Yeah, I know what some of you out there are thinking; why am I reviewing this movie around Christmas time as opposed to Thanksgiving since this film used to be shown on TV constantly during that holiday? Well in all honesty, I never actually understood why the film would be aired on Thanksgiving. Whenever I watch this movie (Even as a kid), the last thing I would ever think about is Thanksgiving since the film has the look and feel of a Christmas movie instead of a Thanksgiving movie. And the only reason for me to ever associate this film with Thanksgiving in the first place is only because of the fact that it used to be shown on TV during that particular holiday. The crazy part is the film doesn't even take place during Christmas time; it actually takes place "in the middle of July", which is months away from Christmas! Still whether you consider it to be a Thanksgiving film, a Christmas film, or a Christmas in the summer type of movie (Which is an odd concept), I’m going to review it anyway since I reviewed the Disney adaptation to Victor Herbert’s famous operetta last Christmas. With that out of the way, ON WITH THE REVIEW!
In a land made of toys where Nursery rhyme characters live (As well as many other famous fictional characters), the old crooked Silas Barnaby (Henry Brandon) threatens to throw Little Bo-Peep (Charlotte Henry) along with her Mother (Florence Roberts) and the rest of her family out of the giant show where they live in with the mortgage that he posses, unless Bo-Peep agrees to marry him. Bo-Peep turns down the old rich crooked perv's offer, and rather marry the Piper's son Tom, Tom (Felix Knight) who she actually does care for. Ollie Dee (Oliver Hardy) and Stanley Dum (Stan Laurel) who also live in the shoe with Bo-Peep's family, try to figure out a way to pay the mortgage so that they and Bo-Peep's family can still live in the shoe, and have Bo-Peep marry the man that she desires to be with. However, things don't look good for our famous comedic duo when Stan mistakes Santa's order by building 100 wooden soldiers at six foot high, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot high, which gets them fired, but not after one of the life sized toy soldiers starts wrecking the toy shop where they work at. With no job or money, it is now up to Stan and Ollie to find another way to get the mortgage from Barnaby by out foxing him.
In most adaptations to this operetta usually the leading characters would either be the romantic couple, or a group of kids, and while I'm sure there are some versions out there that do it well, from the versions that I've seen by far (Especially in the live action Disney version) they're pretty boring and uninteresting characters. In this version on the other hand (Which is from what I understand the first film adaptation to this operetta) they do the opposite by creating new characters that would probably be supporting characters in any other version of the operetta, by instead making them the stars, while still keeping the leading characters from the original operetta and have them still play an important role in the story. And casting Laurel and Hardy as our two leading stars surprisingly works better than having a romantic couple or a group of kids be our leads. Now the idea of casting Laurel and Hardy as the stars of a musical fantasy in theory does sound like a horrible idea. I mean they can sing fine, but the idea of seeing them in a magical fictional world where they would play off their usual comedy routine might seem distracting and out of place for the world that they are entering. Which instead might turn this fantasy world that kids would like to visit, into more of a parody of itself. Surprisingly that's certainly not the case here! Laurel and Hardy blend into the world so perfectly with their fun and innocent comical charm that their presence in this magical world never feels out of place, nor do they distract or completely take away the spotlight from the other cast of characters that we’re supposed to care about. On top of it, every time when I see them on screen I always get a huge laugh out of them. There's not a single moment with them that's dull, boring, or unfunny; every time the two interact each other on screen is comedic gold from the expressions, to the dialogue, to the slapstick. It’s seriously one of their funniest performances that still has me laughing just as hard as I did when I was a kid.
As I stated in my last paragraph, in most versions of this operetta I usually find the romantic couples to be boring characters, but in this film on the other hand, I actually didn't find Bo-Peep and Tom, Tom to be boring at all. Ok, now if they were the stars and complete main focus of the film that's a completely different story, because these two characters and performances wouldn't be good enough to carry a whole entire hour and a half film on their own. But as supporting characters where they play an important role to the story that share almost the same decent amount of screen time as our two comedic leads do but still give our leads plenty of time to shine as leading characters, then they're perfect. Henry and Knight have perfect chemistry together. Every time I see them together on screen as the two sing together, kiss, and comfort each other is so cute and sweet that you believe every single second of their love for each other, which is more than what I can say about Annette and Tommy Sand's love relationship in the Disney film, and those two seemed to have more of a romantic past, than what the characters in this film have. They don't even feel like the forcefully written in romantic couple that you'd see in other musical comedy films made around that time, they fit and flow with the story and world just as naturally as Laurel and Hardy do.
Out of all the supporting characters in this movie, my
favorite performance has to go to Henry Brandon as the villain Barnaby. I've seen in the many adaptations of the operetta, and Brandon's performance as Barnaby definitely blows them all out of the water (Yes, even Ray Bolger's performance
as Barnaby). He puts so much class and elegance into his performance, while
also making his character still come off as sinister and diabolical is such a perfect
and fun mix that it all surprisingly feels natural. Even when he loses his cool
and launches into complete madness, it all still seems natural, while also
being a lot of fun to watch. The crazy part about Brandon’s performance is in
real life he’s nowhere near the age of the old man that he’s playing, he’s
actually in his early 20s (Say around 21 or 22). I’ve must have seen this film
dozens of times when I was a kid, and still to this day when I watch the film I never would have guessed that Barnaby is played by a young adult. It’s a
really great and convincing performance that doesn’t at all make you feel like
Brandon is trying to ham it up as a crooked old man, his
performance along with the Make-Up they put on him all looks and feels natural.
By the way, on an interesting historical note, since the film was made during "The
Great Depression", the writers decided to make Barnaby into an evil
mortgage collector which no doubt makes him a product of the time, but
surprisingly the execution of that concept is done so well, that it actually
does fit perfectly within the film's world and doesn't at all feel like a
forced in concept to play out off of the time that this film was made.
When it comes to visuals in this movie, they still looks great! Ok, in terms of effects by today's standards, we can pretty much tell what kind of effects they used. We know there are actors in costumes wearing masks who play the animals and the monstrous Bogeyman (Will get to them later). We know when they used Stop-Motion for the Toy Soldiers marching and when they used real actors. You know that they are using a projector screen in some of the scenes. And the land of Toyland does seem more like a set, instead of an actual town. With that said however, these effects weren't just top notch effects for the time that the film came out, but even to this day they still looks great! The sets for Toyland, and the forbidden land for where the monstrous Bogeyman live look really creative and cool to look at, with every single tiny set piece giving this world a lot of personality; and the colorization for the film (Whatever version of the film you see that's been colorized) adds so much to the fantasy atmosphere, that it's actually one of those rare Black-&-White films that looks lot better in color than it does in Black-&-White. Despite that we're seeing people dressed in costumes as the animals and Bogeyman, the movements and costume designs give these silent characters so much personality that they actually do feel like real fictional character coming to life, instead of people just dressing up in costumes and hamming it up. Actually they didn't even use a small actor to play one of the animals, they actually put a monkey inside a Mickey Mouse costume, and yeah, while I am a bit concerned about how the Monkey was treated (Especially when being covered by a costume from head to toe) the monkey's movements for the character look so convincing and give the character so much personality that you honestly wouldn't know the difference if it was an actor or a monkey in that costume. A little fun fact by the way, the reason why you see Mickey Mouse in this movie (Considering that this is not a Disney film at all), the director Hal Roach was good friends with Walt Disney and was nice enough to only let Roach include Mickey Mouse in this film (Despite for some reason never talking), but also allowed Roach to use the tune of the song "Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf" from the classic Disney cartoon of "The Three Little Pigs” for when we see The Three Little Pigs (Who look really similar to the pigs in the classic Disney cartoon).
Out of all the costume designs in the film, the ones that always stood out to me the most are the monstrous Bogeyman. They really look scary with their scary as hell costume design and killer animal instincts. Even still to this day I find them terrifying, especially in the scene when they first pop out, and the scene when they break through the window in a room full of scarred children that they take away and plan to eat! Those scenes seriously look like something out of a children’s nightmare! Ok, there is a lot over the top humor surrounding these monstrous creatures, especially with the slapstick that they go through, but there's still a good balance for these monsters to be both scary and funny at the same time.
As for the effects for the toy soldiers, despite knowing when they used Stop-Motion and when they use real actors, they're still really cool effects. The Stop-Motion for when they all march looks incredible, while also making them seem both very toy-like when they march. And when we see the actors playing these lifeless toy soldiers, they too do a very a convincing job with their blank toy-like facial expressions and movements. The climax itself with the Toy soldiers and the Bogeyman is also pretty awesome. It's scary, tense, fun, exciting, funny, and even a bit epic! It's truly the highlight of the movie!
While the film itself is based on an operetta, we only get four musical numbers, when in the Disney film we were flooded with them that were hit and miss. It's obvious that the film cut most of the numbers from the original operetta so that Laurel and Hardy can shine and move the film's plot forward. But with that said, the lack of songs not only worked to the film's advantage of giving us comedic gold, but the songs themselves aren't bad, nor do they feel forced into the movie just to have a few musical numbers. The film's opening song "Toyland" sung by Mother Goose (Virginia Karns), is such a great opening song and introduction to the characters and world where they live in that I always find myself getting completely sucked into the film's world every time that number starts. Speaking of the film's world and characters, I just want to take a moment and say, that the rest of the supporting characters in this film all play their roles just as great our leads do. There was never a performance in this film that I found myself not enjoying. But getting back to the songs, the rest of the songs are all sung by Bo-Peep and Tom, Tom, and while still playing on the musical romantic trope that musical comedies were doing at the time, they still are once again really good songs. The song "Never Mind Bo-Peep" as Tom, Tom and the citizens of Toyland offer to help Bo-Peep find her sheep starts out as a very slow and beautifully sung number that builds and builds to this big gigantic choir that sounds wonderful and catchy. And the song "Go To Sleep" that Bo-Peep and Tom, Tom sing as they are lost in Bogeyland is a very cute, romantic, and atmospheric song that's haunting, enchanting, and has some very cool visuals and effects, as we see the sandman and his (I guess) dwarf assistants appear. The only song that I felt was kind of forgettable was the song "Castle Of Spain" that Tom, Tom sings to Bo-Peep, but nowhere near as forgettable as other romantic songs I've heard at that time, and I must say that Felix Knight's operatic voice is so amazing and energetic that I get chills during every single number he sings. As for the film’s score it’s just as great as the songs are that really give the film it's fun, dark, and charming atmosphere. The pieces in the score that stand out to me the most are Barnaby's theme song, the music when Laurel and Hardy plan to commit an act of burglary, and dark and dramatic music for when the Bogeyman attack. However, the piece of music that tops it all (Including the songs) is the "March Of The Toys" instrumental piece when we see the soldiers marching and fighting, and as great as the visuals and effects are for the climax, the music is 50% of what really makes the climax so epic, awesome, and triumphant!
I guess if I had to nitpick anything about the movie, there are a few things that I do question about. Such as what exactly did the King say about the second trick that Laurel and Hardy pulled on Barnaby? What was Barnaby planing on doing to the tied-up pig after his evil plan succeeds? Why didn't the pigs suspect that Barnaby was the one that kidnapped their brother? And how do lifeless soldiers that cause chaos, suddenly know how to fight and identify who's good and evil? It gets pretty head scathing at times. But while the logic is pretty confusing those are really just nitpicks that really don't distract the overall enjoyment that I have with the film and the scenes that I just mention. It's really one of those films where the world is based more on the comedy and emotion, than it does with the logic, kind of like MGM's later musical fantasy "The Wizard Of OZ" (Yeah, this musical fantasy classic pr-dates "The Wizard Of OZ") where a lot of things don't make much sense, but it's the emotion, the characters, the moral, and the world that becomes the focus instead of the logic.
Overall "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" still holds-up as a fun, creative, and entertaining film with it's engaging fantasy look. Effects that may look dated by today's standards, but it still look cool to look at. Enchanting musical numbers. Fun supporting characters. A charming romantic couple. A great villain and performance. And above all, casting two great comedic legends who fit in the film's world perfectly, while still being die hard hilarious. The film is Public Domain, so you can find it almost anywhere, just be sure to at least see it in color. However, since there are many different versions of the film that's been colorized with different use's of colors, if you want my opinion for the best colorized version of the film, than be sure to find the DVD or Blu-ray by Legend Films that's called "March Of The Wooden Soldiers With Laurel & Hardy". While you still get the sense that the film has been colorized (Like with all the other versions) the picture quality doesn't look as fuzz as some of the other colorized version, and the color itself looks so bright and colorful that it honestly tops all the previous colorized versions of the film that I've seen. The DVD and Blu-ray itself also contains the film in it's original Black-&-White print, the original opening credits that has the film's original title with a gag that's been cut out of other releases, and is chalk full of Christmas related Special Features such as Public Domain Christmas cartoons, live action Christmas shorts, old vintage toy commercials, and so much more. It's a real nostalgic treat that brings back that old fashioned classic Christmas feel. In fact, since I reviewed some classic old holiday shorts in the past, I'm going to review all of the holiday shorts that you can find on the DVD and Blu-ray (Except for "Howdy Doody's Christmas" since I already reviewed it). If you haven't seen "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" yet, or are looking for a better DVD/Blu-ray copy of the film, definitely buy or rent the version distributed by Legend Film.
RATING 5/5
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