Le pays des jouets

Mother Goose and her puppet goose Sylvester introduces a stage performance of the many children story characters. Tom (Tommy Sands) and Mary (Annette Funicello) are planning to get married. Tom is the son of the Piper and Mary is from "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary". Barnaby (Ray Bolger) intends to marry Mary and steal her money. He recruits petty criminals Gonzorgo and Roderigo to throw Tom into the sea and steal Mary's sheep. Gonzorgo has the idea to sell Tom to the gypsies to make money twice. Bo Beep (Ann Jillian) brings news that the sheep have gone. Mary is out of options and is forced to marry Barnaby until Tom suddenly returns with the gypsies. Meanwhile, Bo Beep leads the kids to the Forest of No Return to find her sheep. Tom and Mary go to save the children. The talking trees allow them to go to the Toymaker.

This Technicolor fantasy has all the bright colors in the rainbow. It insists on being cheery despite following so much the villains. Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello are not particularly compelling. Funicello is darn cute but has limitations in her acting. The songs are cheery. This has that cutesy Disney charm but it does not really stand the test of time. It has enough wackiness for kids of that era and this should have an appeal due to its nostalgia.

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 think that when you're a kid, there are movies you just watch over and over and whether they're any good or not, you associate certain things with that movie. This is one of those movies. I think that my favorite scenes were the musical numbers -- when Annette sings the song about not being able to make ends meet, when the Gypsies come to town (especially that part!) the forest of no return number. It was just a cool movie with those sort of cheesy sixties special effects. I don't know if kids today would like it -- too much Pokemon and other stunning special effects and insane animation. But I think it's worth a shot.

It was sixty years since Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough's magical musical for kids premiered on Broadway when this version came out and now it's nearly 50 years since the film was in theaters. It doesn't rank up with the one that Laurel&Hardy did in the Thirties. For one thing the Victor Herbert score was cut, but not added to. Secondly Stan and Ollie were the center of things even though they are supporting characters. That in itself made their March Of The Wooden Soldiers memorable.

Still this version that Disney did featured several of his stable of young stars like Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands as the young lovers of Toyland who want to wed. But evil Barnaby reprised in this version by Ray Bolger is going to put a stop to that. He's got designs on Annette's virtue and more important on the inheritance he knows she will get upon her wedding day. Bolger is having a great old time hamming it up as Barnaby.

Stan and Ollie are saluted by Disney with Gene Sheldon and Henry Calvin, fresh from the Zorro series. They're funny, but are clearly relegated to supporting players as Bolger's inept stooges. As Stan Laurel was still alive when Babes In Toyland was in the theaters, I've often wondered what he thought of Sheldon and Calvin.

Tommy Kirk who was barely out of his teens got a real treat to work with one of the great funny men of all time. Babes In Toyland is a great example for those of us to see the zany humor in the character of Ed Wynn as the Toymaker with Kirk as his assistant. The two of them work very well together.

Even Tommy Sands gets into the humor of things when he dons an outrageous gypsy drag persona to foil one of Bolger's schemes. A scheme that goes awry when Calvin and Sheldon don't precisely obey orders. You just can't get good help, even in Toyland.

I even think Victor Herbert would have approved of the way his numbers were done though he probably would not like the Disney interpolations that were made. He was a stickler for such things in his life.

Viewing March Of The Wooden Soldiers back to back with Babes In Toyland doesn't make this version look inferior by any means.

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!