I think the reason this one is so funny is that it CONSTANTLY breaks the fourth wall - almost like it was a live stage version. Even the sets reflect this is how colorful and over the top they are. It's very much one of the very few examples of American pantomime - the woman is a damsel in distress. The hero is a personality-less lump and most of the best action and plot happens in relation to the side-characters and the villain. Plus the last ten minutes with that AMAZING stop-motion animation that was SO untested at the time...
Laurel and Hardy's version was so much better. The humor was stronger, the motivations for the marriage was more realistic, and the story flowed better.
Funny thing, Ed Wynn being this film is a follow-up to how his first Disney role as The Mad Hatter happened exactly a decade before this movie. So both this one and Alice In Wonderland (almost similar titles) were released 10 years apart. Same with other Walt Disney films from 1961, like One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Absent Minded Professor, and The Parent Trap (which had Tommy Sands and Annette performing that film's opening theme).
I loved this movie as a child and still find it charming. Today, as much as I love Annette Funicello, I cannot help but laugh when she stares lifelessly in the distance.
I really loved this movie as a kid but I think the Laurel and Hardy version is the superior version, even though that one falls flat at some point too. I do like how the villain looks like Walt Disney in this version and the very bright technicolor, the toy soldiers, and the gypsy part.
not that I've watched it but when scrolling through my TV guide a few years ago when I first got the service I did see that exact title in the adult Pay per view section so yes it is the title to a porno
Kinda of off. Ed Wynn (who died five years later in 1966) and Ray Bolger in the same flick, kind of overpowering since both have a similiar goofy persona, and Stan Laurel, who was in the 1934 version as part of "and (Oliver) Hardy", had a similiar goofus persona.
Another funny thing, Tommy Sands as Tom Piper is another one of those instances where, even in Walt Disney's films, there's an actor/actress that plays a character with the same exact first name as her/himself! One other instance is Nancy Olsen as Nancy the maid in "Pollyanna" (1960). And going back to the name Tommy, both Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran (from Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, Toby Tyler, Pollyanna, Bon Voyage, The Absent Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Savage Sam, etc), star in this version of Babes In Toyland as well. It was only Kevin Corcoran in "Pollyanna" (with Hayley Mills) and "Toby Tyler", though, with it being only Tommy Kirk in both Flubber films (with Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olsen, and Ed Wynn & Keenan Wynn). And Tommy Kirk was also with Annette in The Shaggy Dog (Annette's film debut after first being a member of the Mickey Mouse Club), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, and The Monkey's Uncle.
I definitely prefer the Laurel and Hardy version. It's the oldest DVD I own and I watch it at least 3 times every year. The humor is perfect, Bo Peep's reasoning for almost marrying Barnaby actually made more sense(She had to marry him or her whole family was going to be kicked out of their home and onto the streets. Not because she didn't know how to do financing like in the Disney version), I loved the music (I can never stop humming the song Tom Tom sings to Bo Peep about finding her sheep) and I love how the monkey in the mouse costume was supposed to be a Mickey Mouse parody. And many more reasons. These are just a few.
While I saw this film once, I'm more familiar with it through the storybook adaptation Disney put out. This was because my family and I would go to visit my great-grandparents every Sunday, and in one of their bedrooms they had that storybook hidden away in a drawer; I loved the illustrations, which somehow looked more impressive than they do here. As a side note, I'm glad I finally understand where those old-fashioned soldiers in Disneyland's Christmas parade came from.
You're a mean one, Mr. Barnaby! You really are a heel! You're as cuddly as a cactus! You're as charming as an eel, Mr. Barrrrrnaby! You're a bad banana with a Greasy black peel! You're a monster, Mr. Barnaby! Your heart's an empty hole! Your brain is full of spiders! You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Barrrrrnaby! I wouldn't touch you with a 39.5 foot pole! You're a vile one, Mr. Barnaby! You have termites in your smile! You have all the tender sweetness Of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Barrrrrnaby! Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the seasick crocodile!
I played Barnaby in my youth theatre troupe a long time ago, and the story was 100% different from this, and this story is different from every other version I've heard of, which is different from each other. What's the original story?!?
What's interesting is how much Hal Roach and Walt Disney borrowed from each other, which they were cool about because they were good friends. Roach used a Mickey Mouse clone and the Three Little Pigs tune for his 1934 Babes in Toyland (now known as March of the Wooden Soldiers). Disney had Laurel and Hardy clones in his version. Walt Disney is also reputed to have been so enchanted when he first saw Hal Roach's Toyland movie set, he came up with the idea of Disneyland. For me, Hal Roach's Laurel and Hardy version is far superior to the Disney version. Among other things, the "March of Toys" tune has a great sense of urgency and excitement, a call to arms. In the Disney version, it's mild and fluffy, not at all what you'd relate to a march to battle.
I really love the fat guy (I don't know his name), I first saw him in Zorro and can recognize him in anything. I wish Doug would review that old Zorro serial, as it is very nostalgic.
I agree with you on the movie now, when I was a kid in daycare, this was my favorite movie, they only played in around Christmas so I never got to see it as much, but anytime they ould vote on the movie I would get so pumped and a few years ago I put it on and thought it looked and sounded amazing but the story and characters got me confused, I still enjoy putting it on mainly to relive my childhood nostalgia
I remember as a young kid asking for this version on VHS for Christmas, and being so disappointed when I got the Laurel and Hardy version instead. I eventually picked this up on DVD and Blu-ray though!
I wonder why Disney picked this as Walt's first live-action movie to come to Blu-Ray, and how exactly its sales resulted in Disney deciding that any of his live-action movies less popular than _Mary Poppins_ should only receive Disney Movie Club-exclusive BDs, at best.
Regardless I don't care what anybody else thinks of this movie but in my opinion I think this movie is a MASTERPIECE!!!! so please don't hate my for my opinion.
Fun fact: This movie was originally conceived as being a semi-sequel to The Wizard of Oz but after many costume testing and footage filmed, it wasn't good enough for Walt Disney when he was alive. Of course, the official wouldn't happen until the mid 80s a a kickass faithful adaptation to the books.
What about the Lauel and Hardy version? I generrally really like them. What do you think of their comedy in general? I think they are superior or at least better to watch than Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges. Only the Grouch Brothers are better-in my opinion.
The best version of "Babes in Toyland" is Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's "March of the Wooden Soldiers." That movie is Hilarious in the usual Laurel and Hardy way.
She wasn't the only one.His "Once in Love with Amy (1949, from 1948's "Where's Charley") is one of those hit singles that goes on and on for 4 minutes and 20 seconds (mary jane!) but you just don't that song to stop ,"Once..in Love..with Amy.always in love...with Amy!" And in hsi biggest hit, "Wizard of Oz", his variation of.. "If I only had a" "If I only had a brain"/.
Steve Carras I remember Annette Funicello died in 2013 after being diagnosed with MS. I lost a dear friend of mine to the same illness three years later. Unfortunately my Mom didn’t live long enough to mourn either of them. She died of Pancreatic Cancer in 1997 at the age of 56. I didn’t mean to make my reply so depressing. But I’m grateful that she was the one who instilled a lifelong love of Musicals in me.
Each adaptation seems to be quite different from the original 1903 "Babes in Toyland" Operetta. My favorite adaptation is probably the 1934 film titled "March of the Wooden Soldiers" A.K.A. The Laurel and Hardy version.
Are you serious?! One of the actors from The Wizard of Oz, Ray Bolger, got to star in one of Walt Disney's films?! How the heck did Walt get HIM to be part of it??
Oh my god! I completely forgot about this movie. Used to watch this all the time when I was young. Looks SO BAD now though. I might have to watch it again. I do remember loving the marching and fight scenes with the toy soldiers at the end. I thought that was quite neat as a child.
My question is why is that in the first two thirds pretty all the dialogue is told through song, and then once they get to toyland the songs just disappear? Okay ya get one but that's it. I'm not complaining because the songs go on forever, but it just feels weird.
It's a shame the prophetic storyline escaped you. I find it visually, lyricly & psychologically fascinating & prophetic like the Wiz Of Oz & Chitti chitti bang bang.
Oh my god, I love it when those sorr of cheesy, dated effects pop up in old films, but then you realize some sort of aspect that makes them really impressive! Disney got all of those toy soldiers to move for a good portion of screen time, in a formal manner!
I was only able to get to the part where Barnaby plays with a water fountain...which UP TO THAT POINT was the most interesting thing in the movie. I really wanted to see a big battle happen, but it just took _waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay_ too long to even get into Toyland to begin with. One of these times someone's going to do the whole thing right. I haven't seen the Laurel and Hardy version yet, but the fact that the entire story takes place in Toyland is extremely promising. I think I might give it a look next December.
My guesses for Disneycember 2020 Star Wars -Star Wars: The Clone Wars (pilot movie) -Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014; 2020 series) -Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker -Star Wars Rebels -Star Wars Resistance Fox movies on Disney Plus -Sound of Music -Hello Dolly -Anastasia (1997) (Arriving on Disney Plus on 12/4/2020) -X-Men 1 -X2 -The Wolverine -X-Men Days of Future Past -X-Men Apocalypse -Fantastic Four -FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer -Fantastic Four 2015 (aka “Fan4stick”) Pixar -Onward -Soul Disney live action films: -Beauty and the Beast (2017) -Mary Poppins Returns -Aladdin (2019) -Mulan (2020)
I watched the animated movie as a kid, and it's...not very good nowadays. But I have a bit of a soft spot for it, and I kinda think the music is good???
FYI "Babes In Toyland: A Musical Extravaganza in Three Acts, Nine Scenes and Prologue" premiered on Broadway in October of 1903. Ballet, pantomime, transformation scenes, special effects, elaborate scenic and costume display, large cast and orchesra and musical numbers of a wide variety were the dominant elements. While shows of this type all had music, it was usually cobbled together from different sources. Here for the first time a popular entertainment was provided with a score; an actual score with a beginning, a middle and an end composed by none other than the great Victor Herbert. To take a handful of songs from that original; to shoehorn them into a conventional film narrative and to render them in such a stultifyingly banal manner is the reason I could never abide this film.
Wow, I just realized that the Babes in Toyland I've been seeing all these years.... was not the Disney one! I can't believe I never noticed. I think the one I've seen was from MGM or something... man I feel like an idiot.
I'm with Doug - loved it as a kid, but as an adult it's hard for me to sit through the whole thing. My biggest complaint is that it's WAY too long. Some of the music numbers are great, some aren't, but almost all of them could stand to at least be edited down if not removed altogether. It *does* let me joke with my wife about there being a Disney movie that sings about how girls can't do math, so that's something. ;)
I had a Peter Pan Book and Record set of this as a kid and loved it. Didn't see the film until much later and was terribly disappointed with it -- what I realized was that back then those records seemed to habitually replace the actors' voices, so that Barnaby was this amazing baritone and at least one of Tom's songs "Floretta" was sung by the narrator (little boy blue, who was also a woman voice artist) doing several voices throughout. when I saw the film, Annette Funicello in particular just seemed dead compared with her record replacement. Oddly, the Toymaker and the children's chorus seemed to be taken directly from the film. Weird protocols they had back then. Because of the record being my first experience , I didn't like the Laurel and Hardy version much as a kid. I didn't like Bo Peep replacing Mary and how much she screamed. (as the record had a narrator summarizing, most of the characters were just defined by their songs.) But it holds up miles better than this film to my adult eyes.
I plan to see clips of that on UA-cam, I saw that,too..and their version of Alice in Wonderland.(Which coincidentally had as one of the actors Sterling Holloway (who's the Cheshire Cat in the original Disney cartoon) before he ever worked for Disney).
It warms my heart to see so many people praising the Laurel and Hardy version. That movie was my childhood ^-^
Ditto
TheITinFIT It really is wonderful. I saw it for the first time last year during Christmas. Such a shame I never saw it before!
That's the version I saw.
I think the reason this one is so funny is that it CONSTANTLY breaks the fourth wall - almost like it was a live stage version. Even the sets reflect this is how colorful and over the top they are. It's very much one of the very few examples of American pantomime - the woman is a damsel in distress. The hero is a personality-less lump and most of the best action and plot happens in relation to the side-characters and the villain.
Plus the last ten minutes with that AMAZING stop-motion animation that was SO untested at the time...
Laurel and Hardy's version was so much better. The humor was stronger, the motivations for the marriage was more realistic, and the story flowed better.
The marriage between Stan and Barnaby, you mean? ;)
“But… I don’t love him!”
But..ahh..sign..Annette Funicello!
But no songs 😕
I agree!
That's the one I grew up watching.
Laurel & Hardy definitely had the best version.
Oh my gosh, yes! This right here! Underrated! The 1961 version was too bland.
The Laurel and Hardy version is the only one I've ever seen. Any plans on reviewing that at some point?
I remember having Laurel and Hardy's version on VHS. I loved it as a kid. I wonder if it still holds up.
You can find it on UA-cam easily, since it's in the public domain. And yes, I do believe that it still holds up
You point out the sidekicks and don't mention they're a shout out to Laurel and Hardy's March of the Wooden Soldiers. Or did I miss you saying it.
my favorite version is the laurel and hardy version even though its called march of the wooden soldiers its still pretty much the same
That's the TRUE version, mind you! (also, it's what got me hooked on Laurel and Hardy)
+waaaaaaah ya its really funny and the characters are so enjoyable
+Andrew Candreva I love that smug look on Laurel's face when Ollie tries to send the peewees flying and fails miserably XD it's kinda hard to top that
+waaaaaaah I love the mouse that flies around dropping bombs on the monsters
+Andrew Candreva Yeah, that was great :) It had so many great moments!
this was a childhood favorite of mine, and even now I still enjoy it despite its flaws.
Funny thing, Ed Wynn being this film is a follow-up to how his first Disney role as The Mad Hatter happened exactly a decade before this movie. So both this one and Alice In Wonderland (almost similar titles) were released 10 years apart. Same with other Walt Disney films from 1961, like One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Absent Minded Professor, and The Parent Trap (which had Tommy Sands and Annette performing that film's opening theme).
Of all the versions out there, I loved the March of the Wooden Soldiers with Laurel and Hardy
I loved this movie as a child and still find it charming. Today, as much as I love Annette Funicello, I cannot help but laugh when she stares lifelessly in the distance.
This was never meant to be a masterpiece, but a fun and charming movie. In that regard, does it hold up? Yes, absolutely.
I really loved this movie as a kid but I think the Laurel and Hardy version is the superior version, even though that one falls flat at some point too.
I do like how the villain looks like Walt Disney in this version and the very bright technicolor, the toy soldiers, and the gypsy part.
Still sounds like a porno title to me.
+blondepiratesarecool nah~ that's not the title. it's "boobs in toyland" XD
crcoghill Babes in Toyland sounds like a bunch of hot chicks """playing with toys""" if ya catch ma drift ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
of course i do. but you know, a porno would have something more perverted. XD babes back than were for kids or babies.
+blondepiratesarecool Babes in toyland is also the name of a pretty good sex toy shop in the states.
not that I've watched it but when scrolling through my TV guide a few years ago when I first got the service I did see that exact title in the adult Pay per view section so yes it is the title to a porno
March of the Wooden Soldiers from 1934 is the best version
Kinda of off. Ed Wynn (who died five years later in 1966) and Ray Bolger in the same flick, kind of overpowering since both have a similiar goofy persona, and Stan Laurel, who was in the 1934 version as part of "and (Oliver) Hardy", had a similiar goofus persona.
Another funny thing, Tommy Sands as Tom Piper is another one of those instances where, even in Walt Disney's films, there's an actor/actress that plays a character with the same exact first name as her/himself! One other instance is Nancy Olsen as Nancy the maid in "Pollyanna" (1960). And going back to the name Tommy, both Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran (from Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, Toby Tyler, Pollyanna, Bon Voyage, The Absent Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Savage Sam, etc), star in this version of Babes In Toyland as well. It was only Kevin Corcoran in "Pollyanna" (with Hayley Mills) and "Toby Tyler", though, with it being only Tommy Kirk in both Flubber films (with Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olsen, and Ed Wynn & Keenan Wynn). And Tommy Kirk was also with Annette in The Shaggy Dog (Annette's film debut after first being a member of the Mickey Mouse Club), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, and The Monkey's Uncle.
I definitely prefer the Laurel and Hardy version. It's the oldest DVD I own and I watch it at least 3 times every year. The humor is perfect, Bo Peep's reasoning for almost marrying Barnaby actually made more sense(She had to marry him or her whole family was going to be kicked out of their home and onto the streets. Not because she didn't know how to do financing like in the Disney version), I loved the music (I can never stop humming the song Tom Tom sings to Bo Peep about finding her sheep) and I love how the monkey in the mouse costume was supposed to be a Mickey Mouse parody. And many more reasons. These are just a few.
I like how Doug says this is weird
Lol this version is my childhood I'll always hold it close to my heart even though I know it's not great lol 😅
The Laurel and Hardy version is the TRUE Babes in Toyland!
Damn straight. I absolutely love that version and the visuals are amazing for the time.
+waaaaaaah Yasss!
oh yea
I like both
Why nobody is mentioning/noticing that the two henchmen are Sergeant Garcia and Bernardo from Disney's Zorro?
Or that Walt clearly patterned them off Stan and Ollie in the ’34 version.
While I saw this film once, I'm more familiar with it through the storybook adaptation Disney put out. This was because my family and I would go to visit my great-grandparents every Sunday, and in one of their bedrooms they had that storybook hidden away in a drawer; I loved the illustrations, which somehow looked more impressive than they do here. As a side note, I'm glad I finally understand where those old-fashioned soldiers in Disneyland's Christmas parade came from.
Laurel and Hardy=best. Please please review the Laurel and Hardy version?
You're a mean one, Mr. Barnaby!
You really are a heel!
You're as cuddly as a cactus!
You're as charming as an eel, Mr. Barrrrrnaby!
You're a bad banana with a
Greasy black peel!
You're a monster, Mr. Barnaby!
Your heart's an empty hole!
Your brain is full of spiders!
You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Barrrrrnaby!
I wouldn't touch you with a
39.5 foot pole!
You're a vile one, Mr. Barnaby!
You have termites in your smile!
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Barrrrrnaby!
Given the choice between the two of you,
I'd take the seasick crocodile!
I played Barnaby in my youth theatre troupe a long time ago, and the story was 100% different from this, and this story is different from every other version I've heard of, which is different from each other.
What's the original story?!?
THIS WAS AND STILL IS A GREAT MOVIE!! I LOVE IT!! AWESOME!!
What's interesting is how much Hal Roach and Walt Disney borrowed from each other, which they were cool about because they were good friends. Roach used a Mickey Mouse clone and the Three Little Pigs tune for his 1934 Babes in Toyland (now known as March of the Wooden Soldiers). Disney had Laurel and Hardy clones in his version. Walt Disney is also reputed to have been so enchanted when he first saw Hal Roach's Toyland movie set, he came up with the idea of Disneyland. For me, Hal Roach's Laurel and Hardy version is far superior to the Disney version. Among other things, the "March of Toys" tune has a great sense of urgency and excitement, a call to arms. In the Disney version, it's mild and fluffy, not at all what you'd relate to a march to battle.
I really love the fat guy (I don't know his name), I first saw him in Zorro and can recognize him in anything. I wish Doug would review that old Zorro serial, as it is very nostalgic.
Funny thing is heard of the Laurel and Hardy version from 1934 long before I even knew this one existed.
BOO TO YOU! THIS MOVIE I SAW IN THE HOSPITAL WHEN I WAS 5 AND IT IS AWESOME!
I agree with you on the movie now, when I was a kid in daycare, this was my favorite movie, they only played in around Christmas so I never got to see it as much, but anytime they ould vote on the movie I would get so pumped and a few years ago I put it on and thought it looked and sounded amazing but the story and characters got me confused, I still enjoy putting it on mainly to relive my childhood nostalgia
I could really imagine Disney making a hand drawn remake. It's unlikely, but it would be awesome.
ya think
I remember as a young kid asking for this version on VHS for Christmas, and being so disappointed when I got the Laurel and Hardy version instead. I eventually picked this up on DVD and Blu-ray though!
sargent Garcia and Bernardo are the scarecrows minions sounds legit
My Brain at 3 am: THIS IS THE FORSET OF NO RETURN~
I wonder why Disney picked this as Walt's first live-action movie to come to Blu-Ray, and how exactly its sales resulted in Disney deciding that any of his live-action movies less popular than _Mary Poppins_ should only receive Disney Movie Club-exclusive BDs, at best.
Disney Parks
Regardless I don't care what anybody else thinks of this movie but in my opinion I think this movie is a MASTERPIECE!!!!
so please don't hate my for my opinion.
Fun fact: This movie was originally conceived as being a semi-sequel to The Wizard of Oz but after many costume testing and footage filmed, it wasn't good enough for Walt Disney when he was alive. Of course, the official wouldn't happen until the mid 80s a a kickass faithful adaptation to the books.
I prefer the Laurel and Hardy version tbh :)
What about the Lauel and Hardy version? I generrally really like them. What do you think of their comedy in general? I think they are superior or at least better to watch than Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges. Only the Grouch Brothers are better-in my opinion.
The best version of "Babes in Toyland" is Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's "March of the Wooden Soldiers." That movie is Hilarious in the usual Laurel and Hardy way.
I much prefer the Laurel & Hardy version from the 1930s...MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS.
That's the only one I knew about when I was a kid.
This and the Laurel and Hardy version was my shit as a kid.
I'm still mind blown over the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz was Barnaby in this, wtf??
See I just remember the Laurel and Hardy version. I had no idea any of these other versions existed.
I still remember my Mom bursting into tears when Ray Bolger died. 😢😢
oh
wow
She wasn't the only one.His "Once in Love with Amy (1949, from 1948's "Where's Charley") is one of those hit singles that goes on and on for 4 minutes and 20 seconds (mary jane!) but you just don't that song to stop ,"Once..in Love..with Amy.always in love...with Amy!" And in hsi biggest hit, "Wizard of Oz", his variation of.. "If I only had a" "If I only had a brain"/.
How about when Annette Funicello died years later?
Steve Carras I remember Annette Funicello died in 2013 after being diagnosed with MS. I lost a dear friend of mine to the same illness three years later.
Unfortunately my Mom didn’t live long enough to mourn either of them. She died of Pancreatic Cancer in 1997 at the age of 56.
I didn’t mean to make my reply so depressing. But I’m grateful that she was the one who instilled a lifelong love of Musicals in me.
Now THIS takes me back
Each adaptation seems to be quite different from the original 1903 "Babes in Toyland" Operetta.
My favorite adaptation is probably the 1934 film titled "March of the Wooden Soldiers" A.K.A. The Laurel and Hardy version.
Is the Disney one more popular? For the longest time, I only knew of the Laurel and Hardy version.
When I hear Babes in Toyland...I think of Laurel and Hardy’s March of the Wooden Soldiers, which is required viewing in my home every Thanksgiving
I really like this film. It's super corny but I get sucked in each time.
But what happened to the sheep, Doug? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHEEP?!?
The Effects of the March of the wooden soldiers was greatly achieved by the Disney legends effects man Xavier Actencio.
“And when it’s time to do the dishes, where’s Ray Bolger? I’ll tell ya. RAY BOLGER IS LOOKING OUT FOR RAY BOLGER”.
75% of comments: Laurel and Hardy version
25%: something else
I love this movie its cute and colorful nad i love the villain and stage
I prefer the 1934 version.
Are you serious?! One of the actors from The Wizard of Oz, Ray Bolger, got to star in one of Walt Disney's films?! How the heck did Walt get HIM to be part of it??
does anybody think its kinda freaky that barnaby looks almost exactly like Walt Disney?
I love the March of the Toy song
I thought this was dumb when I was a kid. I was shocked to learn that my childhood self can occasionally be right.
The villain is like proto-Robbie rotten.
Oh my god! I completely forgot about this movie. Used to watch this all the time when I was young. Looks SO BAD now though. I might have to watch it again.
I do remember loving the marching and fight scenes with the toy soldiers at the end. I thought that was quite neat as a child.
My question is why is that in the first two thirds pretty all the dialogue is told through song, and then once they get to toyland the songs just disappear? Okay ya get one but that's it. I'm not complaining because the songs go on forever, but it just feels weird.
This version sucked like most of them. The only one any good is the original 1934 Laurel and Hardy film.
I've been thinking about the animated version a lot lately
All I had to do was here Barnabee and I knew that it was Roy Bolger
It's a shame the prophetic storyline escaped you. I find it visually, lyricly & psychologically fascinating & prophetic like the Wiz Of Oz & Chitti chitti bang bang.
that machine screaming for help disturbed me as a child.
This is what nightmares are made of
March of the Wooden Soldiers is so much Better! i loved that movie when i was a kid.
I wanna tie Doug to a chair, Clockwork Orange style and force him to watch the Laurel and Hardy version aka: the best version!
Practically everyone in the comments agrees that the Laurel and Hardy version is the superior one. Now if we could just get Doug to review it...
At 67, it saddens me that you were raised in a time when there was always television, and you never got a chance to life with your imagination!
Oh my god, I love it when those sorr of cheesy, dated effects pop up in old films, but then you realize some sort of aspect that makes them really impressive! Disney got all of those toy soldiers to move for a good portion of screen time, in a formal manner!
I was only able to get to the part where Barnaby plays with a water fountain...which UP TO THAT POINT was the most interesting thing in the movie. I really wanted to see a big battle happen, but it just took _waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay_ too long to even get into Toyland to begin with. One of these times someone's going to do the whole thing right. I haven't seen the Laurel and Hardy version yet, but the fact that the entire story takes place in Toyland is extremely promising. I think I might give it a look next December.
I saw this when I was really little, and it terrified me.
this movie was awsome
The 1934 Laurel and Hardy version was decent.
My guesses for Disneycember 2020
Star Wars
-Star Wars: The Clone Wars (pilot movie)
-Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014; 2020 series)
-Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
-Star Wars Rebels
-Star Wars Resistance
Fox movies on Disney Plus
-Sound of Music
-Hello Dolly
-Anastasia (1997) (Arriving on Disney Plus on 12/4/2020)
-X-Men 1
-X2
-The Wolverine
-X-Men Days of Future Past
-X-Men Apocalypse
-Fantastic Four
-FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer
-Fantastic Four 2015 (aka “Fan4stick”)
Pixar
-Onward
-Soul
Disney live action films:
-Beauty and the Beast (2017)
-Mary Poppins Returns
-Aladdin (2019)
-Mulan (2020)
I watched the animated movie as a kid, and it's...not very good nowadays. But I have a bit of a soft spot for it, and I kinda think the music is good???
Something about that villain's expressions makes me think of ProJared.
Only heard of the name because of the grunge band.
this movie looks like a random flick on Netflix
I think movie is like a live-action cartoon.
you're not alone
you love Ed Wynn everybody at Disney loved Ed Wynn
He was their John ratzenberger
not quite@@TailsFan369no2
reccomended
I was expecting a very different kind of movie based off that name ;)
+Captain Picard ha!
(kirk was better)
FYI "Babes In Toyland: A Musical Extravaganza in Three Acts, Nine Scenes and Prologue" premiered on Broadway in October of 1903. Ballet, pantomime, transformation scenes, special effects, elaborate scenic and costume display, large cast and orchesra and musical numbers of a wide variety were the dominant elements. While shows of this type all had music, it was usually cobbled together from different sources. Here for the first time a popular entertainment was provided with a score; an actual score with a beginning, a middle and an end composed by none other than the great Victor Herbert. To take a handful of songs from that original; to shoehorn them into a conventional film narrative and to render them in such a stultifyingly banal manner is the reason I could never abide this film.
Wow, I just realized that the Babes in Toyland I've been seeing all these years.... was not the Disney one! I can't believe I never noticed. I think the one I've seen was from MGM or something... man I feel like an idiot.
I'm with Doug - loved it as a kid, but as an adult it's hard for me to sit through the whole thing. My biggest complaint is that it's WAY too long. Some of the music numbers are great, some aren't, but almost all of them could stand to at least be edited down if not removed altogether.
It *does* let me joke with my wife about there being a Disney movie that sings about how girls can't do math, so that's something. ;)
I had a Peter Pan Book and Record set of this as a kid and loved it. Didn't see the film until much later and was terribly disappointed with it -- what I realized was that back then those records seemed to habitually replace the actors' voices, so that Barnaby was this amazing baritone and at least one of Tom's songs "Floretta" was sung by the narrator (little boy blue, who was also a woman voice artist) doing several voices throughout. when I saw the film, Annette Funicello in particular just seemed dead compared with her record replacement. Oddly, the Toymaker and the children's chorus seemed to be taken directly from the film. Weird protocols they had back then.
Because of the record being my first experience , I didn't like the Laurel and Hardy version much as a kid. I didn't like Bo Peep replacing Mary and how much she screamed. (as the record had a narrator summarizing, most of the characters were just defined by their songs.) But it holds up miles better than this film to my adult eyes.
Doug should review the MGM Version
Laurel and Hardys version is much better
I plan to see clips of that on UA-cam, I saw that,too..and their version of Alice in Wonderland.(Which coincidentally had as one of the actors Sterling Holloway (who's the Cheshire Cat in the original Disney cartoon) before he ever worked for Disney).
So you don't think Annette is magical?
my cousin always watched the pat morita version, but i never checked it out... is that not the standard? hmmm
at first I thought this was a theatre piece
can someone upload the full movie please.
Barnaby look like the guy from the I'll Steal It meme.
I'm not crazy LOL. I thought I was just dreaming. This movie exists. Haha