There is a nice balance between the top three Laurel and Hardy feature films. SONS OF THE DESERT is their best modern film comedy - set in the 1930s. WAY OUT WEST is their sole western and wonderful as such. And BABES IN TOYLAND (a.k.a. THE MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS) is their best operetta - THE DEVIL'S BROTHER and BOHEMIAN GIRL are good, but BABES IN TOYLAND always fascinates.
It does so for several reasons: The sets are the most elaborate in any of the Laurel and Hardy features. After all it is "Toyland". We see the homes of the characters (like Bo-Peep's mother, the old woman in the shoe, and Silas Barnaby's home). We see the Toymaker's workshop and it's hundred six foot tall wooden soldiers that move (a typical L & H goof-up: Santa told them he wanted six hundred one foot tall wooden soldiers and they got the figures mixed up). We see the main square of Toyland, and the dunking pool, and the cave that leads to Bogeyland.
There are other points. Victor Herbert's music is always melodious, although to be honest the score of the Walt Disney remake actually included the words of at least one standard ("I Can't Do The Sum!") that is only heard as background music in this film version. That the tune "Never Mind Bo-Peep", although it has an elaborate chorus structure, was included instead is somewhat astounding. Still enough of the film's music in the film works - abetted by the singing of Felix Knight as "Tom - Tom, the Piper's Son".
Rosina Lawrence was always a sweet but attractive woman, and her performance as "damsel-in-distress" Bo-Peep is quite good. But the best is Henry Brandon (here Henry Kleinbach) as Silas Barnaby. BABES IN TOYLAND is one of the few Roach Laurel & Hardy features where Jimmy Finleyson does not appear (SWISS MISS is another film that lacks Finn). Charley Hall has a bit part, but nothing special (not like an appearance like in the short THEM THAR HILLS, for example). Instead, Brandon appears for his only time in Laurel & Hardy's world here - and carries it off well. Barnaby is a nasty customer - aiming his financial grasp over the Widow Peep's home to force Bo-Peep to marry him. But he constantly is being bothered by the boys. His first appearance is when Ollie and Stan are playing with some dart-like toy that knocks off Silas' hat (he naturally confronts Ollie and teaches him a lesson). They also try to steal his copy of the mortgage by a version of the Trojan Horse, which Silas doesn't quite swallow from the start. And finally they wreck his seemingly successful marriage ceremony to Bo-Peep. In truth one doesn't sympathize that much with Silas, but he certainly reacts with spirit to what the boys put him through.*
(*Laurel and Hardy fans and Our Gang fans will both know that Brandon had the experience that rarely happens - Howard Freeman had it as Himmler in HITLER'S MADMAN and later a twisted clone of the Gestapo head in the episode "The Beast That Walked the Bronx" on CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU - when four years later Roach cast him in the Our Gang short, OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 as Barnaby, but now a demonic opera impresario who forces Alfalfa to sing in the street for pennies!)
Finally there are the boys, comic from the start (with them sharing a bed and sleeping, snoring a feather from one to the other in sequence). Ollie's inability to play the dart game that Stan plays perfectly causes him to insist that anything Stan can do he can do. Stan smiles and shakes his head, and starts repeating the "Earsie - Eyesie - Nosie" routine from THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (Ollie looks angry and embarrassed at this). The "trojan horse" sequence with Klein is short but very funny, with the dubious Silas accepting the gift, but discovering what's what when Stan wishes Ollie a good night (who reciprocates). This leads to the dunking stool sequence, and the odd fate of Ollie's watch. And there are other moments as well, all leading to the conclusion - the attack on Toyland, and it's defense by the toy soldiers.
SONS OF THE DESERT and WAY OUT WEST always find their audiences when shown on television or in revival houses. But BABES IN TOYLAND is the only one of the Laurel & Hardy features that regularly shows up on television at Thanksgiving time. Understandably so, as it is always welcomed by young and old alike.
It does so for several reasons: The sets are the most elaborate in any of the Laurel and Hardy features. After all it is "Toyland". We see the homes of the characters (like Bo-Peep's mother, the old woman in the shoe, and Silas Barnaby's home). We see the Toymaker's workshop and it's hundred six foot tall wooden soldiers that move (a typical L & H goof-up: Santa told them he wanted six hundred one foot tall wooden soldiers and they got the figures mixed up). We see the main square of Toyland, and the dunking pool, and the cave that leads to Bogeyland.
There are other points. Victor Herbert's music is always melodious, although to be honest the score of the Walt Disney remake actually included the words of at least one standard ("I Can't Do The Sum!") that is only heard as background music in this film version. That the tune "Never Mind Bo-Peep", although it has an elaborate chorus structure, was included instead is somewhat astounding. Still enough of the film's music in the film works - abetted by the singing of Felix Knight as "Tom - Tom, the Piper's Son".
Rosina Lawrence was always a sweet but attractive woman, and her performance as "damsel-in-distress" Bo-Peep is quite good. But the best is Henry Brandon (here Henry Kleinbach) as Silas Barnaby. BABES IN TOYLAND is one of the few Roach Laurel & Hardy features where Jimmy Finleyson does not appear (SWISS MISS is another film that lacks Finn). Charley Hall has a bit part, but nothing special (not like an appearance like in the short THEM THAR HILLS, for example). Instead, Brandon appears for his only time in Laurel & Hardy's world here - and carries it off well. Barnaby is a nasty customer - aiming his financial grasp over the Widow Peep's home to force Bo-Peep to marry him. But he constantly is being bothered by the boys. His first appearance is when Ollie and Stan are playing with some dart-like toy that knocks off Silas' hat (he naturally confronts Ollie and teaches him a lesson). They also try to steal his copy of the mortgage by a version of the Trojan Horse, which Silas doesn't quite swallow from the start. And finally they wreck his seemingly successful marriage ceremony to Bo-Peep. In truth one doesn't sympathize that much with Silas, but he certainly reacts with spirit to what the boys put him through.*
(*Laurel and Hardy fans and Our Gang fans will both know that Brandon had the experience that rarely happens - Howard Freeman had it as Himmler in HITLER'S MADMAN and later a twisted clone of the Gestapo head in the episode "The Beast That Walked the Bronx" on CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU - when four years later Roach cast him in the Our Gang short, OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 as Barnaby, but now a demonic opera impresario who forces Alfalfa to sing in the street for pennies!)
Finally there are the boys, comic from the start (with them sharing a bed and sleeping, snoring a feather from one to the other in sequence). Ollie's inability to play the dart game that Stan plays perfectly causes him to insist that anything Stan can do he can do. Stan smiles and shakes his head, and starts repeating the "Earsie - Eyesie - Nosie" routine from THE DEVIL'S BROTHER (Ollie looks angry and embarrassed at this). The "trojan horse" sequence with Klein is short but very funny, with the dubious Silas accepting the gift, but discovering what's what when Stan wishes Ollie a good night (who reciprocates). This leads to the dunking stool sequence, and the odd fate of Ollie's watch. And there are other moments as well, all leading to the conclusion - the attack on Toyland, and it's defense by the toy soldiers.
SONS OF THE DESERT and WAY OUT WEST always find their audiences when shown on television or in revival houses. But BABES IN TOYLAND is the only one of the Laurel & Hardy features that regularly shows up on television at Thanksgiving time. Understandably so, as it is always welcomed by young and old alike.