The Phantom Tollbooth (1970)

Milo is a boy who is bored with life. One day he comes home to find a toll booth in his room. Having nothing better to do, he gets in his toy car and drives through - only to emerge in a world full of adventure.

Directors:

Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow

Writers:

Chuck Jones (screenplay), Sam Rosen (screenplay)

Stars:

Butch Patrick, Hans Conried, Mel Blanc

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Butch Patrick	...	Milo
Mel Blanc	...	Officer Short Shrift / Dodecahedron / Demon of Insincerity (voice)
Daws Butler	...	Whether Man / Senses Taker / Terrible Trivium / Gelatinous Giant (voice)
Candy Candido	...	Awful DYNN (voice)
Hans Conried	...	King Azaz / The MathemaGician (voice)
June Foray	...	Ralph / Faintly Macabre / Princess of Pure Reason (voice)
Patti Gilbert	...	Princess of Sweet Rhyme (voice)
Shepard Menken	...	Spelling Bee / Chroma The Great (voice) (as Shep Menken)
Cliff Norton	...	Kakofonous A. Dischord / Tollbooth Speaker (voice)
Larry Thor	...	Tock The Watchdog (voice)
Les Tremayne	...	Humbug (voice)

Storyline

Milo is a boy who is bored with life. One day he comes home to find a toll booth in his room. Having nothing better to do, he gets in his toy car and drives through - only to emerge in a world full of adventure.

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Plot Keywords:

part live action | flight | child driving a car | close up of eyes | live action animated hybrid | 

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Taglines:

It's an Alphabeautiful Mathemagical New Musical Movie!

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Genres:

Family | Adventure | Animation | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

December 1972 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Milo in the Phantom Tollbooth

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Sib-Tower 12 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The author of the book, upon which this film is based, Norton Juster, did not like this picture and was even angry that it received positive reviews. He had no input into the adaptation, and many characters that were in the book were not included in the film.

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Goofs

In the live action scenes Milo's eyes are blue, but in the animated world his eyes are brown.

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Quotes

Princess of Pure Reason: Never feel badly about making mistakes, as long as you take the trouble to learn from them.
Princess of Sweet Rhyme: Because often you learn more by being wrong for the right reasons...
Princess of Pure Reason: -than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits, set immediately after the prologue, revolves around Milo (Butch Patrick) walking from school into various places before he heads home. The text is white, upper-cased and hand-written, while the title itself is purple and in two lines, with the "THE" at the top-left position.

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Connections

Featured in Jambareeqi Reviews: The Phantom Tollbooth (2012)

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Soundtracks

Milo's Song
(1969)
Music by Lee Pockriss
Lyrics by Norman Gimbel
Performed by the Cast

User Reviews

I would love to see this on UK telly more often.

I remember seeing this on TV probably about 1973, possibly slightly later. I was 8 in 1973. Oh the memories!! They should show it more often!! I think it has only been on UK television twice in my lifetime and I am now 42.

I still love some animated films, especially PIXAR movies as I appreciate the shading and rendering needed to make parts like the water in Ratatouille so amazingly realistic.

Back to the Phantom Tolbooth, I think Disney or/and Pixar should re-make this film but I still love the original.

Will buy it on DVD if ever it is released.