Babes in Toyland (1934 film)
| Babes in Toyland | |
|---|---|
theatrical release poster (1934)
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| Directed by |
Gus Meins Charles Rogers |
| Produced by | Hal Roach |
| Screenplay by |
Frank Butler Nick Grinde |
| Based on |
Babes in Toyland (1903 operetta) by Glen MacDonough Anna Alice Chapin |
| Starring |
Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Charlotte Henry Felix Knight Henry Kleinbach Florence Roberts Virginia Karns |
| Music by |
Victor Herbert (operetta) Frank Churchill Ann Ronell |
| Cinematography | Francis Corby Art Lloyd |
| Edited by | Bert Jordan William H. Terhune |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Loew's, Inc. |
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Release date
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November 30, 1934 |
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Running time
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77 minutes 67 minutes (Britannic cut March of the Wooden Soldiers) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Babes in Toyland is a Laurel and Hardy musical film released on November 30, 1934. The film is also known by its alternate titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet (the 1948 European reissue title), March of the Wooden Soldiers, and Wooden Soldiers (in the United States).
Based on Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, the film was produced by Hal Roach, directed by Charley Rogers and Gus Meins, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was originally produced in black-and-white, but there are two computer colorized versions.
Although the 1934 film makes use of many of the characters in the original play, as well as several of the songs, the plot is almost completely unlike that of the original stage production. In contrast to the stage version, the film's story takes place entirely in Toyland, which is inhabited by Mother Goose (Virginia Karns) and other well known fairy tale characters.
Stannie Dum (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.
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