Babes in Toyland (1961)

Enjoy a happy excursion into the world of Mother Goose in Walt Disney's first musical production! All roads lead to magical, merry Toyland as Mary Contrary and Tom Piper prepare for their wedding! But villainous Barnaby wants Mary for himself, so he kidnaps Tom, setting off a series of comic chases, searches, and double-crosses! The "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" helps put Barnaby in his place, and ensures a "happily ever after" for Tom and Mary! This joyful musical fantasy is a delightful experience for the whole family!

Entertaining; a Little Light on Plot

Walt Disney decided to capitalize on his stable of stars by creating his first full-length live musical movie. Disney stars Annette Funicello ("The Mickey Mouse Club," "The Shaggy Dog"), Ed Wynn ("Mary Poppins," "That Darn Cat (1965)"), Tommy Kirk ("Old Yeller," "The Monkey's Uncle"), Henry Calvin ("Zorro," "Toby Tyler"), Gene Sheldon ("Zorro," "Toby Tyler") and Kevin Corcoran ("Old Yeller" and "Toby Tyler") all made appearances in this movie.

The plot of this movie is relatively simple, and all the scenes were filmed on sets. Mary Contrary (Funicello) is going to wed Tom Piper (Tommy Sands, "The Longest Day," "Ensign Pulver"). Unbeknownst to Mary, she will inherit a great deal of money when she gets married. However, evil Barnaby, played by Ray Bolger ("The Wizard of Oz"), is aware of the inheritance. Barnaby decides to enlist the aid of Gonzorgo (Calvin) and Roderigo (Sheldon) to do away with Tom. Of course, in a Disney movie made for children people disappear, and that is what happens to Tom.

After a song and dance number, Tom and Mary realize that the children have gone off to the Forest of No Return to find Bo Peep's lost sheep. Tom and Mary head off to find the children, only to learn that the forest is full of wonders both scary and delightful, including the Toymaker (Wynn) and his assistant Grumio (Kirk). The ending is delightful stop-motion fun that is the best part of the movie.

The Good: The entertainment is mostly family friendly. The trees in the Forest of No Return are a little scary, and Barnaby is a schmuck, but with mom and dad close by even the littlest ones should be able to watch this film. The Toymaker's shop (mansion?) is cute, and the special effects at the end are nice for 1961.

The Bad: Where's the widescreen? This movie's aspect ratio is 1.75:1, which means that this full screen version has cut a lot out. The plot is simple. It feels like an episode of "The Mickey Mouse Club" stretched to an hour and forty-five minutes.

There's a lot to like about this movie. The stars are cheery and will remind some of us of when we were in love with Annette in the early 1960's. Walt Disney was still at the helm and his movies had an innocent image about them. However, if you are looking for a better version of the story, I recommend "March of the Wooden Soldiers," featuring Laurel and Hardy. That movie can be scary for little children, but it is better.

Good Luck!

May 26, 2008

Classic movies

I think this movie is wonderfully delightful, it shows how talented Walt Disney was before all the trash was brought into the movies. February 8, 2008

Great Service

I really enjoy using Amazon it is easy to use and I can pretty much find what I am looking for. The pricing are not bad either I have had very good luck with Amazon. My movies always come in great shape and I have never had a problem with them working as well. I was very happy to find Babies in Toyland on here it was a movie that I enjoyed as a child and my sister as well. I was very happy with my movie and my sister was happy with her copy as well. January 7, 2008

Babes in Toyland

The video was what I expected, but the plastic housing broke off on the 1st showing. We were able to re attach it, but that has to be done every time that we view it. December 28, 2007

Babes In Toyland

I bought this DVD as an extension of our family tradition. I watched it on TV during the Christmas holidays as a child because there was no such thing as "videos", my children watched it on video and now I recently bought it for my granddaughters on DVD. It's a great film with dancing and singing and just a wholesome movie that the whole family can enjoy together year after year during the Christmas season. November 29, 2007

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