ExplorerDS6789 This is the story of Toyland, a whimsical little world where all of Mother Goose's nursery rhymes too place, and where many of the character reside. Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, Little Jack Horner, Cat and the Fiddle, all of them. Mickey Mouse lives there too. Children laugh and play all day, it's a happy place. But there is one dark area in Toyland in the form of a man. A mean old grouch named Silas Barnaby, who would give Ebeneezer Scrooge a run for his money. Ol' Barnaby holds the mortgage on the shoe in which the old woman with so many children lives, and unless her daughter, Little Bo Peep, will consent to become his wife, he'll throw them out into the street. Barnaby makes several attempts to woo Miss Peep, but she tells him to get lost, and in response, he scares away her sheep. So as poor Mother Peep wonders what to do, her boarders, Ollie Dee and Stannie Dumb come downstairs, or rather, Stannie falls out the upstairs window. She tells them about her financial situation, so Ollie steps in and gives her his savings...which Stannie had "borrowed" to buy some more peewees. Ollie promises he'll get the money from their master, the Toymaker, and the two leave for work. Unfortunately the surly Toymaker wasn't in the mood to chit-chat because the boys were late again, and matters were not helped when they spill a can of paint all over him. Meanwhile, Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them. Tom Tom, the piper's strapping, handsome young son comes to her aide as they ask around and finally locate the little woolly beasts. Bo Peep is certain she's found the man of her dreams. Back at the toy factory, Santa Claus arrives to pick up a very special order: 600 toy soldiers, one feet high. Unfortunately for him, Stannie took the order and thought it was 100 soldiers 6 feet high. The life-sized toy soldiers nearly destroy the factory and cause Stannie and Ollie to lose their jobs.Things looked pretty bad for the Peeps, who stood to lose their shoe. Barnaby again made the offer that if Bo marries him, he'll forget the mortgage. Deciding to try and get the better of that old buzzard, Ollie has another plan: he puts himself in a crate and has Stannie deliver him to Barnaby as an early Christmas present, then once he's inside the house, he'll steal the mortgage. Barnaby is actually touched by the gift and all goes swell, until Stannie ends up giving it all away. So now the two of them are placed under arrest for burglary. They'll be publicly humiliated by "ducking" and then banished to Bogeyland. Yeesh, Toyland's got a very strict penal system. I'd hate to think what they give to murderers. Bo manages to get them released by reluctantly agreeing to marry Barnaby, and so Old King Cole pardons the boys. Little Bo Barnaby. Nah, doesn't sound right. But Stannie and Ollie won't give up so easily. They pull yet another elaborate trick on Barnaby, and this one works. They pull the old switcheroo and Barnaby ends up marrying Stannie. Bo and Tom Tom go off together, while Barnaby grumbles about being made a fool of. Time to pull off a dastardly deed of his own: he kidnaps Elmer, one of the three little pigs, then plants his hat and some sausage links in Tom Tom's house, framing him for both pig-napping and murder. The poor lad is then exiled to Bogeyland, despite having an alibi, but the king won't listen. Stannie and Ollie smell a rat when nibbling on the sausage, discovering it to be beef. They follow their hunch and find Elmer in Barnaby's cellar. The monster rushes off and King Cole puts out a 50,000 guinea reward for his capture. Meanwhile, Bo Peep has ventured off to Bogeyland to find her beloved, and they soon find themselves surrounded by those ferocious creatures. Stannie and Ollie come to their rescue and they all escape together. Unfortunately for them and everyone else in Toyland, Barnaby is in league with the Bogies. In fact, I'll bet he's their leader, who shaves off his fur and pretends to be a person. In other words, Barnaby leads a whole army of Bogiemen to lay siege to Toyland. Utter chaos ensues as residents try to fight off the monsters, or hide from them. Stannie and Ollie try hold them off using throwing darts, and Mickey Mouse drops small bombs on them. When this isn't enough, they bring out the big guns: the wooden soldiers! Once activated, the entire legion of 6-foot toy soldiers counter the Bogey attack, sending those monsters retreating. Stannie and Ollie decide to load some darts in a cannon for a parting shot, but unfortunately, it was Ollie, not the Bogeys, who got it in the end.So, I guess they all live happily ever after. Barnaby was probably crushed to death by those falling blocks, Stannie and Ollie were deemed heroes, and Bo Peep and Tom Tom got married. Maybe. If you're a Laurel and Hardy fan as I am, I definitely recommend this feature. I watch it every year at Christmas time. Well made for a Depression era piece. It's not perfect, but I think it's pretty enjoyable. See it when you can.

johnstonjames I know, I know. everyone will debate this till the end of time. at least lovers of Toyland will. the scrooges won't give a d---. but I happen to love Victor Herbert and try to collect all the versions of Toyland I can. I even have the old kinescope live TV broadcast from the 50's presented by Oldsmobile, and the Shirley Temple version. The only one I won't touch is the Barrymore,Reeves version from the 80's. I'll leave that to the terminally unimaginative and people who really don't care if Toyland property values decline.I consider myself a real Toyland fan and I seem to prefer calling this 'March of Wooden Soldiers'. it gives it a independent feel and after all that is the name of Herbert's music. so why not. I love this movie and I love Toyland. I hope Toyland fans will keep fighting the boogey scrooges who hate Toyland because they lashed out the week of December 2009 by purposely giving the Toyland films low ratings so they would go down in popularity on IMDb.I checked. They even rated the kinescope version which is unlikely they even saw that one. luckily these scrooged-out boogey creeps don't know all the versions because they missed the Shirley Temple one.they mostly went after the Disney,the Hal Roach,and for some reason the kinescope classic. i guess that is called cyber scrooging or something.you can't trust anyone these days.

george.schmidt . MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (1934) **** Laurel & Hardy are wonderfully cast in this adaptation of the childhood fave that incorporates all of the Mother Goose tales/characters in Babeland where the doofus duo –Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum, respectively – try to help Old Mother Peep and Little Bo-Peep keep their shoe, um, their house, from the clutches of the evil tyrant Silas Barnaby. A cornucopia of classic characters like The Three Little Pigs and even Mickey Mouse (a monkey in a costume!) make for a delightful diversion. Oddly enough the 'colorized' version actually enhances the dream-like quality of the production. A true family fare classic that is best seen during the holidays.

John T. Ryan Christmas comes but once a year. Of course we think of Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), which until recently had been thought to be in public domain. It was subject to almost constant showings. From Thanksgiving until New Year's, it was run on any channel and was. (We even remember seeing it run on 2 channels, simultaneously!) Well, due to some technicality concerning the music's not being out of copyright straightened out that Public Domain business. But that, Schultz, is another Story! Other Seasonal Favourites include: WHITE Christmas (1954), Christmas IN CONNECTICUT(1945), A CHARLIE BROWN Christmas (1965), HOW THE GRINCH STOLE Christmas (1966), Jean Shephard's A Christmas STORY (1983), MEET JOHN DOE (1941)*, GOING MY WAY (1944)*, THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S (1945)* and Charles Dickens'A Christmas CAROL (all versions).One film that makes its appearance with out any fanfare each Yuletide is BABES IN TOYLAND aka MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (Hal Roach/MGM, 1934). The Musical Fantasy, based on the Victor Herbert Operetta, first performed on October 13, 1903. Its premiere was at the Majestic Theater, on Broadway in New York City. Much of the music that was retained for the film was very well known to the general public.The Movie of BABES IN TOYLAND takes the characters of Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle Dee, prominent in English literature even before being featured in Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND; and transforms into Stannie-Dumb & Ollie-Dee. It was a near perfect adaptation; putting Laurel & Hardy right in the story, both as Mother Goose type characters and in their familiar roles.OUR STORY……The Boys have jobs working in the Toy Factory and share the rental of a room from Mother Peep (Florence Roberts), who is a Widow and lived in a huge Shoe and had so many Children, etc. Her eldest child, Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry, Woo,woo,woo,woo!) has the job of tending the sheep, which she continually looses. After "playing hard to get", she agrees to marriage with Tom-Tom, the Piper's Son (Felix Knight). All of Toyland is jubilant at the announcement. That is, except for one citizen.Lecherous, dirty old man type, Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon) is the old miserly guy who is desirous of Bo-Peep, and has unsuccessfully proposed marriage to her. But, the "Crooked Little Man, who lives in a Crooked Little House" also holds the now overdue, subject to foreclosure Mortgage on Widow Pep's house.The Boys attempt to help Mother Peep both in trying to borrow the money from their stern and crabby boss, the Toymaker (William Burness) and in an unsuccessful attempt to steal the Mortgage agreement from Barnaby's house.Rather than see Stannie-Dumb & Ollie-Dee face punishment and to save her Mother and family from eviction, Bo-Peep agrees to nuptials with Barnaby. With help of Stan & Ollie, Barnaby is fooled (he didn't know that the highly veiled Bride was really Laurel!), but he frames Tom-Tom, who faces punishment of "Banishment to Bogeyland". Bogeyland's being a cavernous wasteland populated by the Bogeymen (or 'Boogiemen', if you please!) They are monstrous, half beast-half man, vicious, wild creatures; who turn out to be followers of, you guessed it, Silas Barnaby! In the finale, after Stan & Ollie rescue Bo-Peep & Tom-Tom, Barnaby leads the Bogeymen in the invasion an sacking of Toyland; until Laurel & Hardy turn the tables by using "The March of The Toys" and some hereto for useless Toy Soldiers.BABES IN TOYLAND (or MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS) successfully touches all the bases and hits the ball right out of the ball park, a Grand Slammer! As a Christmas story, as Family Viewing Fare, as a Musical and of course, as a Laurel & Hardy starring vehicle it cannot be beat! The Laurel & Hardy bits of business just roll out naturally, without any slowing of the story. And we are treated to a vast array of the great Comedians' best stuff; what, with Stan's prowess for a sort of "stick ball game" ("Peewees") and some references to bits of comic business from previous pictures.Producer,Mr. Hal Roach, Sr. did an excellent job of assembling a supporting cast featuring many a veteran of the old silent comedy days, like Old King Cole (Sennett veteran Kewpie Morgan), Chief of Police (Billy Blecher) and Townsmen (Sam Lufkin, Ham Kinsey & Roach Studios regulars, Baldwin Cooke & Charlie Hall). Additionally we see veteran "B" film actors like: Stanley "Tiny" Sandford, Frank Austin, Richard Alexander, Jack "Tiny" Lipson, Virginia Kams, Marie Wilson, Jean Darling and many more.We must take notice of our Bo-Peep,Miss Charlotte Henry the young, delicate, beauty of a starlet, who regrettably made only about 30 films; opting for early retirement. Her screen persona was so sweet and sexy, even! (What a "dirty old man" I have become!) The music is all Victor Herbert, but for short quotations from Disney's "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf"; as the Three Little Pigs and a couple of additional characters added were "The Cat and the Fiddle's" foil, a Monkey dressed as Mickey Mouse! If you see it on Broadcast, Cable or Satellite TV, you're stuck with whatever the format that is being shown. If you rent or buy a DVD or VHS, check its running time to make sure that it isn't an abridged version, as you'll miss out on a lot.It's a shame that this movie was not done in Technicolor, as the MGM Musical Extravaganza, THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) would be 5 years later. This is one time where I could approve of the "Colorization", which has been done to some VHS & DVD editions are; for the effect is one of its being a Gigantic Story Book. And, that's exactly what it is, Schultz!NOTE: * Strictly speaking, these 3 are not Christmas pictures, but do come to their endings at Christmastime; but,so does NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955).