March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934)

Opposing the evil Barnaby, Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum try and fail to pay-off Mother Peep's mortgage and mislead his attempts to marry Little Bo. Enraged, Barnaby's Bogeymen are set on Toyland.

Directors:

Gus Meins, Charley Rogers (as Charles Rogers)

Writers:

Frank Butler (screen play), Nick Grinde (screen play)

Stars:

Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Virginia Karns

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Virginia Karns	...	Mother Goose
Charlotte Henry	...	Bo-Peep
Felix Knight	...	Tom-Tom
Florence Roberts	...	Widow Peep
Henry Brandon	...	Barnaby Barnicle (as Henry Kleinbach)
Stan Laurel	...	Stannie Dum
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie Dee

Storyline

Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby into marrying Stanley Dum instead of Bo Peep. Enraged, Barnaby unleashes the bogeymen from their caverns to destroy Toyland.

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Plot Keywords:

forced marriage | toy soldier | toy maker | sheep | fairy tale land | 

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Taglines:

90 Minutes of Happiness

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the best Laurel and Hardy tradition, both Barnaby and King Cole are soaked with water obviously thrown from buckets off stage during the dunking scene.

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Goofs

When the Bogeymen invade Toyland, they are wielding torches like the villagers in Frankenstein. Not only is this incorrect for the characterization of the Bogeymen, who are portrayed as primitive beasts who would fear fire, but also puzzling because they never use the torches to fight off the Wooden Soldiers, who are, after all, made of wood. Fortunately, the Bogeymen aren't that smart and the Wooden Soldiers triumph.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Chief of Police: Come, come, children. On your way to school.

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Crazy Credits

(main title of re-release version) March of the Wooden Soldiers formerly Babes in Toyland

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Alternate Versions

The film was restored and colorized for TV showings and video release in 1991 by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. In 2006, the complete print was restored and colorized by Legend Films, using the latest technology. Although the Legend Films release was advertised under its reissue title, both the color and black and white prints featured the original title and opening credits. Both colorized versions correctly depict Stan's hair as being red, not medium brown as it appears in other colorized Laurel and Hardy movies.

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Connections

Version of Musical Comedy Time: Babes in Toyland (1950)

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Soundtracks

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
(1933) (uncredited)
Music by Frank Churchill
Played by the orchestra over Three Little Pigs scenes

User Reviews

Great Film

I know many people will not watch this for many reasons. The excuses range from "I Hate Black and White Movies", "I Do Not Like Old Movies" ,"I herd this was stupid", "I never Herd of this", and so many others.

Well this film is "Dated" but its also part of its charm. This film stars "Laurel and Hardy" and it is a delightful surprise. Think of this film as the inspiration for the "Shrek" films.

In this film A woman is about to lose her home. Stannie Dumb (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.

I don't want to tell too much more but truest me the film is fast paced and its never boring.

Give it a try!

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 December 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

March of the Wooden Soldiers

Filming Locations:

Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Roach Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min 73 min (re-release) (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1