User Reviews

I know many people will not watch this for many reasons. The excuses range from "I Hate Black and White Movies", "I Do Not Like Old Movies" ,"I herd this was stupid", "I never Herd of this", and so many others.

Well this film is "Dated" but its also part of its charm. This film stars "Laurel and Hardy" and it is a delightful surprise. Think of this film as the inspiration for the "Shrek" films.

In this film A woman is about to lose her home. Stannie Dumb (Stan Laurel) and Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy), live in a shoe (as in the nursery rhyme There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe), along with Mother Peep (the Old Woman), Bo Peep (Charlotte Henry), a mouse resembling Mickey Mouse (and actually played by a live monkey in a costume), and many other children. The mortgage on the shoe is owned by the villainous Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon), who is looking to marry Bo Peep. Knowing the Widow Peep is having a difficult time paying the mortgage, Barnaby offers the old woman an ultimatum – unless Bo Peep agrees to marry him he will foreclose on the shoe. Widow Peep refuses, but is worried about where she'll get the money to pay the mortgage. Ollie offers her all the money he has stored away in his savings can, only to learn that Stannie has taken it to buy peewees (a favored toy consisting of a wooden peg with tapered ends that rises in the air when struck with a stick near one end and is then caused to fly through the air by being struck again with the stick). He and Stannie set out to get the money for the mortgage from their boss, the Toymaker (William Burress). But Stannie has mixed up an order from Santa Claus (building 100 wooden soldiers at six feet tall, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot tall) and one of the soldiers, when activated, wrecks the toy shop. Stannie and Ollie are fired without getting the money.

I don't want to tell too much more but truest me the film is fast paced and its never boring.

Give it a try!

...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.

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 have read some of the other comments about this movie and it seems some think it is a childish movie and doesn't do justice to Stan and Ollie. If you ever saw this movie as a youngster, you would not think so. I remember it in black and white back in the sixties and the first time I saw it, it was scary to see the bogeymen and Barnaby's twisted demeanor. I still watch it and I am fifty years old. It almost takes me back to those younger days when life was more simpler and there weren't so many worries. For a little over an hour it is a welcome escape and as far as I am concerned, it is as much a part of Thankgiving as turkey dinner. I can really relate to the toymaker's attitude after years of working and surely we have ALL met enough real life Barnabys and that is what makes the movie still very entertaining and amusing. So I urge you all that while that turkey is cooking to kick back and be a kid again for just a little while.

BABES IN TOYLAND (Hal Roach/MGM, 1934), directed Gus Meins and Charles Rogers, is a musical fairy tale based on Victor Herbert's 1903 operetta that became tailor-made for the talents of comedy team Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in what's considered to be their very best and highly acclaimed adaptation taken from an operatic work, thanks to its fine script, comedy material and notable storybook characters brought to life on the screen. In spite of Stan and Ollie having to take time away from the screen in favor of plot development, musical interludes and romantic subplot, even appearing nearly ten minutes from the start of the story, the movie, overall, succeeds.

Set in the mythical land of Toyland, Widow Peep (Florence Roberts) is an old woman about to be evicted from her home by the evil Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon) unless her mortgage is paid. Barnaby is willing to overlook the matter and offer her the deed in favor of being honored for having her daughter, Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry) as his bride. Bo-Peep loves Tom Tom Piper (Felix Knight, dressed like Peter Pan), and will have nothing to do with him. Stanley Dumb (Stan Laurel) and Oliver Dee (Oliver Hardy), a couple of toy-makers who take up room and board in Widow Peep's home, attempt to help by asking their employer, the toy master (William Burress) for an advance in salary, but because Stanley confused Santa Claus's (Ferdinand Munier) order 600 toy soldiers at one foot high, thus giving him 100 toy soldiers at six foot high instead of 600 soldiers at 1 foot high, they both get fired, and must come up with another solution in rescuing Bo-Peep from the clutches of Barnaby.

A memorable score by Victor Herbert, only a few were selected for the screen, including: "Toyland" (sung by Virginia Karns); "Don't Cry, Bo-Peep, Don't Cry" (sung by Felix Knight); "The Castles in Spain," "Go to Sleep, Slumber Deep" and "The March of the Toys (Wooden Soldiers)." Some reissue prints retitled MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS eliminate Mother Goose's opening of "Toyland" as she opens the "Babes in Toyland" storybook and introduces it main characters in song: Little Bo Peep who lost her sheep; Tom Tom the Piper's Son; The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe (Widow Peep); Silas Barnaby, "the meanest man in town"; Hi Diddle Diddle, The Cat and the Fiddle; Three Little Pigs: Elmer, Willie and Jiggs; and finally Stanley Dumb and Oliver Dee, "they love to sleep as you can see;" along with the "Go to Sleep" number, having recently been restored on both video and DVD distributions ranging from colorized to original black and white photography. The musical interludes are not overdone yet capture the mood of the story. In fact, more than half of Victor Herbert's original score has been cast aside in keeping the story to average length (79 minutes).

Charlotte Henry, who starred in Paramount's fantasy to Lewis Carroll's now forgotten screen adaptation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Paramount, 1933), is ideally cast as Bo-Peep. Had fate taken a different turn, one wonders if Henry would have succeeded playing Dorothy in THE WIZARD OF OZ had the L. Frank Baum story been brought to the screen about this time instead of 1939? It so happens that TOYLAND and OZ are similar in nature. They are both set in a mythical land; Silas Barnaby and the Wicked Witch are evil individuals who bring fear to those around them; Barnaby is assisted by hideous Bogeymen while the Witch has her flying monkeys; Laurel and Hardy are do-gooders similar to the Tin Man and the Scarecrow; and finally Toyland citizens bursting into song. Unlike most fantasies of this sort, BABES IN TOYLAND is not one extended dream sequence from which the leading character awakens back to reality as did Dorothy at her farm in Kansas following her Technicolor experience in the land of OZ. This is Toyland from start to finish, with a touch of Disneyland as one of the citizens of Toyland looking very much like Mickey Mouse!

While as Dee and Dumb, Laurel and Hardy perform their roles in their usual traditional manner, but minus their trademark derbys. Their key scenes include having them sneaking into Barnaby's home to retrieve Widow Peep's deed only to get caught, thanks to Stanley, and being sentenced to public dunking in a pond of cold water (only Ollie gets the treatment) and thrown out of Toyland into Boogeyland forever (the same fate later set for Tom-Tom accused of pig-napping Elmer, thanks to Barnaby); their participation in Barnaby's wedding, as well as the grand finale where the toy soldiers are brought to life from the toy factory in their war against the bogeymen with Stan and Ollie's ammunition of darts fired from the cannon. Great march formation and still photography outdoes any computer technology today since more effort was put into this sequence alone. Cartoon violence is the essence here, especially when Ollie falls victim to it in the Wile E. Coyote tradition, but not to the extreme.

More Laurel and Hardy than Victor Herbert, BABES IN TOYLAND is geared for children and adults alike, especially adults who watched this annually on television during the Christmas when they were kids themselves since the 1950s. In recent years, TOYLAND aired on American Movie Classics (1994-1996) and finally Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 24, 2012, with original theatrical title intact). Remade theatrically in 1961 by Walt Disney Productions, then again as either television movies or new theatrical adaptations in later years, it's the 1934 original that appears to live on happily ever after. (***1/2)

I just watched "March of the Wooden Soldiers" for the first time since I was a young kid, hoping for a little bit of reliving the 'ol childhood. I didn't quite get that, as the "kitsch" value of this film is unfortunately kind of low. There's not much for an adult here, even one trying to relive the old memories, as this is most definitely a children's film in every sense of the word! It's not a great film, as the first half pretty much just drags on very slowly, without much going on. The only reason to watch the first half at all is to enjoy the character of Barnaby, the evil rich villain in town, he's just great and has every cliché and mannerism of a "rich villain in the town" down pat.

The film starts to move a bit during the dunking sequence, which is hilarious all the way through! Then we start getting into the action, such as seeing Boogeyland for the first time, which I remember used to scare the heck out of me as a kid.

Another thing, Toyland seems like such the merry place, but when someone does something wrong, the punishment is carried out by guys in black executioner costumes! There's more to Toyland than meets the eye apparently.

Now mean man Barnaby is tricked by Laurel and Hardy into not marrying Bo Peep, so he frames Tom Tom as a killer of one of the three little pigs. As Tom Tom is banished to Boogeyland, it turns out that the "pork" evidence is actually beef (the townsfolk won't touch the pigs but have no problems about killing the cows evidently) and Laurel and Hardy find the pig alive in Barnaby's basement. Barnaby escapes the very angry townsfolk, and it turns out he is not just the man man in town, but he is also the master of the Boogeymen, an army of whom he brings back to town, seemingly a thousand of them, to break stuff, cause terror and even kidnap little children!

This sequence is dynamite, and the townsfolk strike back, finally with Laurel and Hardy pressing the "on" button of all the wooden soldiers, who march into town to rescue the kiddies, and drive the Boogeymen out of town, some to be eaten by alligators! Unfortunately, what I remember as an awesome scene is really short. the actual "March of the Wooden Soldiers" is but a mere three minutes long! That's all it takes to get rid of all the Boogeymen, but there are some cool images in between. The decapitated wooden soldier always creeped me out a bit, and the soldier saving the little girl by giving her a piggyback ride is cute. The magic of "Toyland" must have made the wooden soldiers actually become real in a sense, as before all they did was walk aimlessly in a straight line.

All the actors are decent, and Cagney's mom from "Public Enemy" is Bo Peep's mom. I'm not sure why Laurel and Hardy are living in the house, unless I missed it. But they do a decent job in the film overall, it seems as if they are having a good time.

"March of the Wooden Soldiers" is definitely good for the kiddies, the very young kiddies, because despite that it was released in 1934, it's actually more edgy than much of today's genuine kiddie fare. It's not something you are going to rush twice to see as an adult, but it's good viewing for the very young children.

I know this movie better as "March of The Wooden Soldiers," but it really is one of, if not the, best of Laurel and Hardy. Somehow cast as a Christmas movie (there is an arbitrary reference to Christmas in this movie, and a Santa Claus toy order is messed up), the movie shines as all of the characters in the Mother Goose tales come to life, as do the goblin-like bogey-men, but the movie's best parts shine on Laurel and Hardy's scenes. Beautiful Charlotte Henry ( fittingly enough,a former Alice in Wonderland )and Felix Knight share the rest of the movie charmingly without taking away from the duo. The songs aren't that bad either, but a special note should go to Henry Kleinbach (nee Brandon) in his portrayal as Barnaby. Plucked off the stage while doing a nearly identical role, this young actor at the time creates a more despicable role than Ray Bolger in the Disney version. In fact, Brandon lived much of his career trying to forget this role in which he was almost typecast. This is one movie that should be seen every Christmas.

Barnaby is the creepy landlord asking for Little Bo Peep's hand in marriage. She rejects him, but he vows to get her somehow. He owns the mortgage to her family's shoe house. Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy) and Stannie Dum (Stan Laurel) also live in the house. They promise Mother Peep to get the money and try to ask their employer, the Toymaker. Instead, they get fired for a Stanley mistake.

This is a children's film despite the extremely creepy Barnaby and his demand. It's also known as Babes in Toyland based on the 1903 Victor Herbert operetta. Laurel and Hardy are the comedic punch in a song and dance musical. Some of the costumes are weirdly old and creepy. I'm talking about the cat and mouse and the pigs. This is a good family film although an old man wanting a young girl is always creepy for a children's story.

Not For Me Even As A Kid

Could be the as a kid in 1960s and not sure if I had ever seen in a theater or it was more likely TV.

Grand name, very promising. But, no. Too tedious to enjoy.

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!

Given its nature Babes In Toyland unlike most operettas from bygone days will have productions running forever. The Victor Herbert-Glen McDonough music will last forever and productions for Theater companies that specialize in youth will always be putting on this show.

Hal Roach put on this one and it starred his two favorite comedy players Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy playing sorcerer's apprentices to the evil Barnaby played by Henry Brandon. Brandon wants to take over Toyland and he's got special designs on Little Bo-Peep played by winsome Charlotte Henry whose other big role was Alice in Alice And Wonderland. Those designs are of the Snidely Whiplash variety.

Stan and Ollie play characters and for the most part eschew the normal shtick associated with them. Their characters don't stand out as they are well integrated in the story.

The two musical numbers associated with this production are done quite nicely, Toyland and March Of The Wooden Soldiers. The latter is used to great affect in the climax.

Walt Disney did a decent production of Babes In Toyland in the Sixties with Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands. But I'll take Stan and Ollie any day for a mystical journey to childhood.

Fabulous rendition of the Victor Herbert operetta.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are endearing as the two workers in the toy factory who need to help out their landlady-the old lady who lives in the shoe.

Not only can't they borrow money to help her with the mortgage, they soon find themselves out of work for making the wrong size soldier. What a blessing that will be by film's end.

Silas Barnaby, played with great contempt, by Harry Kleinbach,who in real life was a refugee from Nazi Germany, owns the mortgage. He will tear it up if he can marry the old woman's daughter, a sweet Charlotte Henry. Leave it to Laurel and Hardy to dress up the former as a bride to fool the old skinflint.

Bitter, Barnaby plots to destroy Henry (Bo Peep's) lover, Felix Knight. He plants damaging evidence proving that Knight had killed those poor 3 little pigs. Knight is condemned to Devil's Island. When Laurel and Hardy discover that Barnaby has made this mischief, all hell breaks loose. Seems as though Barnaby is really the head of the Bogey Men, a scary animal-like men hiding out on the island. To gain further revenge, Barnaby brings them out to destroy all of Toyland only to see those overly tall soldiers exact revenge.

A wonderful film for children and adults as well. The singing by Charlotte Henry and Felix Knight is wonderful. The jokes by Laurel and Hardy are as corny but delightful as ever. Great family fare.

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.

This is Laurel and Hardy's best feature because they portray their trademarked characters as the central focus of a lavish, well told story. The entire film is a pleasure to watch from start to finish. It's even better colorized. It has some good musical numbers like 'Toyland,' 'Castle in Spain,' 'Never Mind, 'Bo-Peep,' and the one in the cave that used to put me to sleep; you even hear 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?' in the background in a Three Little Pigs scene.

This movie passes my Test of Time Test: I watched it with my 8 and 10 year old grand children-- they were hypnotized throughout, really enjoying and laughing at Laurel and Hardy's comedy, and were appropriately scared by the sight of the bogey-men. This movie is perfect for anyone who is exactly eight years old (or who ever has been).

We get Ollie's famous finger wiggles, Stan's plays on words, and a little edgy content for adults when Stan, disguised as Bo-Peep, marries Barnaby and does his pinched face cry, when he realizes he then has to stay with Barnaby, "But I don't love him!" Later, when Ollie says that Stannie gets along with Barnaby, he replies, "But that was before we were married."

I give this film a 10. It makes great holiday viewing for the whole family. It's such a wonderful showcase for, and introduction to (for new viewers) the great thirties films of Laurel and Hardy. My grand children wanted more. Then it's off to 'The Music Box' (1932), 'Towed in a Hole' (1932), 'County Hospital' (1932), 'Busy Bodies' (1933), and 'Dirty Work' (1933).

Note for Barnaby fans: Henry Brandon reprises his 'Barnaby' role as an Opera Impresario in the all-singing all-dancing 'Our Gang Follies of 1938' (1937). For a 'change of pace' he plays the lead in the good Republic serial 'Drums of Fu Manchu' (1940) as Fu Manchu himself! Go, Henry!

When I was a kid, The Wizard of Oz, The Great Escape, a Bond film, or a disaster movie were standard programming for Christmas day; I don't ever recall seeing Babes in Toyland listed in the Radio Times. Not only have I never seen this festive 'classic', but I am also a complete stranger to the work of Laurel and Hardy, meaning that the film was a completely new experience to me.

While I wouldn't label it essential Christmas viewing (largely because it doesn't actually take place at Christmas), I can see why many would enjoy the film at this time of year: it's a cosy, whimsical, somewhat saccharine piece of escapism, along the same lines as the aforementioned Judy Garland classic, with singing and dancing, dwarves, and some things that are every bit as much nightmare fuel as flying monkeys and angry apple trees. Plus, Santa does make an appearance, despite the film being set in summer..

Laurel and Hardy play Stanley Dum and Ollie Dee, who live in a shoe with Widow Peep (Florence Roberts) and her daughter Bo-Peep (the drop-dead gorgeous Charlotte Henry). Henry Brandon plays wicked Barnaby Barnicle (Henry Kleinbach), who holds the mortgage for Widow Peep's home, and is demanding payment that he knows she does not have. Stanley and Ollie try to come up with ways to raise the cash, but Barnaby uses the opportunity to try and force Bo-Peep to marry him (gotta be worth a try!). Bo-Peep, however, is in love with Tom-Tom (Felix Knight), the piper's son, and isn't about to go down the aisle with anyone else, especially a crooked old man who's like the child-catcher as played by Tod Slaughter.

Based on an operetta by Victor Herbert, Babes in Toyland (AKA The March of the Wooden Soldiers) features plenty of enjoyable musical numbers and lots of nonsensical fun featuring familiar nursery rhyme characters. As an introduction to Stan And Ollie, the film is somewhat disappointing - they're not that funny here, the film presumably quite a departure from their usual output - but as a piece of mindless entertainment, it's not too shabby, with impressive studio sets, a huge cast of characters, Charlotte Henry looking great, a terrific spot of stop-motion animation, and that unforgettable 'nightmare fuel' that I spoke of: a monkey dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume that is simply bizarre, three little pigs (played by either children or little people in freaky rubber masks), and a whole array of Bogeymen (furry creatures with fangs).

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for Bo-Peep, THE babe of Toyland.

This musical-fantasy-nursery-rhyme concoction seems to be a sentimental favourite for lots of people, but it just doesn't stand up. It's a live-action film that imitates cartoons, and the cartoons are better in most ways. The problem here is the forced jollity of the conceit, a romp through story-book land. The actors are wooden, the writing is dismal, and not even the scary Crooked Man scenery-chewing of Henry Brandon as Silas Barnaby or the good-natured fumbling of Laurel and Hardy can save it. Perhaps the nadir is the climactic battle scene between Old King Cole's people, helped by a platoon of tall wooden soldiers built mistakenly by Laurel and Hardy, chasing Barnaby and his ogre henchmen—they're all wearing shaggy brown Dr. Denton pajamas and ugly masks and little horns—into the river. Every once in a while one Tom-Tom the Piper's Son or Little Bo-Peep burst into song. I wish they wouldn't. There are some exceptionally ugly puppets, the three rubber-headed little pigs, a fiddling cat, and a pesky mouse that looks a lot like Mickey if he had been carved from a block of soap and rolled around the sound stage by some obscure magnetic force. There are some good lines and some good bits of business—when Stan pretends to be Bo-Peep and gets married to Barnaby, Ollie is ready to leave him there because, after all, he is married—but nothing can save this well-intentioned, badly written, feverishly energetic, garish movie. A minority opinion, but nearly any other film version of the world of children's literature is heaps better than this.

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.

I don't recall this being part of my yearly childhood rotation - parts seem familiar, so I probably saw it once, but it never really registered - and seeing it now as a grown-ass man, I found it perfectly charming and a near ideal example (aside from Midnight Summer's Dream) of the sort of wholesome musical fluff MGM were masters at creating. Giant, elaborate sets, peppy musical numbers, nightmare-fuel costumes (that mouse!), and in the middle are Stan and Ollie providing a much needed injection of modernism into the fairy tale aesthetic.

In a way, this is kind of like a proto-Shrek, aware of itself and its fairy-tale conventions, if only because of its two stars and their own comic timing, except here it's more timeless due to the black and white photography (I didnt watch the colorized version), and because of the MGM/Golden-age Hollywood production, from the non-stop music to the innocent-but-not-too-innocent tone - yes, mortgages and foreclosures included. I wouldn't rank it as fully great, yet I'd be lying if I said I wasnt giggling consistently throughout, and not just from the Stan & Ollie bits. It's the kind of family entertainment where you gather everyone around, make hot cocoa and dig in. And who could give a "come on!" 4th-wall breaking look like Hardy?

Laurel and Hardy star as boarders in the Little Old Woman's shoe home in Toyland. Her daughter, Bo Peep, is pretty, sweet, angelic and very virginal--which is exactly why the evil Barnaby wants to force her to marry him. So it's up to Stan and Ollie to save the day.

For some odd reason, this Laurel and Hardy movie has been elevated to classic status. I have no idea why, as it's a rather bland and stupid kids movie that completely wastes the team's talents. Heck, even most of their 1940s feature-length films are better than this! The only interesting elements are the beautiful sets and unusual costumes as well as the part where Stan marries Barnaby (who says the idea of Gay marriage is new!). Since this movie was first made, it's been remade several times--and each time it is a total bore. Even as a child, I hated this movie (especially with all its god-awful music) and wanted the REAL Laurel and Hardy instead!

During the 1930s, Hal Roach Studios (affiliated with MGM) periodically put the team in some really weird movies and this one may not be the weirdest one (that honor goes to either BABES IN TOYLAND of FRA DIAVOLO--an OPERETTA with Laurel and Hardy comedy segments!)--but it certainly is one of the worst full-length film they made--and this includes most of their rather lame 1940s and 1950 film (the only ones that are worse than BABES are THE BIG NOISE and UTOPIA). I guess I can understand trying something new (since Laurel and Hardy made 15 billion movies and shorts) but the results were often sub-par and they were usually much better in shorts. If you do want to see one of their GOOD full-length films, try to watch Sons of the Desert, Bonny Scotland or Our Relations--not this overly saccharine and limp mess.

By the way, early in the film, there's a 1930s style Mickey Mouse in Toyland. Inside is apparently a monkey. Both the Mickey and song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" were from Disney and RKO--apparently MGM Studios purchased rights or Disney (for once) wasn't in a litigious mood. Also, get a load of the Bogeymen. They look a lot like the dancing savages from the Marlene Dietrich film BLONDE VENUS!!