March of the Wooden Soldiers

Rating:
Summary: One of the Great Holiday Movies
Review: "March of the Wooden Soldiers" (also known as "Babes in Toyland") remains the perfect film for the Christmas season. It's certainly one of Laurel and Hardy's finest hours and the production values are top-notch. Even though the video is colorized (which can be corrected on your television), it also is the uncut version -- with a delightful "storybook" credit sequence that hasn't been shown in years. No holiday is complete without this endearing classic.

Rating:
Summary: This Isn't the Wizard of Oz....
Review: ...But it may be something more genuinely childlike. Comparing the films is interesting, as they were both children's musicals of the same era. While "Oz" gives its source a high-budget mounting that stresses reassurance and a suburban outlook, "March..." seems to plunge wildly into the very soul of childhood. True, the 1903 operetta borrowed from Norse mythology and Victorian melodrama, but this filming is astute and timeless--full of the true glee, horror, pain, chaos, and eeriness of childhood. I loved "Oz" as a child, but this movie was unforgettable: the wistful, melancholic score, cruel humor, stark terror, bursts of frenzied joy, and aura of creepiness struck deep in me. No matter what benign illusions we eventually form about childhood, this is how the world truly looks at a certain age. I watched it with a jolt of recognition, and, finally, liberation.

"March..."'s modest budget is more than made up for by its emotional genuineness. Listen for the latent sadness in the melodies, watch for the decidedly sinister cast to the sets and even the most whimsical Mother Goose characters, marvel at the berserk energy of the finale. If "Oz" were a Disney feature cartoon, this film would be a Hieronymous Bosch painting adapted for children by the Fleischer Brothers. It has a similar sense of turmoil, unease, primal beauty, and hilarity. Children growing up on the perky, bland kids' movies of today will be exhilarated. And Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, and other true geographers of the childhood soul would have approved.

Rating:
Summary: A Heartwarming Classic
Review: A shame that this has been colorised, which is a wholly unnecessary adornment to an otherwise very good film. However, if you can stand the tinkering, you will probably still enjoy this rather strange Laurel and Hardy extavaganza.

To begin with it doesn't look like it's going to turn out well. It looks like it has been padded out by songs that may have been entertaining in 1934 but grate on modern audiences. However, once you get into the fairytale setting and its logic it all makes a certain amount of sense. It's certainly endearing, and has - as all great childrens movies should - some jokes just for the grown-ups and some moments that could genuinely terrify the kids - I bet the march of those titular wooden soldiers was a bit daunting if you were eight in 1934.

This is probably the most sentimental and romantic of Laurel and Hardy's features, and also possibly the least "slap-sticky" but it's none the worse for that. It certainly leaves me with a big smile on my face by the end... Although I have to come clean with you: I've got the original black and white version.

I can see why the temptation was there to colorise. It's a fantasy world, and they probably thought they'd make it a bit like the Wizard of Oz if they pepped it up. But it was a bit like the Wizard of Oz in any case and there's really no need to monkey about with it.

A heartwarming minor classic with some great gags.

Rating:
Summary: The Classics on DVD
Review: A timeless classic finally makes it to DVD... The Audio is clean...the colorization is finely balanced and add to rather than detract from the structured camera angles and gentle shades of grey which comprise the original Family Masterpiece... The addition of a very early version of Mickey Mouse complete with Torpedo's and Blimp only adds to the delight and simple pleasure that this Feature brings to countless generations and now in its DVD Version can continue for Generations to come....when you buy the New Wizard of Oz DVD...pick up this one too...after all what good is the cake without the frosting!

Rating:
Summary: Laurel & Hardy Timeless Christmas Classic (Colorized DVD)!
Review: Adapted from Victor Herbert's Opera "Babes in Toyland" this 1934 Laurel and Hardy Operetta presents us with a timeless Holiday Classic for the entire family to watch during the holidays. The DVD presentation has been meticulously Remastered and Colorized (for the next generation's enjoyment and for the Black & White traditionalists just turn off the color).

Laurel & Hardy have never been better. The characters (Based on Mother Goose and popular Nursey Rhymes),the story line of Toyland(Santa's Toy making Headquarters preparing for the upcoming holiday's) & the Villian with his henchmen (Powerful Landlord and his Bogeyman Army) can't lose. The basis is an Operetta (loosely conducted) musical showcasing the infamous song, "Babes in Toyland".

Laurel & Hardy play Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee respectively Santa's toymaker workers who are in constant trouble. Stannie accepts a Xmas toy order but mixes it up and he and Ollie are fired. (Mistakens the order of 600 soldiers at 1 foot tall for 100 soldiers at 6 foot tall, can you imagine?). Along with the Villian Landlord, Silas Barnaby trying to evict the "Old Woman in the Shoe" for non payment sets the story for this Family Christmas Classic, "MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLIERS"!!!!!

You & the family will love and laugh continuously!! A great value. A must for the Holiday library!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Laurel & Hardy Timeless Christmas Classic (Colorized DVD)!
Review: Adapted from Victor Herbert's Opera "Babes in Toyland" this 1934 Laurel and Hardy Operetta presents us with a timeless Holiday Classic for the entire family to watch during the holidays. The DVD presentation has been meticulously Remastered and Colorized (for the next generation's enjoyment and for the Black & White traditionalists just turn off the color).

Laurel & Hardy have never been better. The characters (Based on Mother Goose and popular Nursey Rhymes),the story line of Toyland(Santa's Toy making Headquarters preparing for the upcoming holiday's) & the Villian with his henchmen (Powerful Landlord and his Bogeyman Army) can't lose. The basis is an Operetta (loosely conducted) musical showcasing the infamous song, "Babes in Toyland".

Laurel & Hardy play Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee respectively Santa's toymaker workers who are in constant trouble. Stannie accepts a Xmas toy order but mixes it up and he and Ollie are fired. (Mistakens the order of 600 soldiers at 1 foot tall for 100 soldiers at 6 foot tall, can you imagine?). Along with the Villian Landlord, Silas Barnaby trying to evict the "Old Woman in the Shoe" for non payment sets the story for this Family Christmas Classic, "MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLIERS"!!!!!

You & the family will love and laugh continuously!! A great value. A must for the Holiday library!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Extra footage is great
Review: Babes In Toyland / March Of The Wooden Soldiers! It is a real classic and thanks to DVD the quality is great to view, It's too bad that colorized films are missing scenes, WHY? The extra footage on the DVD is great, Stan Laurel at his appartment, The legendary ( and as far as I know) only interview with Babe, The trailer of the feature, Oh, these are nice to add to ones collection. The price is right, not too expensive for those little extra things you are looking for as Laurel & Hardy collector, but you should not buy it for the feature itself.

Rating:
Summary: i lov diss a movee
Review: dis heer movee i lov i forener into dis contry i sorry for speaks
i crie so much mi belly hurt i so hapee when the solders march by stan and a olle thankyou

Rating:
Summary: THE ORIGINAL "BABES IN TOYLAND"
Review: Few films in history achieve the rank of a beloved family classic, enjoyed anew by each succeeding generation. "March of the Wooden Soldiers", based on Victor Herbert's famed 1903 operetta, "Babes In Toyland", is one such timeless masterpiece. Tghe greatest comedy team in films, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, star in this elaboarate musical fairytale of innocence and optimism.

The boys are Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee, hapless employees of Toyland's toy factory, who room in Old Mother Peep's shoe. Faced with eviction by they evil Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon. Credited as Harry Kleinbach), Mother Peep (Florence Roberts) needs to raise her mortgage. But the boys' plan to get the money from the Toymaker (William Burress) goes awry. It seems Santa Claus (Ferdinand Munier) ordered 600 wooden soldiers one foot tall. But, unfortunately (as fate would have it), Stannie took the order. And the result is 100 soldiers six feet tall. The boys are fired.
An attempt to steal the mortgage from Barnaby's house ends in the boys being found guilty of burglary. Sentenced to be dunked and exiled to Bogeyland forever, the charges are dropped by Barnaby when Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry) consents to marry him, although she is in love with Tom-Tom the Piper's son (Felix Knight). Tricked into giving up the mortgage with a bogus wedding, Barnaby gains revenge by pignapping one of the Three Little Pigs, and planting the evidence in Tom-Tom's house. Stannie and Ollie discover the ruse.
Chasing Barnaby into Bogeyland, they rescue Tom-Tom and Bo-Peep. But Barnaby leads the Bogeymen to destroy all of Toyland. In the thrilling finale, Stannie and Ollie activate the wooden soldiers. And to the strains of the majestic "March of the Toys", rout the Bogeymen and save Toyland.

A spectacular entertaining film, with familiar music, high production values, and charming performances by the much loved Laurel & Hardy, "March of the Wooden Soldiers" is a must for any video collection. One of the truly great movies of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Lets give them a parting shot of words!
Review: Good Toy Soldiers that march around and whack Bogeymen!that's what you'll find in this epic of Stan-liness and Ollie-Folly.The final sequence is as terrifying as the siege of Gondor
in Peter Jackson's Return of the King!It's scary when you see the Boogiemen burst in the door and carry all the citizens off.
There's no General Gandalf to rally the troops,only Stan and Ollie. They repel boarders using peewee darts, zeppelins, cannons and six foot tall wooden soldiers!Barnaby is such an evil villain,that looks kind of like a werewolf Bogeyman!The special effects are good too,like invisible little gnomes,that look like Gimli,Horrifying bogeymen that look like orcs with good costumes,and a Toyland village that probably took as much work to make as Hobbiton! Then you've got two little characters,Bo-peep and Tom-Tom, who are very much in love,but are threatened by the evil Silas Barnaby and mean Toymaker who says,"What was that?!?",when asked for money to pay off the mortgage owed by Peeps Mother to Barnaby,so that Peep won't have to marry Silas!Simple,isn't it?But Stan and Ollie will endure duckings in the pond,darts,Bogeymen,and even the big man himself,to make sure Tom and Peep live happily ever after!See this movie without delay or you are a fool of a Took!