Babes in Toyland

...from MGM and directors Gus Meins and Charles Rogers. In the fantastical world of Toyland, many fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters live together in a weird community. Widow Peep (Florence Roberts), aka The Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe, takes care of her many children, including eldest daughter Little Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry). She also rents a room to toymakers Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) and Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy). Bo-Peep is in love with Tom-Tom (Felix Knight), but the dastardly landlord Barnaby (Henry Brandon) wants Bo-Peep for himself, and threatens to evict Widow Peep if Bo-Peep won't marry him. Stannie and Ollie vow to help the Peeps, but they cause even more trouble.

Storybook sets and stylized costumes add to the head-trip visuals of this whacked-out yet entertaining kids flick. I was particularly fond of the weird dwarf-in-a-costume mouse who moves around in an unsettling way, usually running from the equally off-kilter Cat with a Fiddle.

The large scale finale, featuring scores of extras as evil "bogeymen" versus man-sized wooden soldiers, is impressively chaotic and occasionally disturbingly violent.

When video was much less accessible, I waited every holiday season to see this movie. I always remembered the fun stuff, especially Laurel and Hardy, but forgot some of the bad music and rather draggy dialogue. Nevertheless, the set designers did a nice job creating this nursery rhyme world, with three little pigs (one of whom gets turned to sausages), and a raft of other characters. The scenes in the toy shop with the Boys are the best. I do remember as a small child being pretty terrified of that land of the bogy men. It was well done, as are all places where "you must never go" or "where you will be banished to." Stan and Ollie do their shtick with finger wiggles and some silly game called "peewees." They attempt to save the day for the old woman who lives in a shoe. They manage to bumble everything up royally. Still, as things play out, this doesn't have the tightly knit fabric of their best comedies--they need to be on camera more. But as a holiday event, this is worth a look for a new generation.

There are many films based on Victor Herbert's famous operetta, Babes in Toyland. There's the 1961 Disney film with Ray Bolger, there's the 1997 animated film, there's the 1980s TV film with Drew Barrymore, but the one I'm going to look at today is the 1934 Hal Roach Studios film starring the legendary comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy. I've I had to spill the truth, I'd say that this is my third favorite film of all time. It's up there with The Wizard of Oz and in my opinion, it should get a lot more recognition. For 1934, it's a wonder what they were able to accomplish with the hour and a half long film, not just with the special and practical effects, but with the pure spectacle and enchantment. This is a magical film, a film that grabs me and sucks me into it's realm every time I set eyes to it. It's got spectacular songs, brilliant set designs, a monkey in a Mickey Mouse costume and wondrous stop motion effects that rival that of King Kong. If I were to recommend it, I'd say see it in color, which is usually the version that airs on television anyway. The color, in my opinion, makes everything pop more and makes the fantasy land of Toyland seem more enchanted, more storybook like. It's like you are right there, experiencing the film's events with Stannie Dumb and Ollie Dee and routing for the Wooden Soldiers as they kick Bogeyman rump.

Laurel and Hardy are at their finest in this film and it's obvious this dim witted duo were one of the many inspirations for Star Wars' R2-D2 and C-3P0. They're always getting into trouble, getting dunked in a pool of water and getting fired from their job after a wooden soldier reigns havoc in the toy factory. Felix Knight, who portrays Tom-Tom Piper is a fantastic singer and Henry Brandon, who was just 21 years old at the time pulls off a menacing and wicked Silas Barnaby. And those Bogeyman, hoggish and haggard monstrosities are the most terrifying adversaries ever put to film. When I was a kid, these ghoulish, grotesque abominations were one of the elements of this film that made my jaw drop to the floor. I ran to the closet and grabbed my plush stuffed bunny rabbit and hoped the Bogeymen would go away.

Luckily, the Wooden Soldiers arrive to take out the villainous creatures and Barnaby as well. The Wooden Soldier March makes me feel brave and triumphant, like I can take on any peril and come out on top. These soldiers kick the living tar out of the Bogeymen and in one scene, a wooden soldier looses his head as he chases a Bogeyman into a house. In the very end, Barnaby and the Bogeymen are banished, everybody cheers and Ollie Dee gets a butt full of sharp darts launched from a cannon. What a rather macabre ending to an otherwise marvelous and magical motion picture. This is the pinnacle Thanksgiving movie for me and while there are many versions of the operetta in existence, this will always be the definitive version for me. Laurel and Hardy are grand, the look of the film is grand and this film just screams childhood. It takes me back to the carefree, innocent days of youth.

Bring on the Wooden Soldiers!

Babes in Toyland was the first movie I saw on a big screen- -a holiday presentation in my grammar school auditorium, circa 1957- -uncut, unlike the many subsequent presentations I saw on TV in after years. I fell in love with Stan and Ollie, with Toyland, with the magic of the movies, all at once- -all of us watching laughed and thrilled to see all of the characters we had heard of in nursery rhymes come to life- -even the Three Little Pigs (with "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" on the soundtrack, courtesy of Uncle Walt Disney's studio!)- -we trembled with ecstatic terror at Silas Barnaby and his army of Bogeymen and cheered the house down when Stan and Ollie discovered the Perfect way to rout them and save the day!- -and yes, many of us, watching Charlotte Henry and Felix Knight as Bo-Peep and her plucky suitor Tom-Tom (the Piper's Son), found awakening within ourselves the realization of what romantic love might be about.- -and Stan and Ollie?- -a funny, wonderful duo, children like ourselves, joyously silly and giddily amazing. I dreamt of Toyland that night, and many nights after- -sweet dreams, scarey dreams, dreams of Ollie and Stannie as wonderful friends- -and once I woke crying, realizing that once I was grown up, Toyland would fade to a distant memory. Well, I was wrong. You can go back to Toyland, that Childhood's Dreamland, any time you watch this movie. I love it. You may, too. Note: current video versions are mostly also uncut, some are colorized, which in this instance (perhaps the only one)improves the presentation!

I am a huge Laurel and Hardy fan, and while this may not be considered one of their great feature length films, I love to get this out for the December holidays. After the rest of the family watches "Wonderful Life", "Scrooge" and the Nutcracker, I pull this out and laugh until I cry. The only link to the holiday is the use of the "March of the Soldiers" music - but that's enough for me. Stan Laurel's ingenious battle tactics just send me into a fit.