 by an even worse live action treacly TV version and in 1997 by the definitely dismal animated one (MGM).

'I Can't Do the Sum', whose main musical idea was that a group of schoolchildren, perplexed by a mathematical problem verging on the absurd, would punctuate their singing by scratching their chalk rhythmically on their chalkboards is now without chalkboard sounds - and logic. The forest lullaby is without its mystery and comfort. The title song, the very inspiring 'Toyland', is not even given a proper (choral) rendition but is instead screeched by a group of untalented children walking through the forest as if on their way to the washrooms of an amusement park to regurgitate their candy floss.

Even 'The March of the Wooden Soldiers' (which has managed to survive on its own as a beloved orchestral Christmas favourite in America and a Boston Pops staple) is not even given the dignity of a proper Christian burial but truncated and drowned under a cacophony of sound effects and pie-in-the-face-type slapstick.

There is nothing to salvage this mess, not even the wholehearted effort of its cast, with a special tip of the hat to Tommy Sands in a Gypsy scene (in drag) somewhat reminiscent of Stanley Donen's 'The Pirate' (1948).

The only way to hear Victor Herbert's original score today - along with Glen MacDonough's original lyrics - is to hunt for a 2002 Universal CD reprising a 1944 mono studio recording of 11 of the original numbers (still heavily truncated) and the vinyl Readers' Digest 'Treasury of Operettas' 9-LP boxset, which contains 8 numbers, in very impressive 'Cyclophonic' stereo. Conductor Keith Brion also came out with a CD of extensive dreamy orchestral extracts from this operetta (including ballets and scene changes and an extended Overture). There doesn't seem to exist a recording of the entire score which comprises, apparently, dozens of different numbers.

It's a 1960s Disney Musical, I should not have to say more than this about the movie.

It's great for kids, unfortunately.

I remember seeing it, and liking it as a kid - and got it for my 3 yr old daughter.

My wife hates me for it. Not that the movie is that horrible - but my daughter is in love with Tommy Sands and wants to watch this movie every night.

My wife even took my daughter to the library and checked out kids movies - she was excited until she got home, and just said she wanted to watch Tom and Mary (The names of the main actors in the movie) If you have little kids - they'll love it. You might even enjoy it some yourself - until it's overplayed.