Simply A Masterpiece

Expected more

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Funny, even though Laurel and Hardy are in this film, I don't think of it first as a Laurel and Hardy movie. It has all those memorable nursery rhyme characters in it that have a certain resonance for kids growing up in an earlier time, and I think that's part of the magic the picture has to offer. Charlotte Henry is just as enchanting in this story as she was as the title character in the prior year's "Alice in Wonderland". Here she has a romantic partner in Tom-Tom Piper (Felix Knight), while fending off the lecherous advances of the evil Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon). With Stannie Dumb and Ollie Dee on the case, you just know that the bad guy will be foiled in his attempt to foreclose on the Widow Peep's (Florence Roberts) mortgage.You know, I was kind of amazed with Stan Laurel's hand/eye coordination whenever he took up with his pee-wee craze. It's more than evident when it comes time to battle Barnaby's Bogeymen near the story's finale. With Stan batting a thousand during the dart attack, I had to wonder why he never made it as a big league baseball player. It seems he couldn't miss! Like a handful of other reviewers, I first came by this picture when it went by the name of "March of the Wooden Soldiers", and yes, I too remember when it was a staple offering on Thanksgiving Day in the New York television market, way before the age of cable. It's another one of those films that brings back a sense of nostalgia for a simpler time when life wasn't so hectic, even if Stan and Ollie made it seem that way. With any luck, kids will be catching this entertaining film for a long time to come.

Old King Cole … Little Miss Muffett … The Cat and the Fiddle … Little Jack Horner … Mother Goose. And Tom-Tom loves teenager Bo-Peep, who keeps losing her sheep. Mother Goose characters inhabit Toyland, as do Stannie Dumb (Stan Laurel) and Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy). Stan and Ollie are toy makers who rent a room in the shoe of the widow Peep. Meanwhile, creepy landlord Silas Barnaby – played with a relish by Henry Kleinbach (Brandon) – is especially angry because Bo Peep, widow Peek's daughter, has rejected his marriage proposal. The spurned and lecherous Barnaby then comes to evict the Peeps from their shoe house, as he is armed with their overdue mortgage payment. With mean Barnaby it is either marriage with Bo-Peep or eviction. In a blundering way Stan and Ollie try to come to her aid, hoping to borrow the funds from their boss. But they are fired from the toy factory because they messed up Santa Claus' order of 600 toy soldiers one-foot tall. They made 100 soldiers six-feet tall; the soldiers are stored in the toy warehouse.Stan and Ollie again get into trouble as they try to thwart sleazy Barnaby's continuing evil designs; and Ollie is punished by being dunked in the village pond. Yet they are ultimately successful in preventing Barnaby's marriage to Bo-Peep. And they uncover the real kidnapping of Elmer, one of the three pigs, to the schemes of Barnaby (who had blamed Tom-Tom). In revenge Barnaby, all-along in league with the monsters of underground Bogeyland, unleashes his demons against the inhabitants of Toyland. Utilizing their large darts to good advantage, Stan and Ollie are Toyland's prime defenders. But the evil forces make headway, and Barnaby carries Bo-Peep away. Then the boys remember the soldiers, and in a climatic scene enlivened with a rousing musical score . . . Well, watch it and find out. It's worth the time! The Stan and Ollie version of Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland remains unequaled, whether in black and white or colorized. The sets are great, the story entertaining, and the songs nicely done. For those who are young or for those who think young. Recommended.

Delightfully surreal fantasy here, which I give thumbs up to on all fronts, even to Laurel and Hardy, which I normally snub my nose at. Here, while they are first billed, they're not on screen all the time, Instead, we get the goings on in Toyland, with Bo Peep, the old woman in the shoe, the three little pigs etc. The story involves some codger named Barnaby trying to get Bo-Peep any way possible. But Ollie and Laurel won't have any of that! Weird cinematography, stranger characters (what was with that Mickey Mouse?) and odd songs... Plus, the whole thing was (my copy at least) in strange computerized color. LOVE LOVE LOVE

The old woman who lived in a shoe is about to be thrown out onto the cobbled streets by Barnaby, the tight-fisted landlord. But he will forget about the money she owes him if she allows him to marry her daughter Bo Peep. Therefore it's up to Stan and Ollie to foil the old miser's plans. This, however, leads to more trouble as Bo Peep's boyfriend is framed for killing one of the 3 little pigs and exiled to the underworld. Can Stan and Ollie prove his innocence and save him? This is without doubt one of Laurel and Hardy's finest films. The comedy and slapstick are at their best, Barnaby is excellently nasty and it all has a real fairy-tale/dark fantasy quality to it. The icing on the cake is the grand finale. You really feel like you want to get up and march along with those toy soldiers. Superb.