Babes in Toyland (1934)

Directors:

Gus Meins
Charley Rogers

Writers:

Frank Butler (dialogue)
Nick Grinde (dialogue)

Release Date:

14 December 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

1 and 1/2 hours of laughter!

Plot:

Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage...

Plot Keywords:

Good Versus Evil | Toy | Eviction | Fairy Tale Land | King

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stannie Dum
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie Dee
Charlotte Henry	...	Little Bo-Peep
Felix Knight	...	Tom-Tom Piper
Henry Brandon	...	Silas Barnaby (as Harry Kleinbach)
Florence Roberts	...	Mother Widow Peep
Virginia Karns	...	Mother Goose
Marie Wilson	...	Mary Quite Contrary
Johnny Downs	...	Little Boy Blue

Also Known As:

Laurel and Hardy in Toyland
March of the Wooden Soldiers (USA) (reissue title)
Revenge Is Sweet
Wooden Soldiers

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Spain:T | Australia:G | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios Inc.

Trivia:

Debut of Henry Brandon.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the wooden soldiers approach the Boogey men, Barnaby is holding Bo Peep in his arms, but when they fire the cannon shot that knocks him down, she is gone.

Quotes:

Stannie Dum: I've got a Christmas present for you.
Barnaby: A Christmas gift in the middle of July?
Stannie Dum: Well we always do our Christmas shopping early.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Perfect Strangers: Babes in Babylon (#2.6)" (1986)

Soundtrack:

The Ku-Ku Song

Babe(and Stan)lost in Toyland

Marvelous set design almost makes-up for tedious plot and super 1930's-style sentimentality. Not enough Stan and Ollie for my taste, and too many dull musical numbers and much padding with what should have been the lesser characters. The boys seem secondary again, as occured with their several operetta movies. The razor thin story of the lecherous Barnaby trying to steal-away Bo-Peep from the virginal TomTom made me thank-goodness for the fast-forward ability of the DVD format!

The film is really more of a fantasy than a comedy, so don't expect much L & H fun-making. I fail to see the child-like charm of some of the scenes: there are some ugly scenes of equally ugly Bogeymen writhing with pain as they run about with several darts hanging from their bodies, and Barnaby looks like a pervert and molester as he clutches the barely legal(?)screaming BoPeep.

Amazingly, I think the colorized and digitally restored version enhanced the the viewing experience for a film that should have been filmed in color in the first place(I don't praise colorization lightly; normally I despise it).

All these comment come from a big fan of the boys...sorry they were so wasted in some of their later films.